Removing stuck DVD or CD from MacBook Pro

posted in: Apple Products | 4
Macbook Pro with stuck DVD disc

Today I will show how to remove a stuck DVD or CD disc from a MacBook Pro laptop.

In this example I’m removing it from a 13-inch MacBook Pro (Mid 2012) but you should be able to use this guide for any other 13″, 15″ or 17″ MacBook Pro. All disassembly steps should be very similar.

On Apple computers you will not find the eject pin hole which is present on most PC laptops. If a DVD or CD got stuck in the optical drive, you will have to open up the laptop case, remove the optical drive and take it apart (partially).

It’s not difficult. The entire procedure will not take more than 15-30 minutes depending on your technical skills.

Alternatively, you can use an external USB optical CD/DVD drive.

STEP 1.

Remove ten Phillips screws securing the bottom cover. Three screws I marked with yellow circles are longer than other screws.

Remove the cover.

Remove screws from bottom cover

STEP 2.

Disconnect the battery cable from the logic board.

Disconnect battery cable from logic board

The optical drive is easily accessible but it’s mounted under a couple of cables.

Optical drive mounted under cables

STEP 3.

Carefully disconnect the web camera cable from the logic board.

Disconnect webcam cable

STEP 4.

Unplug (left to right) the hard drive cable, optical drive cable and the Wi-Fi/Bluetooth cable.

Disconnect cables from logic board

STEP 5.

Remove the webcam cable from the guided path on the side of Wi-Fi card and speaker assembly.

Unroute webcam cable

STEP 6.

Remove three screws securing the assembly.

One screw I marked with a yellow circle is shorter than two other screws.

Remove screws from Wi-Fi speaker assembly

STEP 7.

Carefully slide the Wi-Fi card and speaker assembly to the right. We don’t have to remove it completely.

We have to move it just enough to access one screw securing the optical drive.

Lift up Wi-Fi speaker assembly

STEP 8.

Here’s the screw we are trying to access. Remove it.

Remove hidden screw securing optical drive

STEP 9.

Remove the second screw securing the drive in the lower left corner.

Remove screw from lower left corner of the drive

STEP 10.

Remove the last screw securing the drive to the metal bracket.

Remove screw securing drive to metal bracket

STEP 11.

Lift up and pull the optical drive out of the laptop.

Be careful with the hard drive cable because it will be on the way.

Pull optical drive out

STEP 12.

Remove the optical drive.

Macbook Pro optical drive removed

STEP 13.

Now we’ll have to remove (partially) the cover in order to rescue the stuck CD/DVD disc.

Remove four screws from the cover.

Remove screws from optical drive cover

STEP 14.

Peel off the tape on the side.

Peel off tape from the side

STEP 15.

Separate the cover from the drive just enough to access the disc.

Lift up the disc a little bit to unsnap it from the spindle.

Separate cover from optical drive

STEP 16.

Now you can remove the stuck DVD or CD disc and reassemble the laptop following all steps in the opposite direction.

Remove stuck DVD from optical drive

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4 Responses

  1. Jennifer

    Exactly what I’ve been looking for! Thank you for the thorough walkthrough of how to do this!!

  2. Terry kellogg

    This post was so helpful!! Now my MacBook was a bit different but even watching this post gave me the confidence to actually try. Needless to say, I got the Red box movie back out!!! Thank you