Illustrated Optical Drive Installation Guide
for Beige G3/8600/9600, B&W G3, G4 Tower Macs (Yikes/Sawtooth/Gigabit/Digital Audio)
by Mike
Published: 6/3/99
(Revised August 2001 for cable shielding notes on 2001 G4 digital audio Macs)
Note: Although originally written in 1999 for CDROM drives, the procedure is the same for IDE/ATAPI CDRW, DVD/Combo or DVD Burner drives. This guide has photos that are applicable to 8600, 9600, B&W G3, G4/PCI (yikes) and G4/AGP Towers from 1999 to 2001 Digital Audio models. The 2001 Digital Audio G4s have a metal foil tape connecting the IDE cable to the CD drive housing for shielding purposes. I've added a note below in that section. (The Summer 2001 "Quicksilver" Towers have a revised chassis design and don't mount CD drives the same way. See the Apple G4 section of the FAQ here for a link to Apple's CIP pages for info on the Quicksilver models.)
Swapping out the existing CDROM in your Mac is a simple process that should take you less than 30 minutes. This illustrated guide should make the process clear, but if you're still uncomfortable with doing this yourself - get help. Chances are you know someone (friend/coworker) that is experienced who can assist or you can have a local dealer (Apple, CompUSA...) perform the work for a nominal fee.
Tools Required
- Screwdriver (Phillips or + tip)
- Anti-static wrist strap (precautionary)
Ensure the Mac is powered OFF and all power cables are disconnected before working inside your computer. If you don't have an anti-static wrist strap, discharge any static buildup you have by touching a metal part of the chassis (the power supply casing for instance).
The Beige G3 Minitower case design is very similar to the 8600/9600 models so the steps and illustrations for those models are identical. The Blue and White G3s (G4 systems have an identical case design) are bit more involved as the CDROM/ZIP drive bays are enclosed in a metal chassis that is removed as a single unit. The images below will make this clearer. Note that for the IDE CDROM to work in the 9600, you need a Mac compatible PCI IDE controller installed and note that some models of Mac IDE cards have better ATAPI (Optical drive) support than others. (See legacy mac reports on various optical drive types in the drive database under PCI IDE card as interface.)
Installation:
In case you're not familiar with installing a CDROM drive (this one is no different than any other), here are the basic steps. As always power off your computer and disconnect AC power before working inside.
- Remove the case side cover by pressing on the green button on the top edge of the Beige G3/8600/9600. On the Blue and White G3 and G4 systems - pulling the cover latch release allows the side cover to swing down parallel to the work surface. Touch the metal case of the power supply to discharge any static electricity you may have before proceeding. With the side cover removed you'll see the following
Beige G3/86/9600
| B&W G3/Apple G4
|
- Remove the front bezel (faceplate) on the case. Mac Beige G3/86/9600s and B&W G3/Apple G4 procedures vary as follows:
- On the Beige G3 and 86/9600s the bezel has a tab on the side that you press and the bezel hinges off the front.
Beige G3/86/9600 Only
- The B&W G3 and G4 systems have two plastic tabs on the inside case edge that retain the front CD bezel assembly; press these inward while pushing them towards the front of the case. The edge of the bezel will then be pushed out the front. The bezel hinges off the opposite side of the case for removal. (Both ZIP and CD bay covers come off as one cover assembly.)
B&W G3/Apple G4 Only
- Disconnect the IDE (SCSI on 86/9600) ribbon cable, Power and Audio cables on your existing CDROM drive. For later Mac models there will be no analog Audio cable, since it's not needed for OS 9 and later which does digital audio through the drive's interface cable. [For 2001 Digital Audio G4 towers, there's an aluminum foil tape on the IDE cable that attaches to the metal drive housing for better shielding/grounding. Carefully peel it off so that it can be reattached after the new drive is swapped in.]
(Audio Cable Note: The G4/AGP systems don't have an analog audio cable connected to the CD/DVD drive as done on older Mac models. It's really not needed on any Mac model now if you're running OS 9 or later.)Warning: For B&W G3/G4 Case owners - Make sure you move the CD audio cable (if present) away from the base tray for the CD/ZIP housing so that it does not get pinched during reinstalling the housing. Also make sure the IDE ribbon cable is not pinched during insertion of the CD/ZIP metal chassis. After all the swaps here for articles, once I noticed a lot of resistance on putting the housing back in - the reason was the CD audio cable was getting pinched. It was cut through the insulation (which has a shield braid) and if I had not spotted this a serious short circuit could have happened, resulting in a damaged motherboard (audio chip at least). The cable is not really needed for OS 9 and later anyway. Watch IDE cable rounting on the B&W G3 to G4 towers to also avoid damage to the cable during reassembly. (Make sure it is laying flat and down out of the way of the housing being inserted in those models.)
Beige G3/86/9600
| B&W G3/Apple G4
 |
- Remove the mounting screws for the existing drive that secure it to the case. These are the two screws below the front of the CDROM that are visible after the bezel is removed.
Beige G3/86/9600
| B&W G3/Apple G4
 |
- On Beige G3/86/9600 only, remove the thin metal sheet (shielding) from the front of the drive.
Beige G3/86/9600 Only
- Remove the old CDROM drive (press on the back of it as it's a snug fit). On the B&W G3/Apple G4 the entire CDROM/ZIP metal cover comes out so if you have a ZIP drive you'll need to disconnect its power and IDE cable.
Beige G3/86/9600
| B&W G3/Apple G4
 |
- Beige G3/8x/9600: Remove the mounting plate from the old CDROM (4 screws on the bottom) and mount the plate on the new drive.
B&W G3/Apple G4: The CDROM is held in the metal CD/ZIP cover by screws on the bottom. Remove them and swap out the CDROM. There is also a slip-on metal shield cover on the rear of the drive housing. If you need to, remove it to aid in swapping the drive.
Beige G3/86/9600
| B&W G3/Apple G4
 |
On the B&W G3/Apple G4, once you remove the screws from the housing, slide the CDROM out from the case.
B&W G3/Apple G4 Only
- All Mac G3 systems come with the CD or DVD drive jumpered as 'Master' (any ZIP drives are jumpered as 'Slaves'). There are 3 jumper positions on most IDE CDROM drives; Master, Slave and Cable Select. Make sure the jumper is on the Master position. Master setting is usually the default on most drives, but double check this on your particular model. One Beige G3 owner wrote the drive would not be recognized as a Slave when paired with a hard drive set to Master in his Beige G3. My Beige G3 (rev 2) has a ZIP drive as the Slave and the combo works fine. I've installed several IDE CDROMs/DVD ROMs, etc. on Beige G3, B&W G3 and G4 towers and the master setting has worked fine with all of them. The image below shows the Kenwood TrueX CDROM drive as an example of jumper setting locations.
- Once you've verified that the drive is jumpered for Master, attach the mounting plate to the drive (Beige G3/86/9600) or insert the drive in the chassis (B&W G3/Apple G4) and secure it with the 4 screws removed previously in step 7. (Note: For B&W G3s/G4 towers, slide the drive into the housing until the front face of the drive is nearly flush with the housing and so that the 4 mounting holes in the housing align with the holes in the drive's bottom.)
- After you've attached the mounting plate to the new drive (or mounted it in the housing in the case of the B&W G3/Apple G4), slide it in the case part way (don't insert it fully yet to allow more room for easier connecting of cables).
Beige G3/86/9600
| B&W G3/Apple G4
|
- Connect the cables (Audio [if present in your Mac model], IDE, Power) before securing the drive in place, as it often helps to be able to move the drive for added clearance while attaching cables. I run my finger firmly across the back of the IDE connectors to make sure they is fully seated (both drive and motherboard ends). If the connector is up just a bit on one side that is often enough to lose contact on two or more pins. Since the cables are the same on all models only the B&W G3/Apple G4 is shown below. [Note: For later Mac models there will be no analog Audio cable, since it's not needed for OS 9 and later which does digital audio through the drive's interface cable. My B&W G3 still had the Analog Audio cable, so it's shown in this photo, although it's not really needed for OS 9 and later. Also note for older Macs (pre-G3), the audio cable may have a different connector on the Drive end than is standard. If you're running OS 9 or later you do not need to connect the cable anyway.
CD Cables Identified
- Now that all cables are connected, slide the drive fully into the case. For Beige G3/86/9600's make sure you have put the metal shield back on (see step 5) before securing the drive. Secure the new drive in place with the two screws removed in step 4. Since the screws are in the same location only the Beige G3 is shown below.
Secure the CD (typical)
- Replace the front bezel.
Beige G3/86/9600
| B&W G3/Apple G4
 |
Functional Checkout:
Power up your system and verify that the drive functions correctly. (Apple system profiler can be used to check stats on it.) If the drive doesn't work at first boot - check the cables again to make sure you did not pull one side of the connector up during reassembly. To verify the system will boot from the Optical drive, either select the drive as the startup disk or hold down the 'C' key at powerup with a System/Bootable disc in the drive. See the FAQ's CDR section and DVD section for burn support files for some drives that are not natively supported in OS 9.x or OS X. (Update - OS X 10.4.x unlike previous OS's has basic iApps burn support for most drives without needing addon drivers, modified authoring support files or Patchburn profiles. For OS 9.x users, I'd suggest Toast 5 for burning - later versions require OS X.)
For other storage related upgrade guides see my Storage Articles page index. It includes links to pages covering SCSI, IDE/ATA and Firewire drive, CD/CDRW/DVD and Controller reviews, guides and related articles.
Before buying a CD/DVD/CDRW or other drive (Hard drives, removables), search our Drive Compatibility Database for thousands of owner reports on drives of all types in most every Mac model.
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