Several year old PowerBook G4 15", 1.5 GHz.

Couple months ago (after a trip to the shop to have a 160GB HDD installed) the SuperDrive began acting up. I am unable to access any disc inserted. No read; no write. BooHoo.

It shows up on the "About this Mac" dropdown, but otherwise doesn't work.

Model: MATSHITADVD-R UJ-825
Revision: DAM5
Serial Number:
Detachable Drive: No
Protocol: ATAPI
Unit Number: 0
Socket Type: Internal
Low Power Polling: Yes
Power Off: No

Any suggestions?

Also, if it comes down to me replacing the drive, is there a PRAM battery inside somewhere that should also be replaced?

Thanks in advance.
Cap'n Steve

Welcome to these Forums, Cap'n! If you haven't yet tried a drive lens cleaner disk, I'd give that a shot. If it doesn't work, the drive is probably history and may need to be replaced. Before you do that, make sure it's properly hooked up; perhaps something got dislodged when the HD was replaced (does it show in System Profiler?). Edit: Oops, I see you mentioned it did, which renders loose wires less likely.

As to the presence of a backup battery in your PB, that depends on exactly which model 15", 1.5GHz you've got. See Apple Portables: Identifying the right battery--US for battery ID numbers. The 2004 PB5,4 model used a 922-6007 backup battery, while the 2005 PB5,6 model sported the 922-6714 battery. For the latter PB model Mactracker doesn't list a battery at all.

> I am unable to access any disc inserted.

It's possible that all your reading lasers have gone south at the same time, but it's a bit unlikely, so definitely give alternaut's suggestions a shot.

(Are you in NYC?)

If the drive was working properly before being opened to install the new hard drive I would suspect the drive cable was dislodged during the installation. Check all connection cables to make sure they are seated properly.

Tho the odds of the drive detecting but not running makes a loose cable highly unlikely. (tho not impossible)

Possibly a bit of debris in the connector though. Unplug it and check the pins on the cable and on the board with a magnifying glass. Look for anything foreign. Even a fleck of dandruff could cause problems. Bent pins surely are trouble.