MacBook Air not recognizing external CD/DVD drive after force eject

One of the tools in my bag of tricks is restarting in Safe Mode. It starts up the computer with the bare number of drivers needed for the computer to function which makes for a useful test to determine if a problem is caused by OS or hardware. While starting up in Safe Mode a lot of background cleanup is done so it is also a potential fix for some software related issues. Restart in Safe Mode, connect the optical reader and see if the computer sees it.

Safe Mode restart instructions:

Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support

It worked with a family member's MacBook Air after stopped working with mine. They were visiting and wanted a copy of some photos so we used it to put it on their MacBook. At the time I thought all I'd need to do was clear the cache, clear history, etc type stuff, then restart so it wasn't until they left that I've realised that the 'fixes' I've tried haven't worked.

The drive is less than two weeks old, hasn't been moved since being taken out of the box.

I don't have another computer to test the reader with. I tried plugging in my card reader with an SD card that I know has photos from it (can see them in camera), and my MacBook isn't recognising the card reader. It's been over a month since I last used the card reader - before the last update. So I can't be sure if the card reader isn't being recognised because it's happened to fail at the same time as the optical drive, some setting has changed somewhere with the last update, or the MacBook ports are 'frozen' or other.

There's one thing I'm a little unclear on...

Did you try connecting the external drive to another machine to see if it was recognized?

It's not entirely clear why you had to force eject the disc that was in it, but it's entirely possible that the reason you had to do that was because the drive was failing... thus your problems getting it recognized now.

I would suspect the problem is with the drive, not your Mac.

Did you try the drive while in Safe Mode? If not please do.

From what you’ve written I suspect the culprit is your optical drive and not the Mac. If you have another computer try using it there.

Check your Privacy Settings for Accessories in macOS to see if your Mac blocked the drive after the force-eject event. 

System Settings > Security > Accessories > Allow

System settings > Security > Lockdown Mode > Off

I’m not sure if there’s somewhere else I should be looking for an accessories setting?

I read that with an M1 chip powering down/shutting of (vs restarting) will reset/free any frozen USB but I’ve done that and when I turn it back on and check the settings they’re the same: Security > Accessories > Allow.

The setting doesn’t seem to be reverting back to some default or otherwise changing.

Only thing I can think to mention is that my laptop turns on when I lift the lid - even if I’ve done Shut Down, without me touching the power on button. It’s been doing that since the last update - along with the bin not always emptying the first time I click Empty Bin. But everything’s up to date, I’ve cleared the cache, and it still does those two new things. I’m not sure if whatever’s changed with the Empty Bin and lid opening powering it on are any clue to a setting that might be affecting the ports.

When my laptop stopped recognising it I transferred some photos to a family member's MacBook who was visiting and there wasn't a problem. I don't have another computer to try it with now, but my MacBook is also not recognizing my card reader and SD card (can see photos on it in camera) now. Last time I used it was before the last OS update so I can't be sure when that happened. I'm not sure if it's happened to fail at the same time as the optical drive, it's because of something related to the OS update, or the ports are frozen. The optical drive is less than two weeks old, hasn't been moved since it was taken out of the box.

I'm not sure why I had to force eject the disc either. It was the next CD in the box, wasn't labeled so I wanted to make sure it didn't have anything on it, put it in the same way, it was recognised and when I clicked on it about a dozen audio files were there. I clicked on the first one to see what it was and Apple Music opened, asked me if I wanted to start a three month trial, I declined. The audio file hadn't opened or done anything so I clicked on the next audio file, nothing was happening. Think I clicked on a third file after a minute or so of nothing happening (nothing opening, no bar showing uploading), nothing happened. Checked Get Info and the audio file was empty. Clicked the eject arrow next to the drive under Location and nothing happened - no click, no motor whirling, didn't sound like the drive was doing anything. After 30 seconds maybe I clicked eject again. Not sure if it was then or another time again, but ended up clicking Force Eject. That did nothing. Gave it a few extra moments. Clicked Force Eject again. I believe it was then that the drive disappeared from Location - might have been after another Eject attempt. Nothing was going on with the reader, nothing in Finder, so pressed the eject button on the drive, the tray slide out and I removed the CD.

I put in the next CD - dated with a list of photos so I know it's picture not audio files, closed the tray, heard the reader spin up like normal, and just when I expected the sound to change and it to appear in Locations it wound down. Nothing showed up, waited a moment, opened the tray on the reader and double checked that the CD was sitting in it properly, closed it again. The reader wound up, but the same thing again - the sound never changed and the reader wound down.

The CDs are all the same brand, all mine, and the only computer I had to burn them was a Mac desktop years ago so they would've been burned the same way and on a Mac. I can't think of what those audio file could've been. I never burned music CDs - once for my mom. I also always labeled both the cases and CDs, and this one was completely unlabelled. I can't think of what those empty audio files could be so I'm not sure if that's somehow related.

I feel as thought it's something so obvious that everyone I've asked is assuming I've tried it but I'm not cluing in on it and haven't done it, or it's something completely random and weird and I'm not giving enough clues for others to think zebras.

I appreciate you checking that I'm checking the basics.

Thank for the link to the directions. Restarted in Safe Mode, then restarted in Normal mode. Still nothing. Looking around at other forums it seems that a few people with M1 2020 MBAs have been asking about things no longer being recognised after they updated OS. The timing doesn't exactly fit with me since it was working one minute then not the next, but maybe it's related somehow. I'm not smart enough to know if that makes sense though.

I'll return the drive and see if a new one will work. With the card reader no longer being recognised I'm not feeling too confident, but coincidences happen.

Anything else you can think of I could try or check - settings, modes, caches, etc? I've reached the limit of things I know just enough about to know that I should ask about them.

I do appreciate the help.