Any disk drive/recorder malfunction repair guides for a layman?

[audiohominis]

Guys, my PCs DVD-ROM drive and my standalone DVD recorder’s drive are showing the following symptoms:


They do not play CDs
The do not play original store-bought/rented DVD9s, or burned dual-layer +/-disks.
Pretty much the only thing they [still most of the time] play is regular 4.7GB DVDR disk


The thing is I remember finding somewhere on the web a tutorial on fixing read problems with the SEGA Dreamcast console by calibrating the lens. I was wondering if anyone had any info on how I can fix recorders and drives, perhaps in a similar fashion.

Thank you.

[setarip_old]

Hi!

Try running a DVD/CD cleaning disc on them. Maxell makes one that sells for approximately $10 US...

[Inventive Software]

Or do what I did to sort my drive's reading problems... blow into it with the tray open.

[audiohominis]

Cleaning the lens is the very first thing I tried, that's doesn't seem to be the problem though.

[kumi]

Try a firmware upgrade/downgrade.

[audiohominis]

Try a firmware upgrade/downgrade.
Deciding on whether to upgrade or downgrade, that's the heart of the beat, isn't it? It's hopeless then?

[SeeMoreDigital]

Indeed...

If there is a problem with your DVD loader and the drive fails part-way thru' the firmware installation, your player could end up becoming a door stop :eek:

[Sharktooth]

search for the electrical schemes of the lens driver.
generally there are 2 trimmers that regulates the beam power and focus offset.
try rising the beam power by a notch (clockwise rotate by 1/8th the trimmer with a small screwdriver) and see if it gets better. if it does, do it until it reads the disc. dont rise the beam power too much or you will end up "burning" the discs... ;)

[audiohominis]

Thank you, Sharktooth. I think this is exactly what I was looking for.

[Sharktooth]

by 1/8th i meant 45 degrees.
also you need the specific schemes for your lens driver but many players use 3rd party drives/lenses, so it may require some time to find the exact brand and model unless it's a known drive (like the ones on consoles...)

[audiohominis]

So it's almost something a layman can do. :scared:

[burfadel]

The main question is, why is it off in the first place!...

The most important thing with any disk device (whether its cd, dvd, hd-dvd, blu-ray etc), is to ensure the disk is clean before you put it in the drive. By clean I mean not only dust but also oilish marks. (keep a soft, lint free cloth in a cover, and have it handy to clean the disks from the inside out (not circular motion) before you use them). If the lens gets a film on it of oil or something else, it may look perfectly clean, but it will still be affected. This oily film will throw the calibration of the player out, which sounds like you're having. In this case traditionally soft brush laser cleaners won't work, nor will manually wiping it with a soft cloth. What you need is a good traditional glass cleaner and spray it on the cloth, then wipe the lens. You may need to repeat it.

Don't use shower screen cleaner, or a citrus based cleaner. The citrus based cleaners work best on shower screens, but may leave a clear film themselves! (with a nice orange smell). Traditional window cleaner is ammonia/ammonium based.

[audiohominis]

Thank you very much for your advice, but do you really think I’d be wasting people's time here without first verifying the basic stuff? Perhaps I came here for help because I found my problem is much deeper than just dirty/damaged/poorly burned disk, or dirty lens, no? :rolleyes: