[OKDXA] Tales From The Bench...

Sat, 13 Mar 2004 11:45:43 -0600

Nelson:

My DVD player had the same problem that you described.  It was only about a 
year old at the time and still under the service warranty, so rather than 
tear into it I took it back for servicing.  I remember the sound it made as 
it would spin up, then a mild vibration would occur as the disk would slow, 
then spin up again over and over.  It tried to read, but since it never got 
up to the proper speed it normally failed to play.

I'll keep these tips in mind if it happens again.

Thanks!

Mark - K5YAC

At 22:51 3/12/04 -0600, you wrote:

>Here's a repair tip that I wouldn't believe if I hadn't done it myself...
>
>Picked up a nice older Toshiba DVD player at Goodwill this afternoon for
>$30... Not exactly a screamer deal as you can buy cheapies all over town for
>$40 new and in the box. But, this Toshiba is a mid-range model, looks good,
>and gave me the 'take me home' vibe.
>
>Fired it up to find it would play audio CD's like a champ but failed to
>index DVD's something like 8 tries out of 10. Every once in a while it would
>load and play OK, but it's a PITA to keep pushing the LOAD button until it
>finds track zero. As you can imagine, the golden screwdriver came out for a
>look inside.
>
>It got dusted, the sled rails got a touch of oil, the two laser lenses got
>cleaned (gently!) and none of this made a damn bit of difference.
>
>Did you know that DVD's rotate much faster than CD's? Yeah, they do, and the
>play head has two lasers that flip from one to the other while it's trying
>to figure out if it's loading a CD or DVD. The init sequence runs the disc
>at both speeds and it goes through the disc interrogation fairly quickly. I
>was about to decide the DVD laser was probably at the tail end of its useful
>life when I noticed that every time it changed spindle speeds the disc would
>'chirp' very softly...
>
>Did you know the spindle has a flat rubber doughnut that grips the disc?
>'Spose the donut was a little glazed and the disc wouldn't come up to speed
>fast enough to satisfy the init sequence due to slippage? Did the soft
>'chirp' from the disc indicate a poor grip on the spindle? A light shot of
>WD-40 on a Q-Tip was all I needed to clean up the rubber surface and it gave
>me a little color on the Q-Tip. That told me there was some crud and/or
>oxidation on the rubber surface.
>
>Now it loads DVD's first time, every time... Plays as good as new.
>
>In case you're wondering why I didn't use alcohol on this rubber part,
>alcohol will dry out the surface and usually leaves it less 'grippy' than
>before the cleaning. WD-40 tends to penetrate and rejuvenate rubber while
>loosening the surface glaze. Let it dry for a bit, rub it down with a dry
>Q-Tip and the rubber ends up with more grip than before. On a belt that's
>contaminated with oil, alcohol or mineral spirits are the way to go, but on
>dry rubber that's become glazed, try a little WD-40 instead.
>
>- AC5UP
>
>
>
>
>
>
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