Question on the death of my dvd player
 

My old reliable 2 year old Sony DVD player bit the dust quite suddenly last night. It was working fine the last time i used it a couple of nights ago. Last night I pluncked a VCD someone had made into it and the player lost the ability to read any media. There is no way to plant a virus on a VCD correct?

I doubt this type of thing is possible but it went from fine to dead after inserting the disc. I traded online and its a "music VCD" that this person created. I'm sure i'm just being paranoid but just wnated to check that there is no realingment code possible or whatever. The DVD player is a HT type and not a computer type so I think the only virus I can get is the one from office space ;)
Thanks.
Jeff

Well, a DVD player is a computer. It's a one function computer, not like a multi-task PC, but a computer none the less. It has a BIOS, programming, memory, etc. and these things can be screwed with.

A virus? No. A virus spreads. However, it is possible to create a data disc that wipes out the flash memory of the player, making it a useless box. For this to have happened there are 2 things you need to think about:

1. Is your Sony player CD-R upgradeable? Meaning, does it have a flash ROM BIOS that can be reprogrammed via data burnt onto a CD-R? Some can, some can't. If yours can't be, then this wipes out any possibility of it being harmed by the supposed VCD. If the player is upgradeable via CD-R, then the next question is very important:

2. Did the guy on the internet who gave you the VCD know what make/model of DVD player you have? As far as I'm aware there is no general DVD killer out there. However, if your player is CD-R upgradable, and someone knows what type of player it is, they could give you a disc specifically for that player BIOS which could overwrite the programming with garbage data, which would make it not recognize any media.

You're probably right, it probably was a coincidence, but you asked! What I would do is find out if the player is upgradable, and then find out exactly how to upgrade it properly. An upgrade disc and a VCD are not going to look the same. Once you know what filename the player looks at to upgrade the flash ROM, all you have to do is check out the VCD on your PC and see if that file is there. In other words, if Sony player upgrades consist of 3 files called Sony_upgrade.exe, Flash.dat, and BIOS.dat and that VCD has them on it, you know it was a trick. If it doesn't you know it was a coincidence.

The good side of that is that if it was a BIOS killer, there's a good chance you could find and download a proper upgrade CD-R online to fix the problem.

Also, have you tried actually unplugging the player for 30 mins or so? That can help. Turning it off does not kill the power, and if something was scrambled in the BIOS it could be cleared up by unplugging it and letting the memory clear.

well the player is 2.5 years old and gets run a lot, either the lense is dirty or it was bad luck. Bought a new JVC 7 disc tonight and the VCD plays fine.... May try to clean the old player but I was dying for a reason to upgrade to progressive scan for my 47Panny. :)

Thanks for the feedback renaldow, the guy had no knowledge of my player so that was a long shot that he fried it purposfully...tried your other suggestions as well BTW.