Help! My DVD Player is not reading my DVDs
 

A few weeks ago, my DVD player stopped reading my DVDs -- I'd put a DVD in, and it would just say "Reading," and then nothing would happen. I bought one of those lens-cleaner discs, and that cleared it up for a few hours (maybe half a dozen) of playing time, but the problem returned. That worked for a few weeks (play for 6-8 hours, clean, repeat), but now, even when I put the lens cleaner in the DVD player, I get "Reading," and nothing else.

Does this sound like a fixable problem, or should I be shopping for a new player. It seems to my uneducated eye like the lens needs to be cleaned more thoroughly than the lens cleaner can clean it, but hwo feasible is it to take a DVD player apart, get to the lens, and (most importantly) put it back together when I'm done.

It would be helpful to know what brand and model of DVD player you have.

You shouldn't try to repair it yourself anyway. I don't know about the technical aspect of a laser in a DVD player, but I assume if you knock it out of alignment even a millionth of an inch, you will be having problems.

Did your DVD player receive a good WHACK?

"Cheaper" DVD players are as little as $60 these days. If your DVD player wasn't the highest quality, then it will probably be cheaper to replace it instead of repair it.

If you aren't interested in replacing it with the best DVD player out there, maybe now is the time to buy a PS2 or XBox system, with DVD player inside.

It's a Panasonic -- I'm at work now, so I don't have the model number. It's not high end, but it's not cheap, either. I bought it two years ago and paid around $500, but that included six speakers, so I'm assuming the player itself was only in the $350-$400 range in 2001.

I've bought myself a can of compressed air, so I'm going to try to shoot that into the tray assembly (short bursts only!) to see if I can knock any dust off the lens. If that doesn't work, I'll try disassembling it, because it's either that or buy a new one.

Will rubbing alcohol on a cotton swab damage any of the coatings on the lens?

Your DVD player's laser eye probably coming to it's end. Better
start looking for a new player.

For those of you who are sitting on the edge of your seats to find out how this ends --

I opened her up, attacked the lens with rubbing alcohol and compressed air, and put her back together. So far, everything seems to be working fine. Time will tell if the problem reoccurrs, but I have my fingers crossed that I won't need to replace my DVD player yet.

Try buying a laser lens cleaner to see if that will help.

http://www.bestbuy.com/Detail.asp?m=...at=&e=11044059

I use this after so many hours on all my dvd players.

Or if that doesn't help, try buying a laser lens cleaner. You might just have some dust on the lens. This one is pretty good:

http://www.bestbuy.com/Detail.asp?m=...at=&e=11044059

I suggest looking into a good lens cleaner. You might be able to find one at Best Buy.

I need to think of something new to say.

I recommend picking it up. It works good (I have a thread in here about a player problem and this worked like a charm). It also talks to you, and has a few Home Theatre setup things (like the THX ones in some DVDs).

I don't think anyone's suggested it yet, but look about investing in lens cleaner.