Pc DVD Player Repair Basics

Most computer DVD player repair usually consists of basic fixes, due to the low prices in general of DVD drives  much of the time it’s easier and cheaper to simply replace the drive rather than spending too much time working on it.

But read on and checkout our basic DVD player repair list

Connections
After a time both the data and power connections can become tarnished and as such the integrity of the connection can be compromised, if the drive appears to be completely dead try reseating the power cable, if the drive drawer mechanism works, but the drive still cannot be seen from windows reseat the data cable from both the DVD drive and the motherboard ends.

Drive cannot be seen from Windows interface

More of often than not the issue will be related to the operating system, after checking the connections as above, power on your computer and check in the BIOS and see if the drive is actually being seen.

If it’s seen in the BIOS, but not in windows this confirms that it’s a software issue, and not a physical problem with the drive itself.

If the drive simply will not record try disabling and re-enabling it from Windows device manager

Cannot Read or Write to Disks
this is perhaps the most common problem, usually the drive just needs cleaning. Due to the way the drive and the computer circulate air to keep everything cool it does tend to suck in various dirt, dust and grime, and depending on the air quality of the computers environment this can quickly become excessive, it only takes a very small piece of this to cause read or write problems. Excessive dirt and dust can easily cause multiple problems on a drive, which includes simply not being able to read the disk through to causing the drive to make odd noises.
 

This is where a good cleaning disk is required, normally it’s simply a CD with small brushes on it, you place the cleaning solvent on the brush or brushes and play the CD, it then cleans the DVD drives lens.

If the drive is seriously coked with dirt and dust then the only way to resolve this is to open up the drive (removing it from the computer) and agitating the dirt and dust and carefully removing using a paint brush and Hoover

I’d recommend taking the drive to your local computer shop but the cost of a new drive would probably be less than this.

Can the drive read some DVD’s ?
If your using movie DVD’s then make sure the DVD is of the same region as the DVD player, you can change the region lock, around 8 times before it permanently locks.

Firmware

Firmware upgrade can not only fix drive issues, it can also make a drive more resilient, fast and more compatible.
Firmware updates can be downloaded from the drive manufacturers support page.

Warning .. Applying the wrong firmware can render your drive permanently useless.

When reading or writing to DVD’s or CD make sure they have no finger prints, scratches etc, as this can cause problems. Checkout our page on repairing scratched DVD’s

DVD player repair is not for everyone many times it's a good excuse to upgrade, find out more about installing

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Computer adviser DVD player repair article