Repair Of Supposedly Dvd Player
This supposedly dvd player was brought to me with complaints of showing ‘no disc’. When I did power it, it did not show any sign of life,and by this time customer had gone. So removed top cover and scrutinised the power board,noticed one secondary output e- cap had bulging top.
So I did replaced it and power on the device and it powered on, with a humming sound from the mechanism, so I pulled out the mechanical side, suspecting the loading motor rubber, infact the rubber belt was worn out,replace it and power on again. To my surprise the discs tray started opening and closing automatically and continually by its self.
I got confused, what could be the problem, since the impulse for tray ejection is coming from main board Ucontroller ic circuit, I decided to check the main board. I pull it out and scaned through it and check on few components and all tested good.So decided to check esr of all e- caps on board. Found two caps esr are over limit. (1000uf/16 and 47u/16).
This two caps were replaced, clean the lens with a spirit laced cotton bud and power on dvd player and the tray started working fine.
I noticed the RCA cable pins had been broken inside the video and audio output of player,these were remove technically.
Then I did try both cd and vcd disc,which perform well. But when I slot in a few dvd discs, to my surprise they did not rotate neither play at all, same discs were tested on another working dvd player, they all played well. So i did inform the customer about this new development and he said he has been using it play dvd discs. Then I suggested maybe to change the lens, which he refuted and decided to take player away with demand of refunding him part of his charged bill which I did after reaching a compromise for the refund.
This is picture of vcd disc playing on tv set below:
QUESTION: What can cause a dvd player not to be playing dvd discs while playing cd and vcd discs. I don’t understand, educate me please comrades.
Can I say this is a finished repair work?
P.S- If you enjoyed reading this, click here to subscribe to my blog (free subscription). That way, you’ll never miss a post. You can also forward this website link to your friends and colleagues-thanks!
Note: You can read his previous article on 5 KW Domestic Stabiliser Repair
(38)Dislikes
(1)
21 Comments
Leave a Reply
Albert van Bemmelen
April 19, 2025 at 5:50 pm
About not playing dvd discs maybe it was like in the Playstation 2 consoles is the case a dual laser head? One head calibrated to play the Playstation Sony games and a second head only for playing normal (audio) CD's?
Or here maybe some dvd video decoder chip is defect or a regional video codec protection is preventing playing those discs?
And you probably already know this but whatever is the case, never look directly into the invisible laser that probably looks like not working because the powerful infrared beam may for sure damage our eye sight! (which happened to an old colleague who tried to repair a cd/dvd player while thinking wrongly that the laser was inactive!).
And if the emitted laser beam is too weak maybe that is the reason those dvd discs fail to play?
At best you probably will need to find the service manual of this player to be able to check and measure (with an oscilloscope) the dvd signals and the controller voltages when a dvd is tested.
Parasuraman S
April 19, 2025 at 6:43 pm
You seem to be having very tough customers, dear Imoudu! The reason for it could be weak lens and/or software issue (the tray opening and closing by itself is such an indication, though you solved it) You could have tried to download the service manual and do a reset! Anyhow, it was a good job as you had brought back the set to working condition.
Did you try cleaning the lens a couple of times more?
Yogesh Panchal
April 19, 2025 at 11:35 pm
Good Job!Imoudu
Not reading CD/DVDs probable needs to clean laser Lense using IPA, sometime spindle Motor also cause the symptom. check the contains of CD which file codec used (like MP3/MP4 MPEG-1, DivX, AVI,some Old DVD players may not support all modern video formats like MKV, WMV, or certain high-definition video codec format.
Waleed Rishmawi
April 20, 2025 at 12:30 am
I would assume weak pick up lens. Sometimes I recalibrate the variable resister adjustment on the side of the lens ( depending on the model) and it works most of the time. Have a blessed day
Mark J
April 20, 2025 at 2:56 am
Imoudu it might a firmware issue or regional codes protection issue. You still did a good job. Thank you for sharing.
Muykit
April 21, 2025 at 12:24 am
Without you giving us the brand name of the DVD, should we suppose from the title of the article that the brand name is "Supposedly". Again from the picures no brand name can be read and even if it had a false brand name, "fake" is what I would still call it. I can single out a falsified DVD player from far. Mostly this kind had bald DVD indication, radio aerial, clock display, in-built speakers,a fan, to name but a few exras. They have a short life with frequent servicing in between. We technicians in Kenya stopped earning from their repair the moment digital TV terrestial transmission started around eight years ago, DVD players became idle.
Imoudu
April 21, 2025 at 5:43 am
Albert.B
Thanks for your inputs of suggestions,and care for our eyes sight.
Imoudu
April 21, 2025 at 5:48 am
Parasuraman.S
Thanks for your suggestions friend, however I did clean lens about twice,since it's delicate device.
Imoudu
April 21, 2025 at 5:53 am
Yogest.P
Oh...these are good informations that are handy to me for dvd player repairs,thanks.
Imoudu
April 21, 2025 at 5:59 am
Waleed.R
I never knew this resistor can be recalibrated,thanks for this information
Yogesh Panchal
April 21, 2025 at 2:48 pm
Imoudu,
He means to say there is a mini Preset on lens circuit.
https://www.ifixit.com/Answers/View/298694/Disc+is+not+spinning+with+a+new+laser+PlayStation+2
Mark J
April 22, 2025 at 9:06 am
You can recalibrate the laser. I forgot about that my self. It has been a while since I have done any repairs on a optical drive.
Imoudu
April 21, 2025 at 6:01 am
Mark.J
Thanks for the information and have a nice weekend.
Louis
April 22, 2025 at 7:36 am
It was not a DVD player. It is a vcd/ CD player. Vcd players can not play DVDs.
AdamS
April 22, 2025 at 8:38 pm
Although this appears to be a universal unit that will play both VCDs and DVDs, different wavelength lasers are required for playing the two different types of media.
It is most likely that the part of the laser that plays DVDs has worn out or failed.
Imoudu
April 23, 2025 at 4:45 am
Maybe Adams,thanks.
Imoudu
April 23, 2025 at 4:49 am
Muykit,
I suspected it to be one of those China poor quality type
Muykit
April 23, 2025 at 8:57 pm
Imoudu it remains undisputed that plenty of our (African countries) electronic gadgets are counterfeit. Its easy for a fabricated DVD player to tempt a willing buyer with its appealing in-built speakes and fancy flashy colourful LED lights, and when a buyer factors in the attractive price he/she falls for the irresistable temption. But shortly after briefly operating, its recident devils show up. Wont play DVD discs or USB flashdiscs. Your repaired one allegedly plays some CDs I have never heard of before and its SMPS is rather smallish. Its after I had bought a genuine DVD player by a reputable maker from Korea that my troubles with fake DVD players ended. It served me well for nine years, no repair, no nothing. But you see Imoudu, when everyone wanted to own them, shopkeepers made money by selling them and the disks, and spare parts, while technicians waited for them on their workbenches. So in as much as we may despise such like gadgets, on the other hand they immensely contribute to a thriving economy.
Muykit
April 24, 2025 at 12:16 pm
correction in the above article, I meant speakers and not "speakes" and it also should have been temptation, not "temption". I'm sorry for the mistakes.
Imoudu
April 26, 2025 at 3:54 am
Muykit
All you said are true,but what can we do in African since we hardly manufacture any device,we have no again saying at all.If you have been on this blog quite some time you would have read my article on a dvd smps that destroyed my two tv set same day,have a nice day.
Muykit
April 27, 2025 at 5:06 pm
I sure read it. If my memory servers me right one of the destroyed testscreens was small. However the article didnt have many pictures. Thanks for your articles.