DIY laptop drive repair

Laser drives are widely used in electronics. Any DVD-player, CD / MP3-tape recorder, music center are equipped with a laser drive.

In most cases, such devices are repaired precisely because of the breakdown of laser drives.

Malfunctions caused by a breakdown of a laser drive are quite similar, and boil down to one thing - either the laser disc cannot be read, or the playback of music (CD / MP3) or video (DVD) fails.

It should be noted that the service life of a laser diode, which is included in any disk apparatus, is on average 3-5 years. It would be naive to think that a DVD player will last 10 years or more! Take a look at your DVD player manual ...

In general, the first thing to ask when a disk apparatus is brought to you for repair is how old the apparatus has been and how intensively it has been used. If the answer is 3 or more years, then the probability that the optical unit is faulty increases dramatically. How often the device was used is also important, because a laser drive is an electronic-mechanical device. The number of miniature motors in one laser drive is unlikely to be less than 2-3.

The first of the three - spindle drive. He is responsible for spinning the laser disc. A very large number of malfunctions are associated with it. Here's an example.

Second - optical block drive. This drive is responsible for positioning the laser head along the disc. It rarely fails.

Third - loading / unloading drive (LOAD). Unloading and loading the disk into the drive. Malfunctions of this engine are quite rare and usually easy to repair.

In practice, such a malfunction is common. Mostly in CD / MP3 car radios.

The sound often disappears during playback. It appears abruptly and also disappears. Stuttering is present.

Have DVD players the malfunction manifests itself as follows.

The disc is read for a very long time, after which the display shows (ERROR or NO DISK). The disk may freeze up accidentally. Reinserting the disc solves the problem and the recorded disc plays back normally.

The reason for this "incomprehensible" behavior is not associated with a malfunction of the optical laser unit, but with a malfunction of the spindle drive.

The fact is that the spindle motor must spin up at a certain speed. The speed is adjusted by a feedback system. So don't think that the disc is spinning by itself. Applied 3 volts to the engine and that's it! Not! The speed of rotation of the disk is regulated by a complex adjustment system. If the spindle motor is defective, then even the correction system does not handle well and malfunctions occur. The engine does not give out the required rpm, it “fails”.

Therefore, if the malfunction described below appears, do not rush to replace the optical laser unit!

Replacing the spindle drive is cheaper than buying an optical laser unit. You can temporarily replace the drive with a motor from another device or find a suitable one in the store.

A very common problem is with CD / MP3 recorders with vertical disc installation.

The disc spins up, but the disc does not load. Writes ERROR or NO DISK.

The optical laser unit is afraid of dust and dirt... A thin finely dispersed dust deposit on the upper lens is enough for the disc to stop being read. Vertical disc recorders are more vulnerable to dust, the disc is loaded from above and the amount of dust that gets in increases.

In this case, disc car radios are more protected, they have a slot loading disc.

Fine dust deposits can be removed from the surface of the lens of the laser unit with an ordinary cotton swab or just a piece of cotton wool. Moisten cotton wool with cleaning agents no need, you can ruin the lens! Using a cotton swab 3-4 times on the surface of the lens in a circular motion. Making sure that there are no residues of coarse dust on the lens and that's it!

Do not press on the lens, it is attached to spring cables! They supply power to the focusing electromagnet. They are quite sturdy, but with excessive force they can be damaged.

It is not uncommon that after such a simple cleaning, the operation of the device is completely restored.

The main difficulty in this operation is to properly disassemble the device and get to the laser head. This is most difficult for music centers with a 3-disc loading unit or changer (when the discs are placed in a box - like plates in a dryer), as well as for car CD / MP3 players and DVD players with a slot loading disc.

Therefore, on the pages of the site, I posted information on disassembling all kinds of CD drives:

These techniques will help if you need to disassemble a CD drive, but there is no experience in this matter.

Sometimes cleaning the lens does not help. The reason is that there is a prism inside the optical unit, dust will settle on it over time. It makes no sense to disassemble the optical unit. Better to replace the entire block.

When repairing electronics with faults that clearly indicate a defect in the laser drive, you can use the following techniques:

Check the mechanical part of the laser drive for jamming of gears, carriages, serviceability of flexible connecting cables. It is better to “ring” flexible cables with a multimeter, and it is better to check with a replacement. Very often the loop “rings” by the multimeter as if it is working, but since it bends during operation, the bad contact again makes itself felt.

In DVD players, the “weakest” ribbon is the one that connects the laser head to the main board. Replacing it often fixes a problem with a “freeze” disk, bad or long loading of the disk, and playback failures.

Check if there is a laser light. After inserting the disc, the red laser turns on (only for DVD) for a few seconds. At this moment, it is necessary to check the presence of a glow while looking from the side. Remember! Laser is harmful for health! Direct eye contact with the laser beam can result in loss of vision. Be careful!

Clean the lens of the optical unit. How to do this has already been described.

Visually trace the loading of the disc, its spinning. Replace the spindle drive using the substitution method.

If possible, replace, at least temporarily, for inspection, the laser optical unit. Here's how to quickly replace laser in DVD.

In addition to the laser, there may be other causes of the malfunction. I have already talked about the main malfunctions of DVD-players.

The topic of repairing disk devices is quite extensive, here are just a few recommendations and tips. For a deeper understanding of the operation of laser disc players, it will not be superfluous to familiarize yourself with the general principles of operation of such devices. I think the book “CD-players. Circuitry "Avramenko YF, will be very useful for understanding the operation of disk devices.

The disk drive is a rather complex mechanism, but it can also be repaired by yourself. A little understanding of how a CD or DVD-ROM works is enough. Naturally, laptop repair is best trusted by professionals, but if you are confident in your abilities, then you can try to do everything yourself. If the disc cannot be read, then there can be many different reasons: from mechanical problems to software failure.

To get to the floppy drive in any laptop, you first need to disassemble the device.For this, the back cover is removed, and the screws are unscrewed in a certain order. How to do this correctly, it is better to look on the Internet, where there is a video for almost any laptop model with detailed disassembly instructions. It should be noted that if the device is still under warranty, then it is not recommended to disassemble it yourself. It is enough to contact the store or the manufacturer with a breakdown.

Quite often in laptops, the device for extending the drive breaks down. If you look more closely, this function is performed by a separate mini-motor, which is connected to the drive itself by gears. The teeth are often erased, so you just need to restore them. To do this, a small amount of straightened plastic is dripped on top, and then wiped with a file to shape.

If it is the disc reader that is faulty, then you need to check if the laser is working, and also if there is no dirt at the landing site. Most often, problems begin precisely because of dirt, and therefore you must first carefully wipe all elements of the system.

The drive device is very complex and highly accurate, so it may not be possible to repair it. But the cost of this mechanism is not so great, therefore it is better to purchase a new part and replace it. To do this is quite simple, just look at the instructions on the web.

You can fix a floppy drive malfunction with your own hands, in this article we will try to disassemble the principle of operation of a CD-ROM, and also consider one of the ways to bring it back to life using the example of the Samsung SCR-2431 model.

So, we have a problem: the drive does not read discs. The reasons for the breakdown can be mechanical or hidden in the electronics. All electronics malfunctions are the business of specialists, an attempt to independently repair a computer at home will lead to irreversible consequences.

The mechanical part consists of:

• spindle motor;
• optical head unit;
• a drive that moves the optical head;
• disk loading system.

The function of the motor is to drive the disc into rotation at high speed. The optical head unit consists of:

• laser emitter;
• photodetector;
• focusing system;
• preamplifier.

The focusing system tracks the beats of the disk in the vertical plane. A separate motor is responsible for the radial movement of the optical head; it is connected by a worm or gear drive with a carriage moving along the guides.

• tray;
• motor driving the tray;
• a mechanism that sets the disc to the working position by raising the mechanics with the motor, or by lowering the disc onto the spindle motor.

Pull out the drive tray, removing the lock: insert a straightened paper clip into the small hole on the front panel, gently press. We unscrew the screws securing the top cover, we get access to the insides of the drive. Before proceeding with the repair of your computer, remember that you cannot do the following:

• do not look directly into the laser lens - you can seriously damage your eyesight!
• Do not leave the disc in the disassembled drive - spinning at high speed, it can break off the motor shaft and cause serious injury!

We proceed to the analysis of faults.

In the vast majority of drives, racking-out-racking is carried out using a separate motor. In the model considered here, this function is performed by a motor that moves the optics carriage. The sliding tray presses on a lever that pushes the carriage towards the gears connected to the engine, at the same time the tray comes out of this area. The stand with the disc is lowered and the disc is pressed against the spindle motor shaft. A sophisticated lever system creates an increased load on the last tooth on the tray.In addition, the gear driving the tray only half touches the line of teeth - the result is shearing off the lower half of the last tooth. A symptom of this malfunction is an incomplete latch of the tray and the impossibility of its extension, or its extension, accompanied by grinding sounds.

The solution to the problem is to restore the erased tooth. Put a small amount of melted plastic on it. After it has hardened, shape it into a prong shape using a file. You can also try raising the drive chute to move the gear to the same height as the top half of the tine. We also recommend lubricating the mechanism and checking the integrity of the rubber belt that drives the tray, which is available in some models - the causes of the malfunction may be hidden here.

In the case when everything is normal with the load, but the drive still does not function, it is necessary to check the system that moves the optical head and the spindle motor. Connect the opened disk drive to the computer and make sure that the engine starts up for a short time, and that the carriage and laser move when closed. You will notice a red glow from the laser (viewed from a specific angle).

The lack of rotation of the electric motor, as well as the immobility of the carriage, indicates a malfunction of the control microcircuit or the engine itself. Let's check the performance of the engine: by disconnecting it from the printed circuit board, apply a voltage of +5 V, connecting it to an external source. If the problem is in it, then you will have to replace it with an analog, if in the microcircuit, then only a specialist will help you. The immobility of the carriage can be caused by wear of the elements of the worm (gear) transmission. The solution to the problem is to replace the part.

It is easier to repair the drive at home if the discs are not readable, but the laser is on, the engine and carriage are working properly. The problem may be rooted in:

• misalignment of the spindle motor;
• contamination of the landing site for the optical system and disc.

Wipe the laser lens with a soft brush, grease the axles that move the gear carriage and guides. Check and retighten the motor mount if necessary. Wipe the rubberized ring located on the seat with alcohol. We assemble the drive and check its performance. In the overwhelming majority of cases, the malfunction is eliminated, but if the functionality cannot be returned, then you need a wizard.

The Computer Support Center is always ready to assist in the restoration of the drive, as well as return the lost functionality to the system. Call us - we will quickly solve any problem!

Breakage of a DVD or CD drive in laptops is the most common flaw in devices that have been in operation for more than 2-3 years. Dust, which will definitely settle on the focusing lens after many years of operation, for sure, if it does not lead to a complete failure of the drive, it will make its operation less reliable and faster. The reason for the complete refusal to perceive or write information from a computer to an optical medium may lie in both the hardware and software malfunction of the system. Remember, the optical drive in laptops can refuse to read DVDs for a variety of reasons.

Secondly, if the drive refused to accept the boot disk, then most likely there is a hardware problem. Often, the whole solution to the problem comes down to the fact that it is necessary to clean the focusing lens. Dust on this lens prevents the laser head's beam from transmitting normally reflected from the DVD disc. If at any stage of operation this led to read or write errors, then one "fine" day the drive may simply refuse to read a completely clean and new disc.The most correct way to solve this problem is to clean the focusing lens.

Now the so-called cleaning discs have become widespread. The idea of ​​such discs is certainly good, but the technical design is not always acceptable. Some samples can, instead of being useful, simply "finish off" the sensitive mechanisms and optics of the laser head. Also, improper use of cleaning discs can lead to the fact that the user himself will simply "finish off" the drive. The instructions for such discs are often written either in English or in Chinese, which makes the understanding of the principle of operation, purpose and use of such a disc simply inaccessible to a Russian-speaking person. The main mistake of users is the incorrect application of the cleaning liquid. As a rule, it only needs to be applied to certain cleaning bumps, and very little, with the disc at about a 45-degree angle to the horizon. An excessive amount of this liquid simply floods the laser head, making reading information virtually impossible.

If we talk about Chinese cleaning discs from the category of 100-150 rubles, then their purchase will not be justified both from the practical and from the economic point of view. And if your problem isn't the lens, then it's money wasted. To protect the reputation of the cleaning discs, we note that new contactless cleaning discs are now emerging. Their main difference is that they work like wind turbines, that is, they blow through the laser head without direct contact. It is these cleaning discs that we recommend purchasing without fear of harming the sensitive elements of the optical drive.

Many repairmen, although they themselves sometimes recommend using cleaning discs, never use them. The cleaning disc is a solution for novice users and housewives. It is much more professional and better to clean the drive only when you take it out of the laptop and disassemble it. To disassemble the drive, you do not need any complicated equipment and conditions. All you need is a table, a set of screwdrivers, a paper clip, a needle, a syringe, ear sticks, and isopropyl alcohol.

First, you need to power off the laptop. We turn it face down, remove the battery.

No matter how funny and unreliable it may seem, the fact remains: on all modern laptops, all fastening of the drive to the laptop is done with one screw. Take a thin Phillips screwdriver and remove it.

Next, using a straightened paper clip or a medical needle, open the drive through a special technological hole.

Also, this method can be adopted when you urgently need to pull out the disk, and the electricity is turned off, and the battery is discharged. After inserting a needle or paper clip into the technological hole, the drive obediently opens, and you can pull it out completely by pulling on the disc tray.

Turning the opened optical drive face down reveals a rear panel cover that hides many important elements of the laser system.

Remove the 4 retaining screws, and the cover obediently comes off without the slightest effort on your part. After removing the back panel cover of the laser drive, we have access to the back of the laser diode, as well as the optical system.

We recommend that you thoroughly purge the entire system from a can of compressed air in order to remove all dust.

Then you can put on the cover and also tighten the 4 fixing screws.

The lens is very sensitive to touch, so it’s better not to touch it again with your hands or tools. For a start, you can try to limit yourself to blowing from a can of compressed air.

If this does not help, we recommend using an ear stick previously moistened with 90% isopropyl alcohol to wipe the lens. With the second dry and clean end of the stick, you need to remove the rest of the alcohol. Remember that it is simply unacceptable to use cologne, moonshine, vodka for these purposes. You will only do much harm. Isopropyl alcohol evaporates quickly, is relatively non-toxic, and does not leave marks on glass and lenses, which is very important within the technical task. Then it is necessary to dry everything again from a can of compressed air. All that remains is to assemble everything, insert the drive and screw in the mounting screw. The assembly is simple and intuitive.

Finally, we note that in some cases, the breakdown still cannot be eliminated, since it can be hidden in a burned-out LED laser, in worn out mechanics, in burned-out driver microcircuits, etc. Therefore, the last option for repair is a complete replacement of the DVD drive.

DVD-ROM is one of the most fragile devices that can fail. This is not even connected with the actions of the user, but rather with the design. The many mechanical parts that need to be electronically coordinated, the high operating frequency and the need to maintain positioning accuracy - all of these factors greatly influence the ultimate life of the actuator.

In addition to the design itself, the constant race between the manufacturers of discs and the DVD-ROM itself has a negative impact on performance. Some try to release recording discs as quickly as possible, others try to catch up with them, forgetting to update already released devices in time. By the way, this is the first problem that may arise during long-term use of the laptop - the lack of the correct firmware. In order to fix this problem, you can proceed as follows:

• Search for a new firmware that eliminates the incompatibility on the website of the laptop model manufacturer;
• Search the Internet for sites the subject of which is the removal of the zoning of drives.

Using this advice, you can either fix the problems that have arisen in the drive, or just keep up with the times by installing new firmware.

It happens that the drive still starts to "junk", or even refuses to work. To identify and eliminate a breakdown, you can use the following step-by-step instructions:

If after performing the above steps there are no changes, you must take the drive to a service center, or replace it yourself.

In case of replacing the old drive with a new one (in case of unrecoverable breakdowns, updating the laptop), there may be a problem with the operation of drives in two modes: primary slave or secondary master. You can solve the problem by updating the firmware, which will change the mode, or fix the defect manually by installing the cable select jumper. But often, the installation of a jumper is not constructively provided, then it is necessary to re-insert it manually. This requires:

• Disassemble the laptop to access the DVD-ROM;
• Remove it from the laptop, carefully disconnecting the connections;
• Unscrew the fastening screws from the drive housing;
• Using a thin wire, pushing on the hole in the drive, open the tray;
• Remove the cover and pull out the tray;
• In the IDE connector of a laptop, a small jumper must be inserted between pins 47 and 49 (counting should be taken from the corner closer to which the connector is located);
• Assemble back, checking the operability of the drive.

In addition, when replacing the drive, there may be a problem in that you can damage the old slide or adapter. You will have to look for a similar one on the market, or order an original drive with all the mounting elements. Therefore, the main rule when replacing a drive is not to throw out the fasteners and handle them carefully. Also, do not throw out the front panel, becausein some laptop models, it is not straight, but has an original shape (bent or bent). More often than not, a new analog drive may have a standard straight front bezel, which will look unaesthetic, or even prevent the drive from being installed properly.

Disk drive repair. Prevention and Treatment.

Mechanical failures are the main causes of drive failures. They make up about 75-80% of the total number of malfunctions and repairs associated with it. Moreover, most often the reasons for the failure of DVD drives (any, not only computer ones) are contamination of the moving parts of the disc transport mechanism and dust accumulated on the optics. Repairing a drive will almost guarantee it will be adequate to the cost of a new one, so we carefully read and weigh whether the skin is worth the candle.

Repairing a floppy drive is not a trivial task.

The presence of dust and dirt on the moving parts of the mechanism, especially on the edges of the movable carriage sled, makes it impossible to lock the drive mechanism holding the disc, as a result of which the device does not fix the disc and constantly throws it out. If, on the contrary, the drive ejects the tray and immediately picks it up, then, most likely, the cause of the defect is the failure of the tray position sensor. The fact that the tray is thrown out is determined by the drive with the help of a contact sensor, which should be found, try to correct its position, repair or replace. Repairing the drive itself is not necessary here; from time to time, just make sure that dirt does not accumulate in the places where the slide moves.

In order to clean the dust from the drive of the drive, you can first confine yourself to partial disassembly (pull out the tray and remove the front panel), and then blow the interior of the drive with a vacuum cleaner configured to blow out the air flow. It's not about repairing the drive yet.

The optical drive system often fails due to dust accumulated on the focal lens or prism. If blowing out the device does not help, you can try dusting the lens with a soft flannel or brush as shown.

Remember that under no circumstances should you use alcohol or solvents for cleaning!

The focus lenses of most modern optical drives are made of organic plastic, and the solvent will irreversibly damage their surfaces. It is best to wipe a heavily soiled lens with a piece of stiff paper (at worst with a cotton swab, being careful not to leave any lint). This operation is carried out with extreme caution, as the suspension of the laser itself can be damaged. In this case, repairing a drive will be expensive, almost equal to the cost of the drive itself.

The situation is more complicated with the prism that stands behind the lens - it is extremely difficult to get to it. Moreover, the head, as a rule, is not collapsible, but even if it can be disassembled, then you can knock down its settings. Therefore, for most drives, a dirty lens means it is completely unusable. Sometimes the optical system fails even due to an ordinary hair caught on the prism - in this case, again, you can try to blow through the system with a powerful stream of air. Otherwise, the repair of the drive (its cost) will be unreasonably high.

By the way, it is not recommended to use special discs for cleaning optics, supposedly specially designed for this. Most of them will not only fail to clean your drive, but they can even seriously damage it. After all, modern optical drives spin the disc to a very high speed and at the same time have a very delicate reading head, so if your device is dear to you, then do not clean it with the help of such devices. This will no longer be a repair of the drive, but an almost deliberate destruction of the drive.

However, most drives operating under normal conditions do not survive to the stage where dust can cause failures. Most often, the plastic of the lens simply becomes cloudy from time to time and / or from overheating of the drive in the system unit. Disk drive repair consists of an expensive replacement of the laser read head. However, such a malfunction accounts for no more than 10% of cases. Here you can, of course, advise to increase the intensity of the laser glow. For this, the variable resistor installed on the carriage with the laser is regulated. The slider of this variable resistor is turned clockwise by 20-30 °, after which the fact of rotation of the drive motor is checked when the disk is installed. If the disk does not begin to rotate, then turn the variable resistor slider another 20-30 °, and continue this way until the motor starts (it should start and for some time - about 10-20 seconds - rotate at a constant speed) ...

The need to rotate a variable resistor that regulates the intensity of the laser light is due to the fact that over time the power of the laser light flux decreases (aging of the elements, clouding of the lens, etc.), however, after such an adjustment, the optical system usually does not last long anyway. Such allegedly repairing a drive is no longer practiced.

You will hardly be able to eliminate other malfunctions of the optoelectronic information reading system on your own. Despite its small size, the optical system of the DVD drive is a very sophisticated and precise optical device, including servo control systems for the rotation of the disc, positioning of the laser reader, autofocus, radial tracking, and a readout and laser diode control system. Repairing the drive is not worth it in this case.

Typical signs of a malfunction are either the lack of rotation of the disk, or, conversely, its constant acceleration to the maximum rotation speed. When you try to remove a disc from a faulty drive using the controls, the carriage opens with the disc rotating on it.

In the operation of a working system, the following phases should be clearly traced:

• start and smooth acceleration of the disk;

• steady state of rotation;

• interval of braking to a complete stop;

• removal of the disk by the carriage tray from the engine spindle and its removal out of the drive.

You can check that the optical system of the drive is working properly by opening the case of the device and observing its operation. You can make sure that the disc spins up after installation by connecting only the power cord to the drive (the data cable is not connected in this case). If the disk does not rotate after installation, then check whether the laser is shining when the carriage is installed in the working position, but without the disk. Sometimes the glow of the laser is not visible in daylight, so the room needs to be darkened. Observation of the laser lens should be carried out from different angles.

In modern optical devices, the presence of a disc is controlled by the laser itself. If the photosensor installed in the laser carriage receives a reflected signal from the disk, then the electronic circuit perceives this signal as “presence of the disk” and only after that generates a command to turn on the main engine of rotation. Therefore, if the intensity of the laser light is insufficient, then the disc will not spin up and the repair of the drive will become inevitable.

The servo system for positioning the information readout head provides a smooth approach of the head to the specified recording track with an error not exceeding half the track width in the search modes for the required piece of information and normal playback. The movement of the read head, and with it the laser beam along the disk field, is carried out by the head motor.Engine operation is controlled by forward and reverse motion signals from the control processor, as well as signals from the radial error processor. Typical signs of a malfunction are both the erratic movement of the head along the guides and its immobility.

You can visually check the correctness of the focusing system. At the start of the disc, the control processor generates correction signals that provide multiple (two to three attempts) vertical movement of the focus lens, which is necessary to accurately focus the beam on the disc track. When focus is detected, a signal is generated to enable reading of information. If after two or three attempts this signal does not appear, then the control processor shuts down all systems and the disk stops. Thus, the operability of the focusing system can be judged both by the characteristic movements of the focal lens at the moment of starting the disk, and by the signal to start the disk acceleration mode upon successful focusing of the laser beam. Other parameters of the correct operation of the optical system are not visually determined.

Optical drives also have many mechanical components that require lubrication of the rubbing parts. The lack of lubrication leads to the fact that the drive hardly pushes the carriage with the disk, and the carriage lock can generally jam, and then the use of the drive will become completely impossible. The lubricant must be applied carefully, after having completely disassembled the device (the places where it is required, as a rule, are clearly visible). Before lubrication, it will be useful to clean the lubrication points of dust and dirt. The fact is that if you miss the moment when you need to apply lubricant, then the difficulty of sliding will lead to mechanical damage to the parts of the transport mechanism or to a violation of its adjustments, which, in turn, will entail either the stop of the carriage mechanism in an intermediate position, or slipping of the disc during rotation time.

A similar situation can arise due to grease on the friction surfaces of the disc holder due to the frequent use of dirty DVD discs, which ultimately leads to unreliable operation of the drive, even to a complete stop.

Contamination of the disc drive seat and poor clamping of the disc to the seat can be eliminated by cleaning the disc seat with any cloth moistened with alcohol.

You can check if there is enough force to hold the disc against the seat when trying to play a regular disc. If there are no errors or failures during disc playback, and the disc with computer data is still unstable to read, you can take additional measures - bend the springs or increase the weight to increase the pressure on the disc from above.

Other mechanical failures include jamming of the disc on the transport carriage (in this case, the disc does not spin at all). Sometimes this happens because the seat of the disc spontaneously descends along the motor shaft and the disc touches the elements of the transport carriage. To eliminate this defect, the seat is moved upward along the shaft and its height is selected "by poking" so that the disc rotates without touching the structural elements, and also so that the drive ensures stable reading of all discs. After that, the position of the disc seat is carefully fixed on the shaft.

However, the listed mechanical faults relate mainly to simple mechanisms of relatively cheap drives. Expensive models, as a rule, have complex mechanisms, for which the main type of mechanical failure is fatal breakdown of the mechanism parts. Most often this happens due to the fact that the user, instead of using the control buttons, pushes the carriage with the disk inside the drive by hand. The consequences of such actions can be the most unpleasant.If a dirty and running mechanism is enough to clean, wipe, and lubricate it to perform its functions properly again, rushing and applying excessive force to the disc tray can cause breakdowns that will cause expensive and time-consuming drive repairs.

Finally, electronic component malfunctions are possible. However, their share is unlikely to exceed even a small fraction of all breakdowns. Unfortunately, modern optical drives are very complex electronic systems, and a faulty microcircuit does not differ in appearance from a working one. Accordingly, repairing a drive at home without preparation is impossible.

Now drives may cost less than a network card or video card, but this does not mean that they are just as simple. The optical drive has a rather complex design and, in addition to the mechanical part, contains at least two microcontrollers, a signal processor (DSP), a secondary voltage source, circuits for controlling mechanics, etc. Moreover, most of the microcircuits used in modern drives are specialized, and therefore, repairing a drive in its electronic part is hardly advisable.

Note that in an optical drive it is quite difficult to diagnose an electronics failure even with a sufficient degree of reliability. Indeed, depending on the error correction strategy chosen by the manufacturer for a particular model and, accordingly, on the complexity of the processor and the device as a whole, in practice this or that drive can work with different disks in different ways. This, by the way, explains a common situation when your disk is easily read on a colleague's machine, but your own PC does not even see it. In cheap models, the correction system can correct only one or two minor errors in a frame of information, and a complex expensive system can restore even serious and extended destruction of information, and it does this in several stages according to a complex algorithm. So the repair of the drive in this case will not work due to the absence of a malfunction as such.

Each manufacturer uses its own chipset or completes it with products from different manufacturers, and, of course, does not attach a description. Due to the fact that for each specific device it is necessary to search for specifications for almost every microcircuit separately, often even the specialists of service centers cannot always restore the operability of your device. If only because the repair of the drive will not be economically justified.

In short, if, after cleaning, checking all the wires and connections, as well as system settings, your DVD drive does not work, and the warranty for it has already expired, you may end up with a situation where you just have to throw out the old one and buy a new one.

Over time, the beech optical drive does not start reading all discs, it stops reading CD, CD-RV, DVD plus or minus R discs, and it has to read discs that it used to read much faster.

This behavior can be caused by dirt on the lens of the optical laser.

You can buy a cleaning CD, DVD disc, but it never helped my friends.

Or you can try to wipe the lens with your own hands.

This is done in a few minutes, for this we need a cotton swab or any clean, fluffy rag.

We open the drive with a paper clip or a button with the laptop turned on.

There is a hole for a paper clip next to the button.

Do not press hard there and the drive will open.

After opening the carriage, we immediately see the laser lens itself.

We must clean it, I twist a cotton swab on the lens trying to clean it from dirt.

We press with effort, it is difficult to break it.

After this procedure, you can look at the stick and assess the degree of contamination of the optical lens.

My stick remained white, so there was no dirt on the lens.

If there is dirt, the stick will be blackened.

When wiping, do not use any special products; it is enough to wipe the lens dry.

Or use neutral solutions.

Reactive solutions can corrode or cloud the lens.

I filmed the process of cleaning the lens in the video shown below.