Conditions for optical disk failure. Diagnostics and troubleshooting of DVD drives. Programs for reading bad disks

DVD player disk drive

Laser disk drives have become widespread in electronics. Any DVD player, CD/MP3 radio, or stereo system includes a laser drive.

In most cases, such devices need to be repaired precisely because the laser drives break down.

The malfunctions caused by a breakdown of the laser drive are quite similar and boil down to one thing - the laser disc is either unreadable, or music (CD/MP3) or video (DVD) playback fails.

It should be noted that the service life of the laser diode, which is included in any disk device, is on average 3-5 years. It is naive to think that a DVD player will work for 10 years or more! Check your DVD player's manual...

In general, the first thing you need to ask when they bring any disk drive to you for repair is how old the device is and how intensively it was used. If the answer is 3 or more years, then the likelihood that the optical unit is faulty increases sharply. 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.

First of three– spindle drive. He is responsible for promoting the laser disc. A very large number of malfunctions are associated with it. Here's an example.

Second– drive of the optical unit. This drive is responsible for positioning the laser head along the disk. Quite rarely it fails.

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

In practice, such a malfunction occurs. Mostly CD/MP3 car radio .

The sound often disappears during playback. It suddenly appears and also disappears. There is “stuttering”.

U DVD players The malfunction manifests itself as follows.

It takes a very long time to read the disc, after which the message ( ERROR or NO DISK ). It is possible that the disk may randomly freeze. Reinstalling the disc solves the problem and the recorded disc plays normally.

The reason for this “incomprehensible” behavior is not due to a malfunction of the optical laser unit, but to 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 the feedback system. So you don’t have to think that the disk is spinning on its own. I applied 3 volts to the engine and that’s it! No! The disc rotation speed is regulated by a complex adjustment system. If the spindle motor is faulty, then even the correction system does not cope well and failures occur. The engine does not produce the required speed, “fails”.

Therefore, if the malfunction described below occurs, 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 storage room.

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

The disk spins up, but the disk does not boot. Writes ERROR or NO DISK .

The optical laser unit is protected from dust and dirt. A thin, fine dust deposit on the top lens is enough to make the disc unreadable. Radios with vertical disk installation are more vulnerable to dust; the disk is loaded from above and the amount of dust entering increases.

In this case, disc car radios are more protected; they have slot loading of the disc.

Fine dust deposits can be removed from the surface of the laser unit lens with a regular cotton swab or just a piece of cotton wool. Wet the cotton wool with cleaning agents No need, you can ruin the lens! We rub a cotton swab over the surface of the lens in a circular motion 3-4 times. We make sure that there are no large dust residues on the lens and that’s it!

You should not press on the lens; it is attached to spring wires! They supply power to the focusing electromagnet. They are quite strong, but with excessive force they can be damaged.

It is not uncommon that after such 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 to do on 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 on car CD/MP3 players and DVD players with slot-loading discs.

Therefore, on the pages of the site I also posted information on disassembling various CD drives.

Modern personal computers cannot be imagined without optical disc readers. Storage media such as CD-ROMs appeared on the PC platform back in the late 80s of the last century, but they are still deservedly popular. Although CD-ROMs have been repeatedly predicted to quickly die and be replaced by DVD drives, they are still for a long time will be very relevant. However, the DVD drives that are gradually replacing them are not fundamentally different from CD-ROMs. And although recording methods and the amount of information have changed noticeably, the problems and malfunctions of new DVD devices are almost the same as those of previous CD drives.

and for a long time the existence of CD/DVD, probably for many of us the computer suddenly displayed unpleasant messages on the screen such as “disc missing” or “no connection with the device,” but it was impossible to obtain more specific information from the PC.

Such malfunctions can be associated either with a complete loss of functionality of the devices themselves, or with a refusal to read certain disks (while reading others normally). So-called conditional failures (floating faults) also cause a lot of trouble, when disk reading either suddenly stops and then resumes, or is carried out with errors.

Of course, many failures are associated with cheap pirated disks, the use of which can interfere with the smooth operation of the device. Moreover, in addition to the fact that the information on such a disk may not be readable, the use of unbalanced disks in high-speed drives often leads to the destruction of both the disk itself (it literally shatters into small fragments) and the structural elements of the reading device.

Therefore, when purchasing a disc, pay close attention to the quality of its manufacture. The disk should not have nicks, sagging or damage, and its working surface should be free of scratches and foreign inclusions (bubbles, visible irregularities, etc.). Moreover, check the discs both from the inside and from the outside, since the information layer is located just under the colorful CD/DVD label.

However, “pirates” are not always to blame for failures of optical drives. As practice has shown, failures of CD/DVD devices are already quite frequent.

Moreover, the most unpleasant thing is that a failure of the drive usually occurs completely inopportunely, when information is desperately needed, and it is impossible to urgently change the CD/DVD drive. It is precisely such cases that will be discussed in this article, because the cost of modern DVD drives, and even more so CD drives, is already so insignificant that there is no need to talk about serious repairs, since it will be only slightly cheaper than a new device.

Basic malfunctions of CD/DVD drives

It is not difficult to classify malfunctions of an optical drive based on external manifestations, but the reasons that caused them may be different.

The following manifestations of malfunctions can be distinguished:

The CD/DVD drive is not detected by the computer;
the drive is detected, but the disk does not spin up;
the tray is thrown away and immediately put back;
the disc is accepted and immediately thrown back;
The drive reads discs poorly or does not read them at all.

If the drive is not detected by the computer at all, then the reason may not be in it, but in the settings operating system, BIOS settings or a malfunction of the motherboard IDE controller.

Therefore, you first need to check the reliability of the connection between the power wires and the IDE cable suitable for the device. After this, check that the MASTER/SLAVE jumpers are installed correctly on all devices connected to this cable. The optical drive should not conflict with a hard drive connected to the same IDE interface cable. Then you should make sure that the BIOS settings are correct and see if it detects this optical drive and other devices connected to the same IDE cable. If the device is not detected, then you need to try disconnecting other devices from the IDE cable and connecting the cable itself to another controller. In the case of a CD-ROM with a SCSI interface, check that the address is set correctly (other SCSI devices should not have this address) and see if the device appears in the BIOS of the SCSI controller.

Then you should make sure that the CD/DVD drive is connected correctly to the operating system (whether the driver or program that allows the operating system to work with the device is correctly selected and installed).

If all else fails, then you may need to check whether the firmware in the ROM memory of the optical drive (most often it is Flash memory) is damaged, whether the secondary voltage source (3.3 V) or fuses (resistors) are burned out. To protect the power supply, an optical drive always has an additional filter, and sometimes additional 5 V stabilizers are installed, the failure of which usually leads to the same effect.

All other malfunctions can be divided into three types:

mechanical failures;
malfunction of the optical system;
malfunction of electronic components.

Prevention and treatment

The main causes of malfunctions of optical drives are, of course, mechanical failures. According to the experience of repair shops, they account for about 75-80% of the total number of faults. Moreover, most often the reasons for the failure of CD/DVD drives (both computer and household, intended for listening to music and watching movies) are contamination of the moving parts of the disc transport mechanism and dust accumulated on the optical parts.

The presence of dust and dirt on the moving parts of the mechanism, especially on the edges of the moving carriage slides, makes it impossible to lock the mechanism holding the disk, as a result of which the device does not lock the disk and constantly throws it out. If, on the contrary, the drive ejects the tray and immediately takes it back, then most likely the cause of the defect is a failure of the tray position sensor. The drive detects that the tray has been ejected using a contact sensor, which you should find and try to correct its position, repair or replace.

In order to clean the drive from dust, you can first limit it to partial disassembly (pull out the tray and remove the front panel), and then blow out the insides of the drive with a vacuum cleaner set to blow out an air stream.

The optical system often fails due to dust accumulated on the focal lens or prism. If blowing through the device does not help, you can try wiping off dust from the lens with a soft flannel or brush. Remember that under no circumstances should you use alcohol or solvents for cleaning! The focal lenses of most modern optical drives are made of organic plastic, and solvent will irreversibly damage their surface. It is best to wipe a heavily soiled lens with a piece of hard paper. This operation is carried out extremely carefully, as the suspension of the laser itself can be damaged.

The situation is more complicated with the prism, which is located behind the lens; it is extremely difficult to get to it. Moreover, the head, as a rule, is not dismountable, but even if it is disassembled, its settings can be lost. Therefore, for most drives, contamination of the lens means its complete unsuitability. Sometimes the optical system fails even due to an ordinary hair falling on the prism; in this case, again, you can try to blow through the system with a powerful stream of air.

By the way, it is not recommended to use special discs supposedly designed specifically for this purpose to clean optics. Most of them will not only fail to clean your drive, but may even seriously damage it. After all, modern optical drives spin the disk to a very high speed and at the same time have a very delicate read head, so if you value your device, then do not clean it using such devices.

However, most drives operating under normal conditions do not reach the stage where increased dust levels can cause failures. Most often, the plastic of the lens simply becomes cloudy over time and/or due to overheating of the drive in system unit. Such a malfunction can only be eliminated by an expensive replacement of the laser read head. However, such a malfunction accounts for no more than 10% of cases. Here we can, of course, advise increasing the intensity of the laser glow. To do this, adjust the variable resistor installed on the carriage with the laser (usually it is very small, 5-7×2-5 mm). Turn the slider of this variable resistor clockwise by 20-30°, and then check the rotation of the drive motor when installing the disk. If the disk does not begin to rotate, then turn the variable resistor slider another 20-30°, and continue this until the engine starts (it should start and rotate at a constant speed for some time - about 10-20 seconds) .

The need to rotate the variable resistor that regulates the intensity of the laser glow is due to the fact that over time the power of the laser light flux decreases (aging of elements, clouding of the lens, etc.), however, after such adjustment, the optical system usually still does not last long.

You are unlikely to be able to fix other malfunctions of the optical-electronic information reading system on your own. Despite its small size, the optical system of a CD/DVD drive is a very complex and precise optical device, including servo systems for controlling disk rotation, laser reader positioning, autofocus, radial tracking, and laser diode sensing and control systems.

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

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

Start and smooth acceleration of the disk;

Steady rotation mode;

Braking interval to a complete stop;

Using the carriage tray, remove the disk from the motor spindle and take it out of the drive.

You can check whether the optical drive system is working properly by opening the device and observing its operation. You can verify whether the disk spins up after installation by connecting only the power cord to the drive (the data cable is not connected). If the disk does not rotate after installation, then check whether the laser lights up when the carriage is installed in the working position, but without the disk. Sometimes the laser glow 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 disk is monitored by the laser itself. If the photosensor installed in the laser carriage receives a reflected signal from the disk, then electronic circuit perceives this signal as “the presence of a disk” and only after that generates a command to turn on the main rotation motor. Consequently, if the intensity of the laser light is insufficient, the disk will not spin.

The servo system for positioning the information reading head ensures a smooth approach of the head to a given recording track with an error not exceeding half the track width in the search modes for the required piece of information and normal playback. Moving the reading head, and with it 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 generated by the radial error processor. Characteristic signs of a malfunction are both erratic movement of the head along the guides and its immobility.

You can visually check the correct operation of the focusing system. At the moment the disk starts, the control processor generates correction signals that provide multiple (two or three attempts) vertical movement of the focal lens necessary to accurately focus the beam on the disk track. When a focus is detected, a signal is generated that allows information to be read. If after two or three attempts this signal does not appear, the control processor turns off all systems and the disk stops. Thus, the performance of the focusing system can be judged both by the characteristic movements of the focal lens at the moment the disk starts, and by the signal that starts the disk acceleration mode when the laser beam is successfully focused. Other parameters for the correct operation of the optical system are not visually determined.

Optical drives also have many mechanical components that require lubrication of rubbing parts. Lack of lubrication leads to the fact that the drive has difficulty pushing out the carriage with the disk, and the carriage lock may even jam, and then using the disk drive will become impossible at all. Lubricant must be applied carefully, after completely disassembling the device (the places where it is required are usually clearly visible). Before lubrication, it is a good idea to clean the lubrication points from dust and dirt. The fact is that if you miss the moment when it is necessary to apply lubricant, then the difficulty in sliding will lead to mechanical breakdowns of the parts of the transport mechanism or disruption of its adjustments, which, in turn, will entail either stopping the carriage mechanism in an intermediate position, or slipping the disk in rotation time.

A similar situation can also arise due to clogging of the friction surfaces of the disc holder due to the frequent use of dirty CD/DVD discs, which ultimately leads to unreliable operation of the drive, even to its complete stop.

Pollution seat disk drive and weak pressing of the disk to the seat can be eliminated by cleaning the disk seat with any woven material soaked in alcohol.

You can check whether the pressing force of the disc to the seat is sufficient when trying to play a regular audio disc. If there are no errors or glitches when playing an audio disc, but the disc with computer data is still unreadable, you can accept additional measures bend the springs or increase the weight to increase the pressure on the disk from above.

Other mechanical failures include jamming of the disk on the transport carriage (in this case, the disk does not unwind at all). Sometimes this happens because the disk seat spontaneously lowers along the motor shaft and the disk touches the elements of the transport carriage. To eliminate this defect, the seat is moved upward along the shaft and its height is selected using the “poke method” so that the disk rotates without touching the structural elements, and also so that the drive ensures stable reading of all disks. After this, the position of the disk 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 irreparable breakdown of mechanism parts. Most often this happens because the user, instead of using the control buttons, pushes the carriage with the disk inside the drive with his hand. The consequences of such actions can be the most unpleasant. If a dirty and neglected mechanism is sufficiently cleaned, wiped and lubricated for it to perform its functions properly again, then haste and the application of excessive force to the disc tray can cause breakdowns that can only be eliminated by expensive and time-consuming repairs.

Finally, electronic components may malfunction. However, their share hardly exceeds 5-6% of all breakdowns. Unfortunately, modern optical drives are quite complex. electronic systems, and the faulty microcircuit is appearance no different from the correct one.

Now CD/DVD drives may cost less than some 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 the mechanics, etc. Moreover, most microcircuits used in modern drives are specialized, and therefore, repairing the electronic part is hardly advisable.

Note that it is quite difficult to diagnose electronic failures in an optical drive, 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, a particular drive can work with different disks in different ways. This, by the way, explains the often encountered situation when your disk can be 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 the information frame, but a complex, expensive system can restore even serious and extensive destruction of information, and it does this in several stages using a complex algorithm.

Each manufacturer uses its own set of chips or completes it with products from different manufacturers, and, of course, does not provide descriptions. Due to the fact that for each specific device it is necessary to look for specifications for almost each microcircuit separately, often even service center specialists cannot always restore the functionality of your device.

In short, if after cleaning, checking all wires and connections, as well as system settings, your CD/DVD drive does not work, and its warranty has already expired, then simply throw it away and buy a new one.

Modern personal computers cannot be imagined without optical disc readers. Storage media such as CD-ROMs appeared on the PC platform back in the late 80s of the last century, but they are still deservedly popular. Although CD-ROMs have been repeatedly predicted to quickly die and be replaced by DVD drives, they will remain very relevant for a long time. However, the DVD drives that are gradually replacing them are not fundamentally different from CD-ROMs. And although recording methods and the amount of information have changed noticeably, the problems and malfunctions of new DVD devices are almost the same as those of previous CD drives.

However, “pirates” are not always to blame for failures of optical drives. As practice has shown, failures of CD/DVD devices are already quite frequent.

Basic malfunctions of CD/DVD drives

It is not difficult to classify malfunctions of an optical drive based on external manifestations, but the reasons that caused them may be different.

The following manifestations of malfunctions can be distinguished:

The CD/DVD drive is not detected by the computer;
the drive is detected, but the disk does not spin up;
the tray is thrown away and immediately put back;
the disc is accepted and immediately thrown back;
The drive reads discs poorly or does not read them at all.

If the drive is not detected by the computer at all, then the reason may not be there, but in the operating system settings, BIOS settings, or a malfunction of the motherboard IDE controller.

All other malfunctions can be divided into three types:

mechanical failures;
malfunction of the optical system;
malfunction of electronic components.

Prevention and treatment

However, most drives operating under normal conditions do not reach the stage where increased dust levels 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. Such a malfunction can only be eliminated by an expensive replacement of the laser read head. However, such a malfunction accounts for no more than 10% of cases. Here we can, of course, advise increasing the intensity of the laser glow. To do this, adjust the variable resistor installed on the carriage with the laser (usually it is very small, 5-7×2-5 mm). Turn the slider of this variable resistor clockwise by 20-30°, and then check the rotation of the drive motor when installing the disk. If the disk does not begin to rotate, then turn the variable resistor slider another 20-30°, and continue this until the engine starts (it should start and rotate at a constant speed for some time - about 10-20 seconds) .

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

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

Start and smooth acceleration of the disk;

Steady rotation mode;

Braking interval to a complete stop;

Using the carriage tray, remove the disk from the motor spindle and take it out of the drive.

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

The servo system for positioning the information reading head ensures a smooth approach of the head to a given 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 reading head, and with it the laser beam, moves across the disk field by the head motor. Engine operation is controlled by forward and reverse motion signals from the control processor, as well as signals generated by the radial error processor. Characteristic signs of a malfunction are both erratic movement of the head along the guides and its immobility.

Contamination of the disk drive seat and weak pressing of the disk to the seat can be eliminated by cleaning the disk seat with any woven material soaked in alcohol.

You can check whether the pressing force of the disc to the seat is sufficient when trying to play a regular audio disc. If there are no errors or glitches when playing an audio disc, but the disc with computer data is still readable unsteadily, you can take additional measures - bend the springs or increase the weight to increase the pressure on the disc from above.

Finally, electronic components may malfunction. However, their share hardly exceeds 5-6% of all breakdowns. Unfortunately, modern optical drives are very complex electronic systems, and a faulty microcircuit is no different in appearance from a working one.

Experienced laptop users personal computers We have long been accustomed to the fact that a laptop drive, when actively used, does not last as long as we would like. Their normal warranty period is not more than a year, so below we will talk about the most common damage and breakdowns, and also give several ways to successfully deal with the problem.

Causes

The disk drive laser, including for a laptop, operates in the most intensive mode. In this regard, breakdowns of this device occur very often. Many users have not paid attention to this for a long time. This approach is explained by free access to the Internet, where you can download any file. Moreover, the information is transferred directly to the computer without loading a disk. An alternative is virtual disks created by various software. Some of the utilities may be installed immediately before selling the laptop. If such an option is provided by the manufacturer.

Main problems and methods for eliminating them

The drive is damaged by a flying disc. First of all, you need to clean the device from debris. You can disassemble it yourself. You just have to unscrew a few screws and remove the cover. After removing all small objects, shake the drive. The characteristic noise or its absence will tell you whether there are disk fragments left or not.
The laptop drive does not play media. In most of these cases, the laser in the device is worn out, so the disc is not readable. The laser itself cannot be replaced, so the user will be helped by purchasing new reading equipment. A more optimistic option involves minor damage. In this case, a regular visit to a repair shop for such equipment will help.
The laptop drive has stopped writing information to blank discs. This problem should be divided into two points. Firstly, a person may not record correctly or use incorrect programs. Finding a more proven one will help here. software(most people use Nero) and study this issue in more detail. If the user does all the steps correctly, then the second point is inevitable. It means that the laptop drive is functioning and needs to be taken to the workshop. In this case, a warranty can help. If it is still valid, then the service center will do everything possible to fix the problems, including replacing the drive.

Conclusion

It remains to add that laptop drives are fragile and short-lived things. But if you take preventive measures (cleaning, careful handling, avoiding accidental impacts), the device can last much longer. In any case, sooner or later the drive will have to be replaced or switched to one of the alternative options. And we hope that this article will easily help you understand this issue.

Modern laptops are characterized by a set various functions, however, at the same time its very fragile components. The slightest damage is enough for one or another part of the device to stop functioning.

Today we will talk about disk drive malfunctions and consider possible ways to eliminate them. This device is extremely necessary, especially during a trip to nature, when you would like to watch movies or show memorable videos to friends. If you experience any signs of disk drive problems, contact BSL service. Our employees will help to implement high-quality.

Causes of drive failures

One of the main factors of failure is dust getting into the drive. In this case, the laser stops working. There is only one way out - replacing the DVD ROM. If the laser cannot work, the computer does not read information from any disk.

Also, the laser malfunction may be due to a long service life. During frequent use of the drive, the strength of the laser beam is weakened, and it also loses its ability to read information.

Among the causes of drive malfunctions are mechanical damage, as a result of which the drive may not engage or not fully open. In this case, the rollers have worn out and need to be lubricated again. Also, the drive may begin to work incorrectly or even fail due to an impact or liquid entering the laptop. In this case, the drive becomes displaced or its contacts become oxidized.

One of the common causes of breakdowns is software glitches. The system may simply stop seeing your drive, or obvious software errors will begin to appear in its operation. In this case, you can reinstall the drivers on the DVD drive or perform a system update, which may require rearranging the PC software. To carry out the last steps, it is better to contact specialists.

Another cause of the malfunction is loss of contact between the drive and the motherboard. In this case, the problem may also be with the motherboard. Also, the problem of lack of contacts may be a breakdown of the south bridge.

The disk in the drive may spin up, but the computer will not record any changes. In this case, you most likely have a broken microcircuit that is responsible for the operation of the drive.

There are many reasons for drive failure in laptop computers. We hope that knowledge about them will help you keep your equipment in working condition for a long time.

Many years of service to your laptop!