Guest W. Watson Posted August 21, 2007 Posted August 21, 2007 My CD player, which is probably 3 years old, is making an intermittent rrrr sound and won't read some CDs. This is not always the case. It seems to be happening with install CDs for various products that may have been used multiple times. I copied one CD to a fresh CD on another machine, and it's working fine. Will "cleaning" (soap! and water help?) OK, how about a cleaning cloth with some magic ingredient? Maybe the player needs a couple quarts of oil? -- Wayne Watson (Nevada City, CA) Web Page: <speckledwithStars.net>
Guest Uncle Grumpy Posted August 21, 2007 Posted August 21, 2007 Re: rrrrr....rrrrr..... The Sound of a CD On Aug 20, 9:46 pm, "W. Watson" <wolf_tra...@invalid.com> wrote: > My CD player, which is probably 3 years old, is making an intermittent rrrr > sound and won't read some CDs. This is not always the case. It seems to be > happening with install CDs for various products that may have been used > multiple times. I copied one CD to a fresh CD on another machine, and it's > working fine. Will "cleaning" (soap! and water help?) OK, how about a > cleaning cloth with some magic ingredient? Maybe the player needs a couple > quarts of oil? Turn a firehose on it full blast. Should clean out any cobwebs that might be messing things up.
Guest Gary S. Terhune Posted August 21, 2007 Posted August 21, 2007 Re: rrrrr....rrrrr..... The Sound of a CD 1. Replace the CD drive. That CD drive is dying, why wait until it's completely dead? 2. To repair a CD that is scratched, first clean it with a polishing cloth in radial direction (from center to edge, not in a circular motion), then use a car wax to polish it, using the same motions. That will fill in any scratches. If the LABEL surface is scratched through to the plastic, the disk is dead. That's where the data is written, on a coating on the label side of the plastic. -- Gary S. Terhune MS-MVP Shell/User http://www.grystmill.com "W. Watson" <wolf_tracks@invalid.com> wrote in message news:_lsyi.18705$eY.15643@newssvr13.news.prodigy.net... > My CD player, which is probably 3 years old, is making an intermittent > rrrr sound and won't read some CDs. This is not always the case. It seems > to be happening with install CDs for various products that may have been > used multiple times. I copied one CD to a fresh CD on another machine, and > it's working fine. Will "cleaning" (soap! and water help?) OK, how about a > cleaning cloth with some magic ingredient? Maybe the player needs a couple > quarts of oil? > > -- > Wayne Watson (Nevada City, CA) > > Web Page: <speckledwithStars.net>
Guest W. Watson Posted August 21, 2007 Posted August 21, 2007 Re: rrrrr....rrrrr..... The Sound of a CD #1 is probably all I need. CD players have become so cheap that they are almost becoming unreliable, or have a mean time to failure of 1 year. I've sometimes had luck just opening them up and probing with an eraser. I'll just buy one. Interesting about where the data is written. I do believe I have some CDs with paper labels from mfgers. I thought there was a slot underneath that had the sensor? Gary S. Terhune wrote: > 1. Replace the CD drive. That CD drive is dying, why wait until it's > completely dead? > > 2. To repair a CD that is scratched, first clean it with a polishing cloth > in radial direction (from center to edge, not in a circular motion), then > use a car wax to polish it, using the same motions. That will fill in any > scratches. > > If the LABEL surface is scratched through to the plastic, the disk is dead. > That's where the data is written, on a coating on the label side of the > plastic. > -- Wayne Watson (Nevada City, CA) Web Page: <speckledwithStars.net>
Guest Brian A. Posted August 21, 2007 Posted August 21, 2007 Re: rrrrr....rrrrr..... The Sound of a CD "W. Watson" <wolf_tracks@invalid.com> wrote in message news:_lsyi.18705$eY.15643@newssvr13.news.prodigy.net... > My CD player, which is probably 3 years old, is making an intermittent rrrr Is this only when a disk is in the drive? If yes, it's simply the drive spinning up when accessing the disk. > sound and won't read some CDs. This is not always the case. It seems to be > happening with install CDs for various products that may have been used multiple > times. I copied one CD to a fresh CD on another machine, and it's How old and/or dirty are the "multiple used" disks? Depending on the environment the disks are stored could also play into the life term they have. Is the copied disk working fine in the drive mentioned, or only the other machine? If it works fine on the suspect drive, copy another disk or two and see if they work fine as well. If they do then the unreadable disks may be damaged. > working fine. Will "cleaning" (soap! and water help?) OK, how about a cleaning > cloth with some magic ingredient? Maybe the player needs a couple quarts of oil? You can safely clean the disks with a mild non-abrasive soap/shampoo mixed in water. Always use either cotton or a very soft cloth with strokes starting at the center going to the outer rim. You may also want to purchase/use a Drive Lens Cleaner CD in the case the lens is dirty. -- Brian A. Sesko { MS MVP_Shell/User } Conflicts start where information lacks. http://basconotw.mvps.org/ Suggested posting do's/don'ts: http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375
Guest Gary S. Terhune Posted August 21, 2007 Posted August 21, 2007 Re: rrrrr....rrrrr..... The Sound of a CD It's not the label where the data is written, it's a coating on the plastic under the label. -- Gary S. Terhune MS-MVP Shell/User http://www.grystmill.com "W. Watson" <wolf_tracks@invalid.com> wrote in message news:3ltyi.18710$eY.6000@newssvr13.news.prodigy.net... > #1 is probably all I need. CD players have become so cheap that they are > almost becoming unreliable, or have a mean time to failure of 1 year. I've > sometimes had luck just opening them up and probing with an eraser. I'll > just buy one. > > Interesting about where the data is written. I do believe I have some CDs > with paper labels from mfgers. I thought there was a slot underneath that > had the sensor? > > Gary S. Terhune wrote: >> 1. Replace the CD drive. That CD drive is dying, why wait until it's >> completely dead? >> >> 2. To repair a CD that is scratched, first clean it with a polishing >> cloth in radial direction (from center to edge, not in a circular >> motion), then use a car wax to polish it, using the same motions. That >> will fill in any scratches. >> >> If the LABEL surface is scratched through to the plastic, the disk is >> dead. That's where the data is written, on a coating on the label side of >> the plastic. >> > > -- > Wayne Watson (Nevada City, CA) > > Web Page: <speckledwithStars.net>
Guest W. Watson Posted August 21, 2007 Posted August 21, 2007 Re: rrrrr....rrrrr..... The Sound of a CD Yes, it's not on the label, but if it's just under the label then it's unlikely to be on the top surface. I think you said it was on the top surface. Gary S. Terhune wrote: > It's not the label where the data is written, it's a coating on the plastic > under the label. > -- Wayne Watson (Nevada City, CA) Web Page: <speckledwithStars.net>
Guest Bob I Posted August 21, 2007 Posted August 21, 2007 Re: rrrrr....rrrrr..... The Sound of a CD The laser reads all the way thru the clear plastic to the underside of the "label". IF you scratch the labelside to see plastic the CD is toast. W. Watson wrote: > Yes, it's not on the label, but if it's just under the label then it's > unlikely to be on the top surface. I think you said it was on the top > surface. > > Gary S. Terhune wrote: > >> It's not the label where the data is written, it's a coating on the >> plastic under the label. >> >
Guest Gary S. Terhune Posted August 21, 2007 Posted August 21, 2007 Re: rrrrr....rrrrr..... The Sound of a CD It's not the underside of the label, it's the coating on the plastic that the label is affixed to. (The label can be another coating on top of the data coating, rather than a stick-on label.) -- Gary S. Terhune MS-MVP Shell/User http://www.grystmill.com "Bob I" <birelan@yahoo.com> wrote in message news:O$2ovkA5HHA.1168@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl... > The laser reads all the way thru the clear plastic to the underside of the > "label". IF you scratch the labelside to see plastic the CD is toast. > > W. Watson wrote: > >> Yes, it's not on the label, but if it's just under the label then it's >> unlikely to be on the top surface. I think you said it was on the top >> surface. >> >> Gary S. Terhune wrote: >> >>> It's not the label where the data is written, it's a coating on the >>> plastic under the label. >>> >> >
Guest John McGaw Posted August 21, 2007 Posted August 21, 2007 Re: rrrrr....rrrrr..... The Sound of a CD W. Watson wrote: > Yes, it's not on the label, but if it's just under the label then it's > unlikely to be on the top surface. I think you said it was on the top > surface. > > Gary S. Terhune wrote: >> It's not the label where the data is written, it's a coating on the >> plastic under the label. >> > When CDs (or DVDs for that matter) are manufactured the top surface coated with a reflective material not too many atoms thick, usually aluminum. Over that a thin layer of lacquer is applied and then any labeling is done. All that stands between life and death of that critical and fragile reflective layer is a thin and highly-scratchable layer of lacquer. The bottom of the CD can have some level of scratching and scuffing and still operate properly since the laser that reads the data is focused inside the CD's body just below the reflective layer. Add to that the error correction methods used and some pretty nasty looking radial scratches can be corrected for (concentric scratches are much more troublesome). In my experience even rather minor scratching or pitting of the top lacquer can defeat even the best error correction. All that aside, find yourself a good CD drive and replace the old one. It is far easier (and cheaper if your time is worth anything at all) than messing with the old one. If you intend to keep the computer for a while, consider replacing the CD with a DVD drive.
Recommended Posts