DVD-ROM Clunking

[Kierkegaard]

Hello, I have got an internal "PIONEER DVD-ROM DVD-113" in my pc and I have had it for over a year. Recently it has started making a horrible clunking noise with certain CDs. I put a cd into it and i can hear it spin then it makes a noise, it tries reading it again and sometimes works ok, but other times it dosent register the cd at all.

I thought it might be that the lens was dirty so I ran a lens cleaner through it lots of times (cd with a little brush on it) but it still dosent seem to work. I have also cleaned my actual cds, and this hasnt helped either. The strange thing is that certain cds work fine all the time, while others do not.

I have the latest driver fro my DVD-ROM. Does anyone have any advice or suggestions on how to improve the performance of my drive, short of replacing it altogether ?

Thanks.

[fatboyjim]

Have you tried a FirmWare update?

[Kierkegaard]

I have the latest firmware update, and the latest drivers installed, none of this has helped though :(

I am on the verge of replacing the drive. I guess there is something physically wrong with it. It seems to me that that process by which the laser head moves to read the disk is faulty.

[sdkfz]

Are these CD's or CD-R/RW's that are giving you problems? I have the saemd rive and one brand (it slips my mind now but they were one of those "free after rebate" brands) that it refused to recognize. Burner, DVD in other machines were OK, but not the pioneer.

[Trent Steel]

I have the same drive as you Kierkegaard (well not exactly, PIONEER DVD-ROM DVD-114) and you are decribing the exact same problem I have. I have had the drive for nearly two and a haly years and it first started behaving as you describe after a few months, I did a firmware update and that seemed to solve the problem, for a while at least. I do suspect that the problem is common between the two drives and that it if of a physical nature, but it is not the laser head. If you feel the outer casing of the drive when it clunks you will probably feel a slight jolt, this is the cd flying outwards and hitting the sides of the holder (noticed it only clunks when turning at high speeds), I suspect that the problem either lies in the balancing of the rotating mechanism or a faulty disk retention (how the cd/dvd is gripped from the center when reading). Since you stated that only some disks cause the clunking problem (same thing happens here) I would rule out an unbalanced turning mechanism and would focus on the retension mechanism as some cds (properly balanced ones) don't clunk while others (non-balanced ones) do clunk. Now as for a solution to your problem; I would suggest looking at pioneers help section to see if this a more common occurance and possible solutions that they may have; depending on the warrenty of your drive (it was oem, right?) it would probably be cheaper to buy a new low cost drive then to try to get yours fixed, but you could (if you are adventurous enough) take the drive apart a do some common sense investigation (you probably know all the precautions you should take when working with electronics). Hope that helps some, if you find a solution please post it here.

[fatboyjim]

This is getting interesting, I've fixed a few CDROMs before, slightly dangerous though DON'T TAKE THE CLAMP OFF FOR CHRIST'S SAKE!

[Kierkegaard]

I lost my courage and took the easy option by replacing my DVD-ROM drive. The old one is working fine now as a paperweight. I might perform an amateurish autopsy on it to see if I can find anything obviously wrong but I don't hold much faith in my abilities.

Thanks for all your advice and suggestions.

[doctorgonzo]

I once repaird a CD drive. I don't know how; I just started poking around, didn't find anything obvious, and put it back together. When I tried it, it worked again. Strange...

[fatboyjim]

Yeah I've done the exact same thing a few times too

I usually at least let it spin round a few times though and try stopping it with my finger to see if it hurts... :)