Late last night our 2005 portable Durabrand dual DVD Player (the one we use for travel to keep kids content with movies) decided it did not want to read our DVD’s anymore. It would spin the DVD’s, but a “no disc” error would come up on the screen. This was frustrating because it was needed for a 9-hour road trip my husband and younger girls would take the next day. So, I decided to do what most Americans do – throw up my hands, and run to Walmart to buy a new one. Frustrating! Another electronic item to add to the dump. Since I stayed home from the trip, I decided to see if I could fix the DVD player myself; me, who has no idea what a circuit board is. I laugh because of my lack of electronic knowledge, but my enormous amount of determination.
I spent two hours searching the internet for some guidance. Most suggested it would cost me $80 for a repairman to look at it. The first suggestion was to unplug the DVD player and remove all screws to take off the cover to look for damage. I figured I had nothing to lose since it was probably going to end up in the trash. After taking off the cover, I stared at the circuit board, hoping that something would jump out at me to tell me what was wrong. Not seeing any burnt out areas, I closed it back up. For some reason I ended up with two extra screws! Mmmm. Probably not needed anyway, right?
Then I found a post that suggested I clean the lens (that little glass circle in white above) with a Q-tip and rubbing alcohol. I did this but DVD’s still would not play.
Next I tried to push the lens housing (see the white area surrounded by black, then green in the picture above) by forcing it away from the black circle thingy you put your DVD’s on, towards the top. I pushed pretty hard. Wow! It slid up smoothly on its own. It was jammed. I put a DVD in, closed the lid, and was never so excited to see The Chronicles of Narnia. A DVD player saved from the trash. I can’t find the post to thank the techie that helped me with these ideas, but thanks!