Dvd player does not recognize discs

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rsh613 Posts 1 Registration date Monday July 25, 2016 Status Member Last seen July 25, 2016 - Jul 25, 2016 at 07:25 AM
gavinorr Posts 1 Registration date Saturday April 22, 2017 Status Member Last seen April 22, 2017 - Apr 22, 2017 at 11:45 PM
I have a toshiba laptop with dvd drive. suddenly stopped recognizing discs and doew not show in my computer/my pc filing structure. have win 8.1 os. tried updating driver but windows says i have most up to date driver. can't find any other driver to download. would the cdgone patch work on my os
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Monicadawson Posts 29 Registration date Thursday July 7, 2016 Status Member Last seen September 20, 2016
Jul 25, 2016 at 08:03 AM
If your DVD shows up in device manager, and reports no problems, but sill doesn't read disks, the problem has a simple 1 minute fix.

The problem is simple. Your transport it jammed, likely due to vibration or some shock to the system that you may not even be aware of. The transport for the laser head moves too far toward the centre of the spindle and gets wedged in just far enough that the transport mechanism can't move it back. Here's what you do...

Open the DVD rom bay on your laptop.

Very carefully remove any dust or debris from the area around the laser head with a cue tip or gentle microfibre cloth, like the type used for cleaning monitors or lenses. BE GENTLE! You scratch that lense you are buying a whole new DVD drive.

Once the area is clean, use a small, blunt object like a paperclip or plastic pen tip to gently, but firmly move the transport away from the centre spindle toward the outside. Clean up and more dirt or debris using the method above. If you have anything sticky or gooey, like ciagrette smoke or the like, you can use a mixture of 50% rubbing alcohol and distilled water on the q-tip to help remove junk.

once clean and the transport is moved to the outer limit, place in a dvd and close the tray. next time you boot your computer, the DVD reader will seek the correct centre ring on the DVD, and will then read it properly. The DVD will auto align, and your troubles should be over. If it happens again, you will know what to do.

The culprit is a weak transport that can get stuck on smoke, dust, hair, or even get jammed in the centre if the unit takes a shock or too much vibration. Thankfully, it is a dead simple fix.
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