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DVD rec spits out ALL blank discs


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Old 05-10-2009, 08:15
misterbarlow
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My father has a Funai DVD recorder.
Its a Funai DR-B2737. He has had it about 18mths and never had any problems...

He is 65 and not much of a tech-head so he rang me to say recently its started rejecting all his blank discs and could I help him...

It still plays perfect, inc originals and discs he already recorded onto, but has stopped taking any blank discs..

He has tried +R +RW, -R, -RW, dual layers, the lot, and all different brands too..
He has spent about £30 on blanks this weekend and for all of them it just spins up for a few seconds then ejects the disc and pops up with invalid disc...

I assume it cant need lens cleaning seeing as it still plays fine...
Does it just mean its Kaputt or is there anything else we could try??
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Old 05-10-2009, 10:42
gemma-the-husky
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i had a slightly different problem with panasonic, and then a sony - didnt spit out discs, but started having record problems, then wouldnt record to dvd at all - the same time, just out of warranty

i eventually found (cant locate it exactly) a reference to a problem with a rubber washer inside the dvd transport. it gets grimy, then the dvd slips, and causes burn failures. (might have been on avforums) - maybe a similar timing issue would cause "invalid disk" problems

it was an easy job to open the recorder, open the disk transport, and clean the washer with some alcohol (i actually used printer ink flush, which is similar but non-flammable) and this fixed it. sounds tricky, but 20mins max.

the washer is a tiny thing, only about an 1" across.
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Old 05-10-2009, 11:10
chrisjr
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When recording the laser power is turned up quite a bit more than playback. So any dirt on the lens is more likely to affect recording. Basically the laser power might be cranked up enough to get through the crud for playback but hasn't enough in reserve to allow recording.

Trouble is getting at the laser can involve some serious demolition work on the recorder. All depends on how it's put together. I have seen recorders that use a PC style drive unit internally. Which makes it even more of a pain to get at the insides as you have to work out how to remove the whole drive unit to get it's lid off.

But once you can get at the laser it is fairly easy to clean. Use a cotton bud lightly dampened with something like Isopropyl alcohol (from Maplin or a Chemist). Failing that ordinary tap water. But only lightly dampen the bud it must not be dripping wet.

Gentle rub the bud against the lens then finish off with a dry bud. If you are lucky then it should start working again. But there is always the chance that the laser itself has worn out. Unlikely after 18 months unless it's been used to record several hours a day every day. In which case only replacement will solve the problem.

The power output of a laser will degrade over time and the more you record with it the quicker it will fail. But I'm inclined to think it's a case of gunge on the lens rather than anything else.
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Old 06-10-2009, 03:05
d'@ve
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Gentle rub the bud against the lens then finish off with a dry bud. If you are lucky then it should start working again. But there is always the chance that the laser itself has worn out. Unlikely after 18 months unless it's been used to record several hours a day every day. In which case only replacement will solve the problem.
It's even worth trying to direct a compressed air aerosol into the slot roughly aimed at where the laser is. That's worked on a couple of mine (both with the problem described in the original post), though on another I had to take off the case to physically clean it as you described.
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Old 06-10-2009, 09:17
RobAnt
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@OP Does anyone in your Father's household smoke? If so, that's a likely source of lens fouling.

I don't smoke, and I've had a few PC CD & DVD drives and recorders for over 10 years which still work. I don't recollect having a single failed laser drive, in fact.
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Old 06-10-2009, 19:07
misterbarlow
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no he lives alone and doesnt smoke....
popping over again tonight to maybe pop it open and have a look about inside...
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Old 08-10-2009, 04:35
RobinOfLoxley
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I have smoked near optical components and PCs (DVDs, microscopes, lasers) for 20 years. It doesnt matter a bugger..

Cleaning lenses: Cotton bud and water. Then a dry bud. Then for grease, 99% isopropyl alchohol (not the 60 or 70% rubbish)(available at Boot' pharmacist) or acetone (nail varnish remover).
Dont use on plastic lenses, only glass. Dry with a dry bud again.

Look under a magnifying glass or microscope to check you have not left any smears.
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Old 08-10-2009, 09:23
kokomo
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I have smoked near optical components and PCs (DVDs, microscopes, lasers) for 20 years. It doesnt matter a bugger..

Wow Robin, 20 years near optical components! Didn't you get bored in all that time? You don't get a sentence like that for murder!
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Old 09-10-2009, 14:19
RobinOfLoxley
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Well I did before smoking at work was banned. And no I didnt get bored smarty pants. I had a great job. Lots of foreign travel, although I mainly ended up at various airports, industrial estates and the worldwide equivalent of Travelodge.

Best job was giving a maintenance course to Pirelli in Milan.

We walked for about 10 mins through their huge factory to the conference room.
No smoking signs everywhere.
After an hour and a half, I asked if there was any chance of a coffee and a ciggy break.

Their eyes lit up. "Are you a smoker? Hang on we will get the ashtrays. We weren't smoking because we didnt think you did"
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Old 09-10-2009, 21:26
misterbarlow
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I opened it up, and gave the lens a good clean...
but its still the same...
when insert a blank it says 'preparing disc' and a status bar comes up with about 10 chunks in it..
Normally it spins up and the bar moves along on one smooth sweep changing the chunks from white to blue, and it then it clears off and says disc ready to record, but now its getting right up to the last chunk on the status bar, and then the disc just spins and spins and the last bar never fills..

we left it running about 10mins and it was still spinning and waiting on the last bar...

I put in an RW he had already used and it played ok, so with it already in I tried formatting it and it said done, but then when press record it says disc error and some long number and spat it out...
i think its shafted and advised he get a new one...

then today I was killing some time on the high st and one of the shops I went into was pound stretcher, they had a Funai DVD recorder with HDD for £80....
So i think he might get one of those...
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Old 09-10-2009, 23:31
gemma-the-husky
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if it has gone, then i wouldnt be surprised if a repair is as expensive as a new recorder.

does your dad need a dvd recorder? you could have a standalone player, and a PVR -
although the funai seems reasonable. also, was the previous one a HDD recorder. or just single disk recorder.- I would never buy a recorder without a HDD - its so flexible having 40hrs or so recording space.

your dad may not even need the dvd recorder - if he just time shifts, and doesnt archive stuff
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Old 10-10-2009, 19:36
misterbarlow
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the existing broken one is just a dvd recorder (no hdd)

he doesnt want to (and cant really afford to) pay a monthly sub for sky+ or V+..
he just needs something to record stuff from his freeview box...

he has had a pvr freeview box before and it kept missing recordings, he exchanged for another one the same which also did it, and then exchanged that for a different brand and that did the same, and in the end he got fed up with them and then bought this dvdr which he has been happy with until now....
I suggested another freeview pvr (or freeview+ as its now known) and he went down the "oh no, had those things before no good kept missing recordings...."

that funai one has a 250gb drive too, so seems a good price to me even for a cheap brand, although i just googled it and its about that price everywhere...!
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