We have a Sony DVPNS725P. Yesterday it became unable to play DVDs. I put a DVD in, and it spins and spins, then it gives the message “Cannot Play.” I tried several, and cleaned them, no dice. I unplugged it for a couple hours, no help. Now it is sitting there with the forlorn message, “Cannot” displayed.
Our older DVD player has a similar problem - it spins and then says “No Disc.”
Is there any possibility I can fix one or both myself? I’m trying to be frugal these days, and I have no problem opening up the guts and trying to suss it out, if I have some guidance of what to look for, and someplace to get any replacement parts I might need.
DVD players are so inexpensive now that replacement is the usual corrective measure in your situation. Especially since you’ve already tried cleaning the heads.
I probably don’t need to point out that while this may be cost-effective for a treasured laserdisc player, a DVD player can be bought brand new for much less than $90.
Which is why, unfortunately, repairing a DVD player rarely makes economic sense.
(other than cleaning the lens, if you can reach it).
I assume you already tried with an assortment of discs, to rule out the possibility that it’s just a bad disc?
Yeah, I tried several discs. I took off the case and discovered that the disc is not in fact spinning - I’m hearing the motor whirring, but there is no actual spinnage.
So it looks like we’re probably going to be shopping soon. Bummer.
-The rubber gripping material on the spindle table (the round thing the disc sits on when playing) is slippery. Usually caused by dust but if a child has been around it, could be anything. A cleaning with a tiny amount of water on a lint-free swab might work.
-The spindle table has come loose from the motor. Various causes and fixes. May need to press back on, a set screw problem, or if worst-comes-to-worst, a drop of epoxy.
-The clamper that holds the disc to the spindle table isn’t dropping down. It got jammed, hung up on something or its support got bent/shifted.
Look around for loose, missing screws. Tighten things up but be careful with the screws holding the main mechanism table. There should be a little vibration absorbing “bounce” to those supports. Snug the screws but don’t try to get rid of the bounce. You’ll just break the supports.
The following page has a lot of good advice on repairing CD-drives, but most of the mechanical tech for DVDs is the same.
Thanks, ftg. I managed to get to the spindle table and clean it off, and it would spin again after that. However, it was spinning pretty slowly, and couldn’t play. Then the spinning got slower and slower, then stopped, and I got a “No Disc” message. Do you suppose this means the motor has just died? I suspect maybe I jostled some brief life back into it, but it is now truly dead.
Motors such as these do slow down and fail over time. No real way to get replacements for such disposable consumer electronics anymore.
But one thing to look for given the symptoms: perhaps there is some sort of cruft around the motor axle. Hair would be excellent at causing the symptoms described.
I have a similar problem as the OP with my DVD player (disc spins around for awhile, and then the player gives up and reads “No Disc”). I’ve found through some trial and error that if I put in a disc and it won’t read, I can put in a second disc (which the player will read)…then if I take out the second disc and put in the first one again, the player will read the first one without any problem. It seems like the condition of the first disc I put in doesn’t matter: the player will always fail to read it until I “trick” it using this substitution method.
So my question to the experts is, what’s going on here? Seems like my player has a bit of life left in it…would it be easy to fix myself? (As in, easy as screwing in a lightbulb…I’m not much of a handyman, but I’m feeling bold after reading this thread.)
I’ve had the motor fail on three DVD players now. Two of them were revived for several months each with a drop of light oil on applied to the shaft bearing at the motor. The application of the oil required a flexible tube that would hold it’s shape, to get to the area without too much disassembling. I used shrink-wrap tubing, shrunk while empty. Shrink it a little, bend where you want, then shrink some more. Shrinking one side more than another also causes a bend.
I’m not sure the effort was worth it – both times I ended up getting a new DVD player within months anyway.
Well I used the info **ftg ** linked to, and from that it seems the motors are dead: they’ll spin, but only when helped by hand. I couldn’t see any way to get in there to clean or lubricate, so I went ahead and ordered some new players. But thanks for all the help - I feel much more confident about fiddling with electronics now!
