# What the freak is wrong with my DVD player?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-freak-is-wrong-with-my-dvd-player/252822>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 30, 2004, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-freak-is-wrong-with-my-dvd-player/252822 "2004-06-30T02:56:57Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![caphis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e19adc/32.png) [@caphis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caphis)\
**Post date:** [June 30, 2004, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-freak-is-wrong-with-my-dvd-player/252822/1 "2004-06-30T02:56:57Z")

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My laptop DVD player is being… odd. It’s a combo CD-RW/DVD drive, and whenever I put a disc in, it takes just about forever to load/recognize that there’s a disc there, and the DVD plays very jumpy. A few discs of mine won’t even read.

Now that I think about it, burning a CD takes much more time than it used to… what could be going on? Any ideas?

I’m using a laptop, btw, and it’s a Toshiba DVD-ROM SD-R2212 drive.

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**Author:** ![Ms2001](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ms2001/32/18463_2.png) [@Ms2001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms2001)\
**Post date:** [June 30, 2004, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-freak-is-wrong-with-my-dvd-player/252822/2 "2004-06-30T04:58:38Z")

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Could just be a dirty lens. Have you tried using a cleaning disc?

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**Author:** ![caphis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e19adc/32.png) [@caphis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caphis)\
**Post date:** [June 30, 2004, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-freak-is-wrong-with-my-dvd-player/252822/3 "2004-06-30T05:19:02Z")

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They make those?

How do they work?

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**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\
**Post date:** [June 30, 2004, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-freak-is-wrong-with-my-dvd-player/252822/4 "2004-06-30T05:26:44Z")

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> [@caphis](#):
>
> They make those?
> 
> How do they work?

[Yep](http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?j=1&id=1051384636577&type=product&ref=03&loc=01) they make them. Some, like the linked example, include extras to test things like your surround sound system. Basically, it’s a DVD with a special soft-bristle brush attached to gently wipe off dust and loose dirt from the laser lens.

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**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\
**Post date:** [June 30, 2004, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-freak-is-wrong-with-my-dvd-player/252822/5 "2004-06-30T07:32:30Z")

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Have you installed any new media-related software lately? It could be that your machine is reading the CD/DVD, then waiting for some application or other to decide what to do with it.