rrrrr....rrrrr..... The Sound of a CD

[W. Watson]

My CD player, which is probably 3 years old, is making an intermittent rrrr
sound and won't read some CDs. This is not always the case. It seems to be
happening with install CDs for various products that may have been used
multiple times. I copied one CD to a fresh CD on another machine, and it's
working fine. Will "cleaning" (soap! and water help?) OK, how about a
cleaning cloth with some magic ingredient? Maybe the player needs a couple
quarts of oil?

 

[Uncle Grumpy]

My CD player, which is probably 3 years old, is making an intermittent rrrr
sound and won't read some CDs. This is not always the case. It seems to be
happening with install CDs for various products that may have been used
multiple times. I copied one CD to a fresh CD on another machine, and it's
working fine. Will "cleaning" (soap! and water help?) OK, how about a
cleaning cloth with some magic ingredient? Maybe the player needs a couple
quarts of oil?

Turn a firehose on it full blast. Should clean out any cobwebs that
might be messing things up.

 

[Gary S. Terhune]

1. Replace the CD drive. That CD drive is dying, why wait until it's
completely dead?

2. To repair a CD that is scratched, first clean it with a polishing cloth
in radial direction (from center to edge, not in a circular motion), then
use a car wax to polish it, using the same motions. That will fill in any
scratches.

If the LABEL surface is scratched through to the plastic, the disk is dead.
That's where the data is written, on a coating on the label side of the
plastic.

 

[W. Watson]

#1 is probably all I need. CD players have become so cheap that they are
almost becoming unreliable, or have a mean time to failure of 1 year. I've
sometimes had luck just opening them up and probing with an eraser. I'll
just buy one.

Interesting about where the data is written. I do believe I have some CDs
with paper labels from mfgers. I thought there was a slot underneath that
had the sensor?

 

[Brian A.]

My CD player, which is probably 3 years old, is making an intermittent rrrr

Is this only when a disk is in the drive? If yes, it's simply the drive spinning
up when accessing the disk.

sound and won't read some CDs. This is not always the case. It seems to be
happening with install CDs for various products that may have been used multiple
times. I copied one CD to a fresh CD on another machine, and it's

How old and/or dirty are the "multiple used" disks? Depending on the environment
the disks are stored could also play into the life term they have.
Is the copied disk working fine in the drive mentioned, or only the other machine?
If it works fine on the suspect drive, copy another disk or two and see if they work
fine as well. If they do then the unreadable disks may be damaged.

working fine. Will "cleaning" (soap! and water help?) OK, how about a cleaning
cloth with some magic ingredient? Maybe the player needs a couple quarts of oil?

You can safely clean the disks with a mild non-abrasive soap/shampoo mixed in
water. Always use either cotton or a very soft cloth with strokes starting at the
center going to the outer rim.
You may also want to purchase/use a Drive Lens Cleaner CD in the case the lens is
dirty.


--

Brian A. Sesko { MS MVP_Shell/User }
Conflicts start where information lacks.
http://basconotw.mvps.org/

Suggested posting do's/don'ts: http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375

 

[Gary S. Terhune]

It's not the label where the data is written, it's a coating on the plastic
under the label.

 

[W. Watson]

Yes, it's not on the label, but if it's just under the label then it's
unlikely to be on the top surface. I think you said it was on the top surface.

 

[Bob I]

The laser reads all the way thru the clear plastic to the underside of
the "label". IF you scratch the labelside to see plastic the CD is toast.

 

[Gary S. Terhune]

It's not the underside of the label, it's the coating on the plastic that
the label is affixed to. (The label can be another coating on top of the
data coating, rather than a stick-on label.)

 

[John McGaw]

Yes, it's not on the label, but if it's just under the label then it's
unlikely to be on the top surface. I think you said it was on the top
surface.

When CDs (or DVDs for that matter) are manufactured the top surface
coated with a reflective material not too many atoms thick, usually
aluminum. Over that a thin layer of lacquer is applied and then any
labeling is done. All that stands between life and death of that
critical and fragile reflective layer is a thin and highly-scratchable
layer of lacquer. The bottom of the CD can have some level of scratching
and scuffing and still operate properly since the laser that reads the
data is focused inside the CD's body just below the reflective layer.
Add to that the error correction methods used and some pretty nasty
looking radial scratches can be corrected for (concentric scratches are
much more troublesome). In my experience even rather minor scratching
or pitting of the top lacquer can defeat even the best error correction.

All that aside, find yourself a good CD drive and replace the old one.
It is far easier (and cheaper if your time is worth anything at all)
than messing with the old one. If you intend to keep the computer for a
while, consider replacing the CD with a DVD drive.