This DVD player belongs to me and the problem was the tray would jerk when you try to insert or eject the disc and it can’t play the disc as well. I personally don’t repair DVD and I’m more on Computer Monitor repair. By the way there is no harm trying since it has already broken down. If I can’t repair it then I just get a new one since the price had gone down so cheap. Recently I saw an advertisement selling a new DVD for less than USD25.00-unbelievable yet it was true. The price of the branded one also had gone down too. This is not a good news for electronic repairers as many customers will buy a new set if the DVD is found faulty. Those days I do repair computer power supply but now I had stopped repairing it because a new normal ATX power supply in my country cost about USD10.00! Sometimes the cost of the spare parts is even more expensive than a new power supply.

Since the DVD price is so cheap surely there will be no or very less customers will ever send a DVD player for repair. Even if they send to you for repair, how much are you going to charge them? If you charge them too high, they will opt to buy a new one. If you charge them too low and this would not justify the time you spend on troubleshooting the DVD. The customers would only send for repair if those days when they first bought the DVD for thousands of dollars. May be only the authorize service center is still repairing the under warranty DVD for the manufacturers.

Even though I don’t repair DVD, I still have the interest to find out how they work. It’s my passion to know how electronic circuitry works and I’m not trying to be Jack of all trade and masters of none. Don’t get me wrong here, knowing something extra in something you love or like would only add additional knowledge to you. Although I’m only repairing computer monitors, I do buy books like VCR repair, DVD, CAMCORDER, TV, Compact disc player, microwave oven, printers, audio equipment and etc.

Okay back to my faulty DVD player, I suspected was the DVD mechanism because the disc tray shakes. Upon dismantling part of the DVD mechanism, I found one of the pinion gear bottom teeth had broken into pieces. This pinion gear is a bit soft compares to other gears. Due to the broken teeth of the pinion gear the disc tray had problem moving in and out and causing the tray to jerk. Getting spare part was not difficult as I went to my friend’s TV repair workshop and he gave one to me for replacement (that’s why you need to be friend with other fellow electronic repairers). After everything was installed (remember I dismantled part of the DVD mechanism) the player worked perfectly fine!

If I never try to repair it I wouldn’t know was the pinion gear problem. This is considered a new knowledge to me and may be someday someone or your friend’s complaint to you that their DVD or VCD tray’s jerk, I guess you knows where to check it. Assuming the problem was in the mainboard then I have to use the assistant of a schematic diagram to help me to troubleshoot it.