digitalFAQ.com Forum - Zenith DVD recorder won't read DVDs anymore

from PM elsewhere...
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Quote:

I was searching the net to try and find repair infor about my DVD recorder and stumbled on this site and seen a post from a year or so ago where you had replied to someone else. I am having the same problem that she was. I have a Zenith XBR413 DVD recorder/VCR combo. Tuesday I was recording a TV program onto DVD when at the end when I had pressed stop, it "froze" up. It has done this before, so I held in the power button and shut it off to reset it. I turned it back on, and it would not read my DVD. I then tried another DVD and it spit it back out telling me to check the disc again. So I tried a prerecorded bought DVD and it would not read it. I shut it off for the night. Last night I tried again. I put in a cleaning disc and had to press open and close a few times but it finally read it and run. I then put in a CD and it would play the music. So it will read an audio disc, but it will not read my DVD's. I have a few that I hadn't finalized yet and I would like to get this fixed, so I don't lose all of that. Can you help? I saw where you had asked the other woman if her's would play the CD's and she finally answered, but I never saw a response from you.

It's very likely that your DVD burner is dead, and it will not work ever again.

However, I would clean it one more time. What you did was use a cleaning disc, and I need to mention that its one of the worst methods to "clean" an optical drive. In most all cases, nothing is actually cleaning, it just moves dust around. if it has any brushes on it, then all it tends to do is scratch the laser lens eye. The proper method for cleaning a DVD drive is shown here: http://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/show...vd-cd-423.html

You'll have to dismantle it entirely, and then clean the drive that way.

NOTE: If present, forget about those stupid boogeyman warranty "void" stickers. Seriously, who cares? It's already broken, it's already out of warranty, rip it off and go about your business. Most warranties are worthless anyway.

Only playing CDs is a bad sign -- that likely means the DVD portion of the unit is gone. Cleaning is a last-ditch attempt -- cross fingers, pray, wear a rabbit's foot, etc -- can't hurt.

I don't recall if this unit has a standard burner drive in it or not. You may be able to replace it with an identical drive -- or maybe not. Locating a used unit on eBay may be needed.

I don't know offhand of any unit that will finalize Zenith DVD's for you. Know that many DVD recorders will finalize discs from other machines. JVC and many Panasonic machines, for example, can finalize each other's discs.

Hope that helps some, although I'm afraid that I'm mostly the bearer of bad news this time. :)