How do you remove humidifier dust from a HDD/DVD video recorder laser lens when a lens cleaner disk fails?

Question

My HDD/DVD video recorder will no longer record or play DVDs after using a sonic humidifier. The humidifier dust seems to have settled on the laser lens. I've used *repeatedly* a DVD/CD cleaning disk with the little brushes on it and it went from coming out with fine dust on it to eventually none, and it still won't work. It will read or write a very brief time and then stops with errors (if it sees the disk at all). The hard drive still works fine. I've learned a very important lesson about sonic humidifiers ruining electronics, but the damage is already done. This is a Toshiba RD-XS35. I spent $400+ on it and have recorded probably less than a half dozen disks. Please tell me there is some way to salvage this! At least I can still record and watch programs on the hard drive, but there's no way to burn anything. Its out of warranty, and I'd really prefer not to have to pay someone to fix it for me. Is it beyond fixing?

Answer 1

if you have enough dust inside this thing to actually affect it's performance throw it in the trash and buy a new machine.  it's that simple.

Answer 2

Hi KH,

Unplug the unit and with a flashlight look in the DVD door and see if you can find the laser lens. It is a round piece of glass about 3/8" in diameter.

Once you locate it take a cotton swab and dip it in rubbing alcohol. You may need to tape the swab to a pencil ot a piece of coat hanger for a longer reach.

Wipe the lens with the swab and wait about five minutes to make sure any residue of alcohol has evaporated.

Plug in the unit and try it. I have resurrected many a DVD player with that method. It works on CD players too.

Norm