CD rot/skip/won't play

[WJGJ]

Hello Folks,

What's up with CDs and/or DVDs that are unblemished... no scratches, no holes, no rot, looking perfect... yet skip or simply won't play?

I've tried everything I can think of... alcohol, microfiber towels, toothpaste, rubbing compound, buffing pad on drill.

I live in the tropics, and I think CD manufacturers often use some kind of lubricant during manufacturing which remains on the disk, which attracts microscopic bugs that eat the surface of the disk.

It leaves a white circle on the disk that can be removed with 70% Isopropyl Alcohol and a microfiber towel, but oftentimes not, which damages the disk permanently.

Does the silver data surface located between the clear plastic and the painted surface simply wear out with use?

I hope somebody can explain what's going on, I've lost a lot of disks over the years.

Thanks for the help.

 

[highfigh]

Hello Folks,

What's up with CDs and/or DVDs that are unblemished... no scratches, no holes, no rot, looking perfect... yet skip or simply won't play?

I've tried everything I can think of... alcohol, microfiber towels, toothpaste, rubbing compound, buffing pad on drill.

I live in the tropics, and I think CD manufacturers often use some kind of lubricant during manufacturing which remains on the disk, which attracts microscopic bugs that eat the surface of the disk.

It leaves a white circle on the disk that can be removed with 70% Isopropyl Alcohol and a microfiber towel, but oftentimes not, which damages the disk permanently.

Does the silver data surface located between the clear plastic and the painted surface simply wear out with use?

I hope somebody can explain what's going on, I've lost a lot of disks over the years.

Thanks for the help.

I would consider cleaning the lens of the laser pickup- even in dry climate, dust and other contamination can make its way onto the surface and in fact, lenses needed to be cleaned when CD players were fairly new to the audio market.

The silver coating is Aluminum- wasn't aware that any kind of insect had an appetite for it and since it's coated with a lacquer, they might be going after that, not the Aluminum. Once the protective coating is gone, the Aluminum will oxidize.

If the coating is actually lacquer, it makes sense that insects might feed on it, since many types of lacquer are made of natural substances, not synthetic.

Denatured alcohol on a cotton swab, dabbed onto the lens, waiting a few seconds and swirling the swab very gently is the way I have seen this done- just be very careful, since the lens is plastic.

 

[lovinthehd]

Never had a bad one like that....how old are they? Does it vary with player?

 

[davidscott]

Never in 30 plus years have I had a cd fail do to age. Yeah some failed to read because of scratches or a cd player that was starting to fail itself but not the disc. How are you storing them?

 

[MR.MAGOO]

I've had problems with double-sided DVD's, marketed by Universal. Mostly TV Shows like Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Adam-12 and Emergency!. They cram as many episodes as possible on both sides of the disc to reduce media cost.That coupled with cheap media equals possibility of skipping, freezing, etc.

 

[warnerwh]

Cleaning the lens may make all the difference. A friend gave another a dvd player that had problems and all he did was blow it out with air and it works fine now.

 

[j_garcia]

If it is scratches, I use a car product: Meguiar's Plast-X. It is a fine plastic polish intended to clean oxidized headlights, but it works great on scratched CDs without damaging them because it is so mild.

The issue you described sounds like the laser or lens are the culprit in this case though.