Reading errors in last quarter of DVDs (T40p CDRW/DVD combo)

[simonwalther]

Hi there,

when I play a DVD movie on my T40p with CDRW/DVD combo, I often have the problem that in the last quarter or so of the DVD, I will get reading errors. That means, there will be a point at which the drive seems unable to read. If I resume the movie at a point ahead of where the reading error was, it will read on, but soon the next error will come. That always happens towards the end of the movie and it happened with several movies. If I play that same movie on my friend's T30, there's no problem. Neither is there if I use my other friend's Acer notebook. Anyone had that problem? Is it a problem with the drive and should I get it changed? I thing I've still got some warranty...
Thanks,
Simon

[rkawakami]

Welcome to thinkpads.com!

Problems with reading portions of DVD disks and which are repeatable over different disc, are usually the result of a bad servo motor or some contamination along the laser carriage path. If your drive is under warranty I would think that it is covered, especially when you can prove it does this with ANY disk and is repeatable.

If the drive is not under warranty and you want to try fixing this yourself, you can remove the cover(s) of the DVD drive and clean the two guide rails that the laser carriage assembly moves on. For more information, check this site:

http://an.hitchcock.org/repairfaq/sam/c ... m#cdpgsast

[simonwalther]

Ray,
the errors do not occur with all discs, buth they occur with a couple of discs that work fine in several other drives... I think I will contact the dealer and check out how they think about that.
Thanks anyways for the quick reply!
Simon