Pionner DVR-109 issues.

[stevo1210]

I recently bought a Pioneer DVR-109 DVDRW drive that was sold AS-IS for $10. It works and reads every disc I chuck at it and also burns discs from what I can remember. But there's a problem with it and I dunno if it's serious but it's downright annoying. When the drive reads a discs or spins up a disc there's this noise that comes out of the drive that sound like it wants to fall apart and set itself on fire. I can hear very loud crunching noises coming out of it. It sounds like when you get two plastic gears, one being still and the other moving and forcefully scrape them together. Or like when you shift into the wrong gear in a car. Like from gear 4 to gear 3 at high speed in a manual car. But anyway, does anyone know what might be wrong with it or at least a solution which I can use to fix the drive. I know it works and reads discs but that scraping noise inside it is so loud and so annoying. Also it makes me very nervous and anxious when I use it because I don't know if it's going to start ruining my discs or setting itself on fire.

Thanks.

[Wizard]

Re: Pionner DVR-109 issues.

Open it up and check microswitches for drawer and optical transport mechanism. Clean and lube.

It can be optical sensor as well.

Otherwise trash if you was able to check out the mentioned sensors and they function but problem is uncorrected.

Cheers, Wizard

[zandrax]

Re: Pionner DVR-109 issues.

@ stevo: First try reducing rotational speed at 2x for DVDs and 12x or slower for CDs with Nero DriveSpeed: the noise should be way less audible and irritating. Then follow Wizard instructions, but be aware that the Pioneer may be defective or worn if the noise you hear seems due to difficult readings or continuous head repositioning.
I have an old Sony CDU-624 cd player which does the same trick and in my case it was unable to read correctly the disc: I tried cleaning the inside and lubing head rails without success; I even cleaned the laser without notable improvement. At the end I got it: the main motor was slightly out of axis so the laser had trouble in reading the whole cd because it changed position everytime; it may read the TOC and some files, but not anything else.

Zandrax