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Sony RDR-HX900 has Weak Laser Diode on DW-U15A Burner; Need To Replace or Fix

Sony RDR-HX900 DVD recorder and player (HX900) uses DVD/CD ReWritable Drive Unit Model DW-U15A (burner) which may be the only 'burner' that will work in the HX900 since the burner is matched to the main board. Sony does not publish much information on this expensive gear, which they treat as proprietary. Sony does not sell the HX900 anymore, and it seems that Sony no longer has this burner available for purchase as a part or available to Sony Service. The burner on my unit is acting flakey, it will often fail to record a new disc, or to reload and play a disc that was just recorded, showing error code C1300 which seems to be a catch-all error code which appears for a variety of problems, and although the description of the code is "The Disc Is Dirty", there is no dirt on the disc. The disc is loaded properly, and the burner has itself been opened and cleaned. Best guess is that the Laser Diode output is weak, which cause the write or read errors (sometimes a disc that won't read the first time loaded, will eventually be readable on subsequent loading attempts -- this suggests the burner does still write and read, but the output strength is on the border line and sometime succeeds in reading, and other times not. I have no documentation to help, I think increasing power on diode would be risky, especially since I do not have the documentation to know how. After reading Sam's notes on troubleshooting, I think the best repair approach is to replace the entire optical deck (burner sled). Can anyone help suggest a source for the part (optical deck for this burner) or the entire unit? Any helpful suggestions for approaching the repair or alternate approach? If I can not repair or replace the integrated burner, I loose the HX900 which is what makes the repair worth pursuing even if it is difficult, time consuming, and/or costly. Sony never repaired the burner in their Service group (only replaced), and no longer has replacement burners available.

Reply to
Mark
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as always the first thing to try is physically get inside to clean the lens properly and check for insect intrusion or other extraneous stuff fouling the focus system or anything

Reply to
N_Cook

Thanks, I agree. I opened and cleaned out lots of lint. It looked like the area around the lens and the lens itself were clean. The problem persists after cleaning out lint. I did not touch the lens which looked shiney clean. Should I clean it anyway, and if so, how is this done without scratching it or damaging it? The error code does not really mean the disc (or lens) is dirty, it only indicates that the problem may be with the disc or elements interfacing with it. Problems with laser diode output might result in this error code, and this seems to fit the symptoms.

Reply to
Mark

How old is the unit? If it's less than 10 years old, Sony is legally obliged to provide parts.

Do you have a lawyer? Have him call Sony and threaten them.

Reply to
William Sommerwerck

ged to provide parts.

Thanks. Unit is about 6 years old. Don't have a lawyer, not one myself and I don't even play a lawyer on TV but can you tell me from what part of the law this legal obligation comes? Some kind of implicit warranty of merchantability or something? Sony says they ran out of DW-U15A drives and have no more in the warehouse. Not sure they ever stocked internal parts for the drive.

Reply to
Mark

I'm not sure the warranty of implied merchantability applies. But there are laws in the US about parts. Manufacturers are required to provide cosmetic parts for 3 years, mechanical for 6, electrical for 10.

Because people refuse to stand up for their legal rights, companies get away with this sort of thing. "Running out" is not an excuse. This suggests Sony either didn't stock many spare parts -- or that the drive is unusually unreliable. In the latter case, you have the warranty of implied merchantability on your side, as well.

Reply to
William Sommerwerck

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I will certainly bring this matter to Sony's attention, but realistically, I can't afford a civil lawsuit, and unless there is a government agency that regulates this activity (which I will look into) I can only complain to Sony. I will do this. Pragmatically, however, this is unlikely to get me closer to solving my problem.

Do you (or anyone else) have any suggestions for sources of parts (again, I think the optical deck might be replaceable as a part -- Sam's notes seem to suggest this) or if not a part, sources for a full replacement of the DW-U15A? I sort of hate the idea of buying a 'used' unit since the problem is that these drives appear to burn out, almost reliably, within a few years and a used drive would be on its way to the grave already. By the same token, I hope to find new parts or replacements at an affordable price since I will probably have to do this again later. (I'll probably stock up on the part or replacement drive and buy enough for a couple of replacements).

Also, I find some indication that the Sony DRU510A may be a replacement for te DW-U15A, but I can not verify this yet. If you know of direct replacements I would try that approach (I'd start with one to make sure it worked). Thanks.

Reply to
Mark

Mark, your "real" problem is that you object to throwaway products, as I do.

Sony is morally obliged to help you find a satisfactory solution. There is no good reason why an item of this sort should fail after six years and be non-repairable. At the least, Sony should refund your purchase price.

Reply to
William Sommerwerck

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William, did you just assign moral obligation to a major corportion? That's piling-on after the Supremes' decision in Citizens United v FEC, didn't you know that corporations have all the rights of people with none of the moral obligations? You must be an anarchist... ;-) The box was pricey at $1500 and I'm pretty sure there will be no refunds. While I appreciate your point of view and agree with it in principal ---

PRAGMATICALLY, I need assistance from someone on the forum in trying to find a source for parts for the DW-U15A or a replacement. Also, am I on the right track to think I can replace the optical deck (burner sled) as a parts swap without having an osciliscope or other high end test gear? Any ideas other than to go all Guy Fawkes on Sony? PLEASE HELP IF YOU CAN.

Reply to
Mark

It looks like you're on the right track (no pun intended :)...

formatting link

Reply to
Sofa Slug

In some CD/DVD units showing these sympthoms I found the spindle motor to be the problem. The rotary switch inside the motor accumulates conductive dirt from the contacts and shows as a partial short while the motor is turning. This triggers the motor driver overcurrent protection and because the same IC drives the lens coils confuses the micro into a general error. To diagnose connect an ohm meter in the spindle motor leads and slowly rotate the axis, if you see part of the rotation with less resistance than the rest then there is a partial short.

Reply to
Jeroni Paul

On Mar 19, 9:56=A0am, Mark wrote: =A0I did not touch the lens

first, it is of utmost importance to clean the lens - do it carefully with a q tip moistened with isopropyl alcohol. I have had varous machines with the symptoms you describe (int. read write probs) caused by a thin film of dirt on the lens.

Secondly, ignore the error code. It is meaningless as the player has no real way of detecting dirt.

Clean the lens and post back. fingers crossed... regards, B

Reply to
b

The problem may not be the laser, or a combination of things including the laser. There are drive and control for the laser, and including the spindle. It can also be mechanical or electronic alignments that drifted off.

Even if you were able to replace the laser yourself, you would need the proper calibration disks and instrumentation to do the alignments and calibration.

Did you call Sony service to see if they can service your laser unit?

There may also be some private service centres that can service your unit.

Because of the high cost of labour you may find servicing your unit will be fairly expensive if the necessary parts can be purchased.

As for parts, the support is generally poor for computer type equipment. These are generally considered replace items.

I don't particularly know your unit, but did you try to see if you can replace it with something else? If it is a standard IDE or SATA driven unit there should normally not be too much difficulty.

Jerry G.

Reply to
Jerry G.

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