Cleaning the optical lens of CD and DVD players

'No disc' error message appearing on the front display of the disc player or screen of the TV monitor can often be solved by cleaning the lens of the disc player.

So in my years of working as technical support engineer for a multinational consumer electronics company one of the most frequently asked questions that I have come across from end-users of disc players was how to clean the optical lens.

Always the answer I gave to end-users was to try to clean first the tiny, delicate optical lens of their disc player with a cotton bud before bringing their player to the repair center.

Later, I found out from one service information document that there is a right way of cleaning the optical lens than just brushing its surface with the cotton bud.

OK, according to the service information you have to brush the surface of the lens with the cotton bud lengthwise -- not in circular motion as I myself had been accustomed to do earlier.

For top-loading disc players the optical lens is easy to access. Just lift the tray door and the tiny glass eye looking up at you would be the optical lens. Cleaning the lens would be easy. If the lens looks blurry it might help if you slightly moist the cotton with rubbing alcohol to take away sticky dust or dirt.


For DVD players, you need to take off the top cover of the set. Then remove 2 screws on top of the loader.



After removing the screws the optical lens can now be rubbed with the cotton bud. Always remember to rub lengthwise along the direction of optical pick-up travel.