DVD Drive Cleaner? / Burning smell?

[ChildofJah]

I have been using my DVD drive on my computer for about 8 months and have recorded a lot of DVD's with no major problems. Recently, when I record DVD's I notice a burning smell afterwards. Can anyone tell me what the problem is? Is it just a matter of over-use and time to replace the entire drive? Or should I use one of those DVD lens cleaning discs?

[Krispy Kritter]

I wouldn't expect a lens cleaning disc to be able to fix a burning smell. Sounds like some part of your pc (maybe you dvdrom) is overheating and most likely ready to kick the bucket.

You could get a can of compressed air and thoroughly cleaning your entire pc.

[Jayhawk]

I agree with Krispy Kritter about the lens cleaning kit (rip off). A couple things come to mind (may or may not help).

Make sure the smell is coming from the DVD drive. Could be a hard drive, fan, overworked CPU, etc. Clean all the dust out of your case, fans, power supplies using canned air (all recommended by Krispy and a great idea regardless).

Second, have you changed DVD media recently. If so you might want to switch back or try another brand.

You might also buy some time if it is the DVD drive, and it's motor bearing related, by burning at a lower speed.

[ozymango]

Not to be too freaky here, but have you sniffed one of your DVDs after it's burned? I've gotten some blanks that, frankly, stink after they're burned. Kind of a melted plastic meets burning insulation, with a little electrical short tossed in for good measure.

So it could be your discs. They're probably emiting some kind of cyanide outgassing during the recording process. Cheerful thought, eh? Okay, maybe not so extreme, but hot DVD dye is not one of my favorite odors.

[ROF]

I had this same issue. There was a slight "burning" smell coming from this PC. It operated fine, burned DVD/CDs fine, hosted games, etc. One day I was downstairs(this PC is in the basement laundry room), when I noticed this smell. It smelled like burnt silicon, but very mild. After much investigation, without finding any obvious solution, I powered the machine back up and waited. I returned the machine to normal operation P2P filesharing and after about an hour or so, the smell returned. I had left the case sides off for easy operating inspection. Still no outward signs of malfunction. After snooping around inside with my nose I came across the culprit, a dying harddrive. I've never smelled a dying harddrive before, usually those things just quit all of sudden one day and never work again. I removed this HDD(It wasn't the primary drive) and since then the smell has not returned. I took this HDD and put it into my linux box and the smell returned.

My problem was a faulty or dying HDD. You may want to investigate this or at the very least remove your case covers and give that system an intense work out. You may be able to pinpoint the smell to a particular area inside your case. (a drive, P/S, etc.) While burning DVDs may produce this smell, it may not be your DVD drive that's getting hot.

[ChildofJah]

Thank you guys for all of the suggestions, I'm definitely going to try all of them.