Is my Apex 660 repairable / replaceable ?!

[buzzsaw]

I have had an Apex 660 for a year which a friend had a long time before me. The thing used to rock - could play all my burned CD-Rs with SVCD's, DVD-R's, etc.

Now it won't load some discs. It errors out - displays something funky on the display or says no disc. Sometimes it plays them but is choppy and stops. It happens mostly on my retail "adult" dvds and my burned ones are working ok.

Anything I can do? Can it be repaired? Is there a replacement that is cheap that can read everything the Apex 660 could ?

Thanks in advance.

[TaoTeWingChun]

Have you tried cleaning the laser lens?

Start there first then post back your results.

Cheers!

TTWC

[buzzsaw]

Do you happen to have instructions on cleaning the laser lens,

or a link ?

Thanks

[TaoTeWingChun]

A laser lens cleaner sells for around $10US, and can be purchased anywhere CD's are sold. Run to your nearest music or chain store with an electronics department and grab one to use on your Apex. It's how I brought mine back to life!

Good luck!

TTWC

[jtoolman2000]

I have one of those integrated DVD player /Surround Sound systems. All was perfect till the DVD player began not not load, or would skip when playing most commercial dvds. Back ups would play perfectly fine.
I opened the machine and noticed that commercials DVDs would not or could not be spun up to the operating RPM in order for the disc to load. It would attempt to spin up and after not reaching the proper RPM, it would stop and try again over and over. I would exchange with a burned DVD-r and it would instantly rev up to the operating RPM without a roblem.Months later neither will work so I am using it only as a receiver for the integrated surround sound and I have a new player hooked up to my new 52" Toshiba DLP.

My theory is that maybe the commercial discs are a bit heavier than burnable discs and so thay cannot rev up to speed due to a slipping or failing mottor to drive link. It's probably a matter of an O ring or some type of drive belt. I am not sure at all how these things operate but that's my theory. Luckily DVD players are not super expensive anymore. As far as they being repaired? Apex units are dirt cheap and would cost more than twice their value to get even a simple repair done to them.

[davideck]

I've replaced the drive inside my Apex AD-600A with a standard PC DVD-ROM drive.
I think that the same thing can be done with the 660.
Might be worth a try if all else fails...

[buzzsaw]

I think you got it there - with the spinning problem.

When I put the disc in - I hear it trying to spin up and make all sorts of weird "chunking" noises before he eventually fails.

Same with when the disc is playing and starts to skip, you can really hear the motor - it is loud and "clunking".

I guess I will not clean the lens as it sounds like a motor problem?

This unit is dated, what model is available today that can play the burnt stuff (dvd-r, svcd (cd's), etc.)

Thanks

[TaoTeWingChun]

Let's see - you'd rather spend $50 or more on a new player instead of $10 for a lens cleaner . . .

And the lens cleaner will likely outlast all of your optical drives combined . . .

As to the motor thing, if you're handy it's an easy fix, and there are even websites devoted to swapping these drives/trays out. Chances are you've already got a drive that you can use in your Apex.

Good luck!

TTWC

[handyguy]

the apex forums are at nerd-out.com

anything & everything apex is there