Subscriber Jan wrote to ask me about a problem she was having and a possible soluion:
Terry, the DVD player on my Dell computer which was purchased in Nov. 2005 has stopped working. There was a link in your newsletter called Registry Fix which mentioned Dell DVD players not working. Is this a good website to try for a problem like this? Do DVD players just wear out over time (less than 2 yrs)? I do not use it often. Thanks. Jan
I’m not familiar with Registry Fix. Jan probably saw a Google Adsense ad — Google matches their ad “inventory” to my content and displays their PPC (Pay-Per-Click) ads on my site.
My choice for registry repair is PC Matic
However, I don’t think it would help her at all with this problem. I’d be EXTREMELY surprised if any Windows registry problem caused your DVD to stop working.
I think you’re right on the second idea — I consider CD and DVD players and writers to be disposables. They’re cheap to replace and frequently die. Assuming your Dell is a desktop, you’ll find that the DVD unit is easily removed and replaced.
Fortunately, at $30-$60 for a DVD player (or even a DVD burner!), they aren’t priced too badly. I went through a couple HP CD burners in the early days at $400 and $250 (same model, 8 months later). Needless to say, when two of those burned out when Adaptec EZ CD Creator crashed while burning, I threw that program out.
I consider CD burners, DVD burners, video cassette recorders, and stand-alone DVD players to be throw-away devices. They’ve all come way down in price. The cost of repairs is prohibitive. And, I’ve seen too many of them die to consider them to be anything more than disposable.
and