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    Loud DVD Playack?

    Discussion in 'VAIO / Sony' started by Arcanum84, Oct 19, 2005.

  1. Arcanum84

    Arcanum84 Notebook Consultant

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    I watched a DVD for the first time the other day on my new Vaio VGN-S54B (Japanese model, not sure what the North American model is but I'm thinking its similar to an S5) and I noticed that the drive makes a loud whirring sound every minute or so that lasts for a few seconds. This is in addition to the regular sound the drive makes while playing a DVD.

    I guess it's a little hard the describe. The drive makes a small purring sound while playing a DVD, which is soft and is of no problem and I know there probably isn't such a thing as a perfectly quiet optical drive. But in addition to this sound, at about every minute a louder whirring sound comes and lasts for a few seconds. It's almost like the disc is rubbing against something and then gets freed, only to get caught again.

    Does anyone else have this kind of problem? It's not that noticeable if you are watching a movie on a plane, in a station or some other place with lots of ambient noise, but if you are just hanging out at home and watching a movie in a quiet setting it is a rather noticeable noise and pretty annoying. I guess I can live with it, but I'm wondering if it's a problem with my drive or if this is normal.

    My three year old Toshiba Dynabook that I was using before never had this problem and played the DVDs really quietly, so I find it odd that a brand new $2,000 laptop would have such a loud optical drive.

    One additional note...I don't notice this sound when installing programs from discs or when playing audio CDs, it only happens when I'm playing a DVD.
     
    Arcanum84, Oct 19, 2005
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  2. ZaZ

    ZaZ Super Model Super Moderator

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    You could rip the disc to the hard drive using DVD Decrypter see if it still makes the noise. That would tell you if it is the speakers or the drive.
     
    ZaZ, Oct 19, 2005
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  3. Arcanum84

    Arcanum84 Notebook Consultant

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    I tried your suggestion and ripped the DVD to the hard drive. The drive did in fact make the same noise while it was being ripped. Is this something I should be concerned about? Is the drive defective? Will it wear out sooner? Is there anything I can do about it?

    I don't understand why the drive makes no sound when reading CDs, but when it reads DVDs it makes this strange sound. It plays, rips and burns them fine, but this strange whirring sound is coming every minute or so during the process.
     
    Arcanum84, Oct 19, 2005
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