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Jeffery C Unregistered guest | I have a Denon DVD 2900. Plays SACD and DVD very well but doesn't recognize any redbook CDs. Anyone knows why and how to fix it? Thanks in advance! |
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Rantz Unregistered guest | I have a Denon DVD-2900 and it plays all my rb cd's without a problem. it should automatically select 'CD' when entered on the tray. What connection (s) are you using? |
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Gold Member Username: Jan_b_vigneDallas, TX Post Number: 6018 Registered: May-04 | How old is the unit and about how much play has it had? |
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Jeffery C Unregistered guest | Manufactured in June 2003. I don't know how much plays it had. |
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Jeffery C Unregistered guest | Manufactured in June 2003. Second hand don't know how much paly it had. Thought it was firmware but since it doesn't read CD so I am not able to upgrade firmware. But it plays SACD and DVD pretty well. |
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Rantz Unregistered guest | I doubt firmware has anything to do with the problem. You say it doesn't recognize Cd's - what does the display read when you try? Though this does seem like a malfunctioning unit to me. |
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Jeffery C Unregistered guest | Display shows a bunch of zeroes same as there is no disc found. |
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Rantz Unregistered guest | The 2900 will not play the cd side of a dualdisc, at least none I have tried (3) and it shows "no read" in the display. Just a thought - will it play the cd layer of a hybrid sacd when you use the selector button? |
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Jeffery C Unregistered guest | It does not play CD layer, the display just show "Loading". I did have some chances to play some redbook CDs last night but it was not gurranteed. You could play this time but you if reloaded it, the player didn't recognize the CD and showed "0h00m00s". |
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New member Username: CoachPost Number: 1 Registered: Jun-04 | I have a Denon 2900 and it had stopped playing DVD-A's. I sent away to Denon for the firmware disk. They'll send it free or you can burn a disk on your computer. I put it in,followed the instructions and everything old is new again. This disk fixed everything. Go to there website and look under product support. Hope this helps. |
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Gold Member Username: Jan_b_vigneDallas, TX Post Number: 6020 Registered: May-04 | If the firmware upgrade doesn't help, my guess would be a problem in the optics of the system. A technician will have to verify the problem and do the repair. |
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Jeffery C Unregistered guest | Steve, Thanks for the input. I did burn a firmware disc but since it doesn't recognize CDs I am not able to upgrade the firmware. Jan, If it is an optic problem, how come it plays SACD and DVD pretty well, never failed? |
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Gold Member Username: Jan_b_vigneDallas, TX Post Number: 6040 Registered: May-04 | Because the laser "beam" system used for SACD and DVD-A is smaller in size to accomodate the smaller, higher density "groove" of the hi-rez discs. Universal players and all DVD based players are "dual-laser" systems. The problem is probably in the set up of the optics and the player cannot read the subcodes of the discs to select which laser assembly is appropriate. Since it cannot default to the CD laser, it can still play the hi-rez discs with no problem. If all the formats used the same size laser, my answer would suck. I think the set up menu allows this; try going into the menu and selecting the Redbook CD layer as the default playback. This might get the player to default to the CD optics. (Or, that portion might be burned out or defective.) If this is possible and gives CD playback (or a different error message), then I would bet my answer is correct. |
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Gold Member Username: Jan_b_vigneDallas, TX Post Number: 6048 Registered: May-04 | From Six Moons: http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/denon/2900_3.html "By and large, my curiosity about this Parts Connexion-modified Denon was on the audio end of things although I did reference some DVD-V sources from time to time. The period of time during which I auditioned the Denon extended beyond the normal three months or so that is common with 6moons writers, this because of economic exigencies, scheduling conflicts, work overlap and a variety of other Abandon Chip factors for which I apologize to those readers who have been waiting patiently for me to make my final declarations of faith as to the aural capacities of this unit. One other factor which played into this mix was my need to assure our readers and myself -- with something akin to Biblical certitude -- that this unit would hold up for the long haul. That's because having completed an extensive seven week burn-in/audition (during which time I then left the unit dormant for a few weeks), I entered the home stretch of the evaluation process only to be derailed by a technical glitch when the unit failed to read my CDs. Since it continued to read and play DVDs and SACDs, I tried re-booting the unit. At first this seemed to do the trick but the problem reoccurred. At this point, 6moons shipped the unit back for service with the stipulation that they return this original unit and some sort of explanation as to what had gone kerblooey. In a subsequent e-mail, Walter Liederman told me that out of over seventy units sold to that point, this problem had only cropped up on one other occasion and that they'd replaced the transport then and on my unit but otherwise, everything else was the same. From that point on, I more or less repeated the original process several times whereby I would run the unit more or less continuously for a few weeks, then let it sit dormant. I then used it intermittently for a couple of weeks and let it sit again. Then I ran it continuously for a while and let it sit dormant for a few more weeks. At the point where I'd repeated this process a few times without any reoccurrence of the original glitch (or any subsequent problems), I was satisfied that the earlier faux pas was a freak occurrence; that Underwood's service response was unequivocal; that there was nothing untoward to be concerned about - and that we could concern ourselves solely with the sonic attributes of this multi-disc player." |
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Jeffery C Unregistered guest | I did some tests last night and found that only when the player is cold it can successfuly identify redbook CDs and plays the CD without any problem. After playing CD for about an hour and when the player is warmed up, it can never recognize any redbook CDs. Change default to CD in the menu does not help at all. If the optics is not properly setup for picking up CD info, how come it plays CD when it is cold? And it can continouesly play for hours without any problem. The problem is in its disc format detection stage but i don't know what it is. I also have a Denon DVD 2200 which was not able to play certain CDs. I kept on loading the disc for about 3 or 5 times, it finally recognized it. After perform such an attempt for several times now it can play all of my CDs. Looks like there was a "training" period. But this 2900 is worse than the 2200 and doesn't look like "trainable". I wonder how the player changes its laser beam size: change its lens focus length or the laser wavelength? Or just simple two laser emitters? It seems I am not the only person who has such an issue. But it is out of warrenty, I can not send it to Denon. Sent an email to Denon Friday morning, no reply yet. Maybe they never respond. BTW I like the sound 2900 plays redbook CD, much better than that of 2200. |
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Rantz Unregistered guest | Try placing a small silent fan to help keep the unit cool - I have one over my AVR on warm days. I have heard of this being done with some DVD players. Just a suggestion. Sorry about your troubles as the 2900 is a fine player for all formats. Ours had been used constantly for about close to 18 mths and, knock on wood, has worked without problem. Good luck. |
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Gold Member Username: Jan_b_vigneDallas, TX Post Number: 6051 Registered: May-04 | You can try the fan, but since there are no ventilation holes in the top cover, I doubt it will do much to solve your problem. The issue is what happens when metals and grease inside the player are cold and when they are warm. With the information from the article and your further experimentation, I would have to make the guess the transport and/or optics (which, of course, are tied into one another) have become the problem. When the player is dead cold, the transport slides are ever so slightly smaller since the metal rods which are the main part of the transport will decrease in diameter when cool. As the player warms up, and this could take a while since a DVD player doesn't generate a lot of heat, the slides will expand in diameter slightly and the transport is then unable to follow the subtrack set up groove. When discussing the width of a DVD/CD groove, we are talking minimal amounts of "stick" which will cause mistracking of the laser assembly. Any slightly off center disc (of which there are many) will result in no set up for that disc when the player is warm even though the same disc might work when the player is cold. To my knowledge, DVD players will simply switch the size and focus of the laser to accommodate CD playback. More or less like a two way light bulb with the subtrack information determining which laser to use. It is possible the transport has no more problem than the grease on the transport slides has become sticky with age and heat and as the slides expand in size ever so slightly, the grease is not allowing the laser assembly to move the small amounts required to pick up the information required to switch to CD playback. If that is the case, a thorough cleaning and relubrication might solve the problem. What I have seen is that repair seldom lasts for long and sooner or later the player needs either a new transport or should be retired to "wheel chuck" status. It is also possible the transport was slightly out of alignment from the factory,and has finally reached its breaking point. If that's the case, I would say, "wheel chuck, here we come". Replacing the entire transport out of warranty can be a pricey adventure. The 2900 is a reasonably expensive player to begin with and you will not get the playback quality from a less expensive universal player, as you can tell. You will have to decide when it is time to cut your losses on a used deck. Since the player is still playing SACD and DVD-A's, its usefulness for those formats is worth keeping the player until the transport/optics finally give out. A decent stand alone CD player will give you respectable playback of Redbook CD's at a reasonable price. Used CD players are pretty abundant on the internet. At this point there are no repairs you can manage by yourself. This will require a technician to verify what is suspected. If Denon does respond with a ubiquitous reply of, "we don't know; take it to a shop", I would seek out the best Denon tech I could find even if it means shipping the player to a regional service center. Ask for an estimate for the repair cost. Most shops will give a guess at what you will have to spend and apply it to your repair charges if you proceed. Of course, it's only a guess since no one knows something is actually repaired until it consistently works properly. Generally an estimate will run between $40-60. You will get a short warranty on the repairs and you can proceed with that knowledge and the fact the Denon is an excellent player for the money - when it works. My only other suggestion would be trying some of the CD enhancers which clean the surface of the CD substrate. The intent of these cleaners is to allow better reading of the tracks by minimizing the defraction of the substrate layer. This could give you enough "clarity" to get the player working on a more regular basis. If it does, it's cheaper than a repair. If it doesn't, you still have cleaner, better sounding CD's. |
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Rantz Unregistered guest | "You can try the fan, but since there are no ventilation holes in the top cover, I doubt it will do much to solve your problem." I would have to agree with Jan's comment and I would not have recommended it - but for the fact that someone on this forum used a fan on their Denon player to solve a vibration problem - go figure! |
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Jeffery C Unregistered guest | Jan's comments make sense. 2900 has a fix laser head and the whole dics moves for tracking and reading. The dry out grease and expanded rods could be the reason to cause the problem. Do you think it is worth the efforts to open up the cover, clean the guide rods and re-grease them? Or just leave it this way and get another decent CD player? I got this cosmetically clean box for 300 bucks and really don't want to return it. |
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Gold Member Username: Jan_b_vigneDallas, TX Post Number: 6065 Registered: May-04 | You can try, if the transport is accessible. Many are not without some knowledge of how to partially disassemble the transport. Lasers, you know. Put your eye out, the damn things will! Also many manufacturers will require a specific lubricant and using the wrong type will only make matters worse. |
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Gold Member Username: ArtkAlbany, Oregon USA Post Number: 1915 Registered: Feb-05 | Sounds like buying a dedicated CD player is in order. Likely to get better performance anyway. |
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willav8 Unregistered guest | My 2900 is having the same problem. I haven't played CDs on it for a while. But today being one of those rare days I wanted to play redbook on it, I discovered the problem. |
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Bronze Member Username: JethroLansing, Mi Post Number: 29 Registered: Jan-06 | have same or similar prob with my denon 2910 player. plays dvds perfectly, but plays about 1 out of 10 cds. not talkin about burned discs here, store boughts. i use optical thru the denon to my denon 3806 receiver which don't matter cause the dvd player just won't read the damned cd, only dvds. my solution was just to hookup my old denon cd player analog patch corded to my receiver. just kinda pisses me off cause i think the 2910 would sound better but don't feel like dealing with it, its just a defective unit, as is yours. let me know if u get urs workin plz .. sorry if i hijacked the thread just read the thing and thought i'd add even tho my dvd player is not exactly the same could be 2 completely different problems. later |