How to Clean Your Blu-ray Drive

If like most people you enjoy kicking back in your home and watching the big screen in HD, then you probably own a Blu-ray player, because it has the cleanest, brightest, and sharpest picture available in today's consumer market. Having built on the DVD standard creating a whole new disc format, the Blu-ray player can hold ten times the data of a DVD. But what do you do if it starts skipping or fails to read that movie you just bought from the store.

The most likely cause for a Blu-ray drive skipping or failing to read, is that it has built up dust on the lens and needs to be cleaned, but how do you clean it? You could throw your player into a vat of cyanide, put it through the washer machine, or maybe the dish washer will get it clean! No, this is an expensive piece of hardware and you really should treat it as such. This means you need a specific set of tools and some mechanical ability or both.

The easiest way to clean your Blu-ray player is to buy a lens cleaning disc. The lens cleaning disc does not need to say it is for blu-ray specifically, Blu-ray drives will read CD, DVD and Blu-ray discs. This cleaning disc works by putting data sectors for the drive to read in a "cleaning track" on the disc. In this "cleaning track" you will find a small micro fiber brush which as the drive reads will brush off the dust on the lens and contains no cleaning solution.

When you start the CD, DVD, or Blu-ray cleaner disc it will play some music or a small clip so you can determine if the drive needs to be cleaned. It will then give you instructions on what to do and how long to wait for the cleaning disc to finish. Once it's finished it will display a closing sample movie. This movie allows you to determine if the cleaning solved your problem. Occasionally you may have to run this disc more then once but this is rare.

There are times when a cleaning disc simply won't work. For instance if your lens is already so dirty it won't read the starting track, then you won't be able to use the disc. If this is the case there is only one solution. You have to open the case. before proceeding here check if you have a manufactures warranty. If you have a warranty then just send it back and get it replaced free or for cost of shipping.

If you don't have a warrant then get a couple screw drivers and put your thinking cap on. The screwdrivers you will most likely need are a Phillips standard #2 and a small jewelers screw driver. Depending on what kind of player you are working with the methods of removing it will change, but the drive itself will remain the same. As with any electrical device you need to be sure to turn the device off and unplug it before performing any maintenance. After all you may feel like Einstein now but you wouldn't want to look like him. Now look at your device if it's a computer Blu-ray drive, removing it is as simple as opening the case, taking two or three screws out of the side of the drive, then sliding it out of the bay. If it is a set top Blu-ray player then it could be a bit different, but most likely you will find the screws to remove the case on the back of the player. Once you remove these screws the Blu-ray drive should be exposed.

Now that you have access to the top of your drive. Using the jewelers screw driver remove four to eight screws from the top and pull it off. You may feel a slight resistance, this is because the drive uses a magnet to hold the disc on the motor mount while it is spinning inside. Now you should see a dock and the disc tray, in the center of the tray will be your lens. Your lens is not hard to identify it should be a small blue dot of glass. Now that your looking at the lens. It's time to clean it. Get some lens cleaner from an eye glass kit or some other source and a lens cleaning cloth. Now just lightly dab the lens and brush away from the center once or twice should be enough. Reassemble everything and test. If it still doesn't work you may have to replace the lens. You can search on the Internet for replacement lenses they are considerably cheaper then buying a whole new Blu-ray unit and very easy to replace. I would not recommend using alcohol for cleaning any electronic device, alcohol is too strong of a chemical and could eat the away at the lens.

If you have just completed this project and you're in good shape then congratulations are in order. Though it's an easy task it's one many people refuse to undertake, despite how considerable the savings can be. I salute you for taking the initiative to attempt something new and succeeding!