It will happen to you, Skippy CD syndrome. You’ll be crusen in your ride, grab a CD from the glove compartment and pop it in the deck, so you can rock out to your favorite band, and… “I see a re-eh-ed door and I-i-i-i wa-wa-wa-wa-want to paint it-it-it-it” … Dang!
Outch!; instead of rocking out, you’re driven bonkers.
It’s time to rock out again, with the cleaning cure to revive your CD, Data CD, DVD’s and Blueray disks to boot.
A CD could skip for several reasons related to the disk
Debris on the Disk; Dust, Dirt, fingerprints, grime and oil clinging to the data surface
Damaged surface: such as minor scratches and dings and gouges
Check out the following cleaning guide that should be done first with any skipping CD. If it continues to skip after a cleaning then most likely its surface is damaged with scratches; I give some good advice for that too. Let’s get started…
How to Clean CD’s and DVD
1. Gather your materials
Isopropyl, aka rubbing alcohol is my first recommendation because it cuts through grease and grime and dries real fast.
Alternatives to Isopropyl: a few drops of dish soap, in a cup of warm water
A bowl to compose your cleaning mix
A clean, soft, lint free 100% cotton cloth; You can use a clean cutup tee-shirt. Other cloth like materials like specialty glasses cleaning cloths work awesome to.
Warning: do not use paper towel, it has coarse fibers that will damage the cd and forget about toilet paper or tissues because their fibers tend to cling to the CD which is defeats the purpose of cleaning.
2. Prepare your cleaning mix
In a small clean bowl, pour out a small amount of isopropyl, just enough to cover the bottom.
If you’re using dish soap then put in a cup of warm water and 3 drops of dish soap, whisk it up with a fork and get some Sudsy action going on; yay
3. Wipe away The debris and Grime
Pick up your CD with a grip that avoids touching the shiny surface; I find if I have my index finger in the middle and press on the labeled surface, I maintain a strong hold.
dip a small portion of your cloth into you cleaning mix, ensuring it’s only damp (dripping wet will only cause a clumsy mess, so rig out the overly wet portion if this be the case).
Now using your damp cloth wipe it in a radial fashion from inside to outer edge in straight lines. Please resist the urge to wipe the CD in circles or going around and around it in a circular way (if you do and you’re using a less than an optimal cloth, scratching can occur and will be far more damaging then if you used straight wipe lines from the center to the edge).
4. Finish up
Good the CD is wiped down, and free from the grodies.
Place the CD on a clean surface, shiny side up.
If using rubbing isopropyl give it a good 10 seconds to dry,
If using a mild detergent then first give it a rinse with cold water under the tap, pad dry it with the dry area of the clean cloth and give it at least two mins two air dry. Place your CD to dry on clean surface shiny side up in a room that’s free of excessive dust.
Excellent your finished, test you’re your newly cleaned CD. Does it play without a skip, does the data read without error? Hmmm, if not then your problem is with the scratch marks.
CD DVD Scratch Repair and Clean
There are essentially two ways to repair a CD; the abrasive method and the resurfacing method.
The Abrasive Method
With the abrasive method, the principal is to even out the CD surface so the scratches are not as disruptive to the laser and blend in more with the overall surface.
What can be used as an abrasive, I’ve see a few good ones
Toothpaste; I don’t recommend it although there’s quite a few videos showing you how it’s done on youtube. I think it teeters on insanity if the data you have on the disk is valuable.
Fine Car polish; Not to be confused with car wax, polish is made to remove a very thin layer of clear coat from the car (like tiny tiny sandpaper) removing imperfections, ultimately revealing a flawless shine. The same principal applies with CD,
Apply some polish and water to the 100% cotton cloth (clean)
Using a cloth, polish out the scratches on the CD working back and forth in a radial fashion.
Work on small areas at a time and rinse often to see your progress and avoid overdoing it.
Metal polish; Like Brasso, are generally used to polish cooper and silver will work also and will be applied like the fine car polish example.
If you really need to get this CD working forget the risky abrasive methods and use Dr. Motorized AutoMax Scratch Repair System.
This bad-boy removes an entire layer of plastic evenly over the surface of the CD, so the scratches are effectively removed. Be forward that it will not likely revive a CD or DVD with deep scratches, but all the light ones (even if there are millions of them) will be gone.
Even if the scratch is deep, this Motorized method will sometimes be enough to at least fix the error and get it to read into your computer so that you can make a copy.
The Resurfacing method
When resurfacing the CD, the principal is filling in the scratches with wax, plastic or oil. This makes the scratches not as prominent and blends in more with the overall surface. Here are a few methods:
The outrageous banana method; not recommended but essentially peel and cut a banana, then slide it over the surface of the CD. I’ve never personally used this method and I would not recommend it for anyone who is serious, but it sounds like fun experiment.
Vegetable oil method; It’s defiantly worth a shot and will not damage your CD.
a. Ensure the CD is clean using the 3step method above
b. Apply the Vegetable oil with a clean cotton cloth, moving readily from center to edge, apply it library.
c. Let it sit for a good 10 min
d. Using a dray clean cotton cloth wipe the surface using a moving radially from center to edge polishing and removing the excess oil.
e. Let it sit for another 10 min to dry
f. Test it out and see if this repaired your disk error.
Note: because the oil is a liquid at room temperature this method is only as good as the oil is resident within the scratches of you CD. It’s a temporary solution at best. If it solves the CD or DVD from skipping excellent, make a second copy immediately!
Again, these homebrew methods are temporary at best!
CD Fix-it Kit actually does a better job at resurfacing your disk then any homemade solution; as it has plastic polymers that fill the scratches and harden. So it’s more of long term solution and it’s relatively cheap.
The best option for guaranteed results is to send your CD’s and DVD’s to have them resurfaced professionally. Someone like “Easy DVD Repair” located at this link http://easyDVDRepair.com. You ship them out by mail, preferable in bulk (10 or more at a time), and they mail it back to you in new working condition.
If you got any more ways on how to clean CD’s and DVD I would love to hear about it. Post your comments below for everyone to see…
