The display window keeps saying "no disc" even when there is actually a disc inside.

Peter, Canada, July 2007

Oops actually looks like it only worked once or twice before quitting playing altogether again (again 'no disc'). Strangely I got the tape player to work once about the same time (it hadn't worked for a long time either) and then it quit again. Maybe some overall controller defect.

February 2010

John in Cincinnati, February 2010

Same problem - tried the lens cleaning - did not work.

Per website mentioned by Nigel, disassembled unit to hope to access the mirror - could not, but I blew on everything I could to clear of any dust as much as possible, reassembled and unit now works fine! Don't know if it was the dusting, reestablishing a loose connection or what...

John in Cincinnati, January 2010

Guys, I had exactly the same problem on commercial CDs, and just fixed it. Went to Sony's site (useless), but then found a great and very detailed site on disc readers, http://www.repairfaq.org/sam/cdfaq.htm#cdgicl
Bottom line, believe it or not, was that all I had to do was clean the laser lens!!! I used a drop of gin (probably not ideal, but I didn't have any isopropyl handy) on a cotton wool bud and carefully wiped the lens, and hey presto, it worked immediately on all CDs I've tried! Note that it didn't *look* dirty, but I figured I had nothing to lose. I wish all fixes were that easy!!
Good luck - I hope you're as fortunate.
P.S. Have you figured out how to play MP3s? Just use a stereo jack (3.5 mm) into the 'mix mic' input in the back, and keep the MP3's volume below half.

Nigel in Chicago, April 2008

Same problem. What was really wierd was it would only play certain disks, sometime after it would only play a burnt disk I had and then it stopped altogether.
One other thing, sometimes I would spin the disk before closing the lid and it would then recognize the CD but that doesn't work for me anymore.

Andrew, October 2007