a stumper for the greats here....

I wasn't sure where to post this (newb in this area.. big timer in the street racing and j30 area)

I have a sony cdx-mp40 stereo system in my car. For the first year, no problems... 3 days after warranty expired i turn it on and switch to cd, it displayed ERROR and attempted to eject the cd. I'll admit i'm not an engineer, but i know a good bit about electronics to know it's not the faceplate or the connectors... does anyone else know what could cause this or what this error message means? my manual and service manual that i downloaded online do not mention this at all...

This does not happen all the time.. it's kind of random to be honest, but it's very annoying. If anyone can help, i'll be very appreciative!

Only time my CD player did that to me was when i put the cd in upside down??

well i've never put one in upside down... any other ideas?

Are you using burnt cd's and is it the same cd that gives you problems?

Does it do it with a "store bought" cd as well?

I know that when I was having some burner problems with my computer it was screwing up my cd's where they would work fine in one of my buddies but wouldn't work in mine and vice versa.

Did you change software in your computer lately?

3 days after warranty expires... :rofl:, sorry but isn't that always the way?

Maybe you could call/email the Sony service department for ideas?

Hell with it being only 3 days out maybe they'll cut you some sort of break?

3 days after warranty expired

Good ole' "planned obsolescence..."

Have you tried running a lens cleaner through the player?

well, i'm no innocent person when it comes to music, but i've bought cd's as well, and it does it sometimes to them too... no new software on the computer, plain ole dvd burner with nero burnin both dvd's and cd'rs...

oh i hate sony's customer service...

they were like "too bad" it'll be 180 to fix it"

it cost me 200 to begin with..

so i said screw that and told their manager (wasn't too happy at the time) that i would never buy another sony brand product again. (well, i lie...i'll prolly buy a ps2 game or something)

but you get the idea, now a lens cleaner i havn't used before... how do they work? where do you get them?

You can usually get them at Radio Shack or something. There are a couple different types I've seen, only used one type. The type I've used (usually cheaper, but understandably less effective) is basically a blank CD with a soft brush on the underside - as it spins, it brushes crap off the laser lens. The other type, I believe uses an absorbant fabric on the underside of a provided blank CD - you apply a cleaning liquid to the fabric, which rubs on and cleans the lens.

How about changing the whole lens? My hifi couldnt play burnt cds, so i went the a shop and they changed the lens and now i can play anything

well that's expensive right? i mean i'd rather just buy a pioneer if i'm gonna pay a hundred dollars or more to get it fixed

i know how you feel man.....our sony vaio computer went out a month after warranty expired.

i paid $51 for the new lens.