NUON Samsung N501, N504, N505 reading disc problems SOLVED!

[T T]

Hi all - some of you may recall a post I made in the old forum regarding a solution for disc problems in the Samsung Nuon players. We thought it was lost forever when the old forum died - well thanks to a Google cache I found, I thought it might be useful to repost it here, as it should be of use to someone. Kev - might be worth archiving this one on the main nuon-dome site?

I have some great news for Samsung N501, N504 and N505 users who are having problems reading either CDs, CDRs, DVDs or Nuon discs. I've discovered that the disc drive inside the machine is a standard unit used by Samsung worldwide in multiple players at the time.

If your Nuon drive gets flaky, you have only one choice really, and that's buy a new Nuon player - with prices increasing on Ebay and the Nuon players themselves becoming more scarce, you may be tempted to give up on the problem altogether.

So here's the soluton:

In my case, I bought a Samsung DVD-M105 (the M104 is the same too) from Ebay for the princely sum of eight UK pounds (about $15). You can see from this pic that it is a similar size to my N504, and the DVD drive tray is in a similar position:



Remove the covers (3 screws and some clips - easy) and you'll see that the drive in the M105 is identical to the drive in the Nuon player, and the connectors to the motherboards are the same:



Remove both drives (again 3 screws, a ribbon cable and a wired small plug):



Swap the drives over, rescrew your replacement drive into your Nuon, reinsert the ribbon cable and the plug, and away you go:

Here's my N504 with the new drive from the M105 playing a DVD:



A CD with VLM enabled:



A Nuon Disc:



All working with the drive taken from the different model. I have tested this in a N501 also, and it works perfectly.

There are undoubtedly other models in the Samsung DVD player range that will provide identical drive units - I guess you'll need a bit of investigative work to find other models. You are looking for a model that looks similar physically to the Nuon players, with the drive tray in the middle, towards the top of the machine and above the LCD display. Just search on Ebay for "Samsung DVD Player" and take a look at the pics. For example, here's a M105 going for peanuts:

Ebay Link

This is a great way to replace your broken Nuon player - standard Samsung DVD players are going for peanuts on Ebay over here in the UK (and I suspect elsewhere). So I now have a spare Drive unit for my N504:



And it cost me £8 plus postage - the player I bought has been trashed, which is a shame - but hey, for a few pounds I now have some security about extending the life of my Nuon. And the great thing? You don't need to solder anything or be a technical whizz to do this. Just use a bit of common sense and take your time. The trickiest bit is removing the front casing from the Nuon - its a series of clips so be careful not to snap them off. And before you start, eject the tray in your Nuon, leave it open and remove the triangular covering (it "snaps" off in an upwards direction).

Hope this gives some of you guys with disc reading problems a tidy and cheap solution!

Anyway, any questions, post here and I'll try to help.

Cheers

TT

[The Helper]

Nice find - great save on that one.

[Skah T]

Excellent!

[bconner2]

Has anybody swapped drives in a N2000/gotten it to read copied movies?

[ShaggysNUON]

Hmm, this is what I should do with my N501 that refuses to read CDs. Thanks for the info!

[T T]

@ BConner2: My best suggestion would be to open it up and see if the drive looks like the ones I've pictured above. If so you're in business...

If not, search ebay for similar looking Samsung DVD players from around that era - I'll wager you'll find the drives used are universal..

[K3V]

Just a heads-up, I finally put this up on the main site. Check it out.

[AlexC]

While I don't have problems with mine yet this is great tip for the future

[T2KFreeker]

Originally Posted by AlexC

While I don't have problems with mine yet this is great tip for the future

The only problem now is finding the DVD players themselves. Looked all over ther place and Nada. I can't even get the drive itself from Samsung!

[K3V]

Have you tried here?

http://www.samsungparts.com/

[T2KFreeker]

Yeah, I just looked as I had actually found the site earlier also, but still, no luck there. I got a parts distribution warehouse number from Samsung, so I am going to see if they have the drive I need tomorrow. I hope so as I'd like to get to some Ballistic. Any more suggestions guys?

[viMaster]

There are a few m105s on ebay UK, but you'd have to message the sellers and ask if they'll ship to you. They only have UK listed as the shipment destinations.

edit - I also don't have a clue if the drive would be different. I wonder if there would be compatibility issues with different regions?

[T T]

T2K, I'd be happy to sort out a drive for you and post to the US if you are prepared to pay the costs.

The drives work on NTSC and PAL machines, I've tested the replacement sourced in the UK in a N501 and N504. The region coding appears to be programmed into the circuit board somewhere rather than in the drive itself.

Looking at Ebay.com, I'd say these Samsung DVD players would contain the drive needed to do this:

This one

This one

This one

And this one

No guarantees, but they appear to use the same drive.

TT

[T2KFreeker]

Damn you guys are hot! I appreciate the answers and suggestions. We may have solved the problem! NUON!!!!

[T2KFreeker]

DVD-S321 models will also work as they have the same DVD drive in them as well! My Nuon N-501 works like a dream now! Just thought I would pass that on guys.