20 Most Recent Sony RDR-GX300 DVD Recorder Questions & Answers

Finding a replacement is next to impossible. However, you may be able to repair this drive if the only fault is that it will not recognise disks.
WARNING: The following instructions involve opening your recorder and being exposed to dangerous voltages. make sure you unplug the unit from the mains supply before opening the unit. DO NOT PLUG INTO THE MAINS WITH THE COVER REMOVED.

1. Eject the disk tray and then switch off the unit at the mains socket. Remove the plug from the socket for safety.
2. Unclip the front bezel from the disk tray. Push the tray back in.
3. Remove the top cover of the unit. Remove the front plastic bezel from the unit (should be clipped on).
4. I am not familiar with your particular model but you will probably need to loosen one or more boards inside to gain access to the actual DVD unit.
5. Remove the DW-U15A. Take the metal casing off the DW-U15A.
6. Slide the laser carriage back, away from the center. You will notice that one side if the carriage is firmly attached to the slide rail while the other side can be wobbled up and down on it's rail. There should be very little actual wobble. Unfortunately, the grub screw used on the carriage at this point is made from plastic instead of metal. So over a period of time this grub screw gets worn down and eventually the carriage leans too far over for the laser to bounce off the disk correctly.
7. You need to adjust the white grub screw to adjust the angle of the carriage (and therefore the laser). You will need a small ALLEN KEY (HEX key) or you can try a small flat blade screwdriver. The grub screw is locked by a small amount of coloured resin which will need to be broken.
8. The adjustment of the grub screw will basically be a case of trial and error. Turn the grub screw about a quarter of a turn CLOCKWISE (i.e. it should move down to lift the carriage up) and then reconnect to the main unit. put the cover back onto the unit and plug into the mains. Test the drive.
9. If it does not work then repeat step 8 until the unit reads the DVD.
10. You may need to fine tune the adjustment by trying a range of pre-recorded and home-grown DVDs.
11. If it still does not work after two or three full turns of the grub screw then either the laser unit is too dirty or the laser has failed, in which case you definitely need a replacement drive. Try finding a working DRU-510A and swap the control boards.

What is the format, MP4? Does your computer have the codec? If not you can download VLC player or codec packs for your computer. I am using shark007 codecs.

Hello Cat napoli, Try putting the TV on channel 3 or 4 and see it it works.

Just guessing but I suspect Sony wrote customer firmware for the drive. Best bet is to try and get a Sony drive.

Make sure the DVD is stopped, before going to the finalize section. There should be no DVD contents showing on the screen.

If you have the manual it should say something about a child lock

You need to check the record speed. Anything beyond 3 hours is likely to appear blurred. Also viewing the recording on a large wide screen will exacerbate the problem.