Roof mounted DVD player not working

I've got a 2008 Mazda5 Sport with the roof-mounted DVD player, but it does not power on, won't take a DVD, nothing. Seems completely dead. Anyone else have this issue? Any idea how to fix it, or do I need to get a brand new unit?

Thanks!

I would try to take if off and see if a cord came unhooked.

I was really excited about my DVD player until I found that the screen is real washed out so that you can hardly see the picture.

zelbinion said:

I've got a 2008 Mazda5 Sport with the roof-mounted DVD player, but it does not power on, won't take a DVD, nothing. Seems completely dead. Anyone else have this issue? Any idea how to fix it, or do I need to get a brand new unit?

Thanks!

Click to expand...

Did you just get the car or did it suddenly stop working? It definaltey sounds like a power issue. Either it is not getting power or it is broken and can't get any power. For those who DIY install the overhead DVD, is there a dedicate fuse?

Whatever you do, do NOT get a replacment, it's not worth it. If you have an Android or IOS phone/pad, I HIGHLY recommend the Samsung SE-208BW for ~$50 and a cheapo AC/DC converter. The Samsung is a wifi enabled DVD (content on a USB drive too!) player meaning it sends audio/video out to you phone/pad via wifi. Not like the typical wifi enabled players, which really mean you access Netflix, etc. through it. Get a tech savvy family/friend who knows a little bit about network setup to get it going. Set it up once and you are done. It is well worth it.

Silentnoise713 said:

Did you just get the car or did it suddenly stop working? It definaltey sounds like a power issue. Either it is not getting power or it is broken and can't get any power. For those who DIY install the overhead DVD, is there a dedicate fuse?

Whatever you do, do NOT get a replacment, it's not worth it. If you have an Android or IOS phone/pad, I HIGHLY recommend the Samsung SE-208BW for ~$50 and a cheapo AC/DC converter. The Samsung is a wifi enabled DVD (content on a USB drive too!) player meaning it sends audio/video out to you phone/pad via wifi. Not like the typical wifi enabled players, which really mean you access Netflix, etc. through it. Get a tech savvy family/friend who knows a little bit about network setup to get it going. Set it up once and you are done. It is well worth it.

Click to expand...

I just got the car, and foolishly I didn't check to see if the DVD player worked before buying. It wasn't really a make or break feature, so I'm not that worried about it, just disappointed that it doesn't work. I unscrewed it last night and checked to make sure everything was plugged in. There is one three-wire plug that supplies power to the integrated dome lights, and those work fine. The other connector is a 16 wire plug that connects to the DVD player itself. The plug seemed secure, and I unplugged it/plugged it back to make sure the connection was sound, but that didn't help. I found a shop manual online that lists the pin-out for that connecter, but I found it after re-attaching the unit to the roof. Maybe if I get some time this weekend I'll examine the wiring diagram and figure out which pins should be supplying power and check that. From the manual, it looks like the wire runs to the rear left of the car where there is another plug. (Seems like the wrong direction to me, but that seems to be what the picture indicates.) It looks like it is wired though the 15A "room" fuse and all the interior lights work, so the fuse is probably good. Anyway, if I find there is power going to the plug, that should tell me if the unit is bad, or if there is an open somewhere else in the circuit someplace else in the car. Maybe there is a fuse inside the unit that is blown. Who knows...

I found replacement units on ebay for $150, but I'm not in any hurry to replace it. We have a Nook e-reader tablet that I've installed a full-android based operating system on, and we have that loaded up with a bunch of video (purchased used for $70). That and an audio patch cable, and we get a video player with 8 hours of video that still plays through the car speakers with a bigger screen than the 1.5-hour of video we'd get with the roof-mounted DVD player (hence why I'm not in any hurry to replace it.) I was just hoping someone had run into this before and knew of a common, simple fix. We are about to have kid #2 (reason for buying the Mazda5 in the first place) and it would be nice to have one kid watch the DVD player, and the other on the Nook. Guess maybe we should just buy another used tablet... Shocking that this was a $1200 option when new!

That wifi-DVD player sounds cool, too. I'll have to look into that. Thanks!

Update: That $150 listing I found on Ebay wasn't for the DVD player, it was only for the installation kit. The DVD players themselves cost upwards of $500 or more. However, things aren't all bad. The installation kit led me to the installation instructions, which showed THREE connectors going to the DVD player, not the two that I found when I unscrewed it the first time. Some digging around behind the roof liner produced the third wire, and with that plugged in, I now have a functioning DVD player (but no remote.) At least the remotes are only $25 bucks.