My daughter has a portable CD player from some no-name company I've
never heard of (got it as a gift).

It has started not playing. Put a CD in, close the player, and there
are these soft klunking noises from inside, like the disk is slowly
trying to spin. This lasts maybe five seconds and the spinning stops.


It's possible that the pickup may have went bad or there is a problem with the
servo. The clunking noise is most likely coming from the objective lens in the
optical pickup.

Is there a simple fix, or is it time to chuck the thing and buy a new
one from a known manufacturer?

I would recommend replacing it with a portable CD player from Sony, JVC,
Panasonic, Aiwa, or Kenwood.

I do not recommend any of the other no-name brands, RCA, Philips, G.E.,
Magnavox, Koss, or Sanyo. - Reinhart