Got the dreaded mecha error up for the second time recently followed by screaming from 4 year old in the back. Not being mechanically minded I called a local automotive sound repairer more from hope than anything else.

A week later and just £180 all working perfectly.

The disc wasn't being moved to the correct area as something was broken. The repairer, Dave from Car Audio Medics www.caraudiomedics.co.uk who is well known to Alpine as a repairer got the new part and we now have smiles again in the back.

Dave said that if it won't read the disc it's a laser problem but can be fixed for around £300 and sent to alpine as they are only ones who keep stock.

I've seen many messages re the dvd and with pre 2010 models looking very tempting especially with entertainment pack thought I'd share that when it goes bang all is not necessarily lost. Current:
1999 SL500
2006 Mini One Chrome wrapped
2008 FFRR 4.2sc

Thanks for the info. The RSE in my 2006 S/C works well most of the time but sometimes struggles to load. Perhaps it just needs a bit of a clean out but good to see there are options if it all goes kaput ... I have 4 year old twins so I feel your pain!

2012 seems to have been a bad year for getting twins, though I managed to dodge that one. I thought I'd put this up as I thought it was going to cost too much to fix and ebay finds are rare and very very expensive. The headphones with the system although Bluetooth don't work with anything else so finding this company was a godsend for me. Current:
1999 SL500
2006 Mini One Chrome wrapped
2008 FFRR 4.2sc