Long Rest "Repairs" CD Players

[oldflame]

From my first Panasonic and Philips players to later, and more upscale, NAD & Cambridge units, all four eventually failed. Sometimes a short period unplugged would restore operation for awhile. After several weeks, and up to many months, they'd quit again - and again a short rest would get them going until their final failure.

I didn't toss the NAD & Cambridge after the last attempt at redemption, but kept them for almost a year before trying them one more time before salvaging parts and tossing. Unbelievably, the NAD worked normally again - for another year until it quit. Further long rests were fruitless.

Yesterday, I was tossing old stuff when I came to the Cambridge that was sitting on a shelf for the past year. It was time for it to go, but first that little voice said: "try it one last time before trashing." Once again, it plays CDs normally, only the display is dark. Guess I'll keep it as a spare for the basement system for now.

Any ideas why extended periods of rest would, for a time, restore operation? I'd be less curious if this hadn't happen to four CD players. Coincidence or some common cause?

 

[Old Guy8]

No CDP expert. May be switches that are intermittently working. Or aren't always pressed fully. Belts might be stretched or hardened with age. So correct position (switch contact) isn't always assured. Juggling around moving them, might correct switch position. Until stretched belt etc, strikes again.
Maybe time to clean switch contacts and check belts.
Clean and relube any gears rails or guideways, etc.guide ways,
If you haven't already tried that. You didn't mention any maintenance attempts.

 

[cpt_paranoia]

Maybe time to clean switch contacts and check belts.

I think you have missed the point of the OP: it was about things 'repairing themselves' by being left alone for some time, and how that might happen. Not about how to actively repair things.

 

[stereofanboy]

When I cleaned out the attic of my Dad's garage, I found a receiver I had brought him to repair for me and another that my uncle brought him for the same reason. They had been up there for at least fifteen years without any repair efforts. Both worked fine when I hooked them up.

 

[oldflame]

Having been a bench-tech in my (way) past and a machinery repair tech/electrician prior to retiring, I've tried the usual remedies. This experience has been unique to digital equipment for me. Some TV/video gear I've owned has also done the same. I don't know if the Cambridge will keep tickin', but all the other stuff eventually quit.

I'll wager that CPU chips collect cascading failures. That's only a guess, as I'm not real IT/digital savvy.

Yes, fanboy, it's amazing how some 50+ year old electronics keep working while too much new stuff I've had suffered failures or malfunctions.

 

[painttoad]

well, they say that time heals all wounds. had you physically or emotionally abused the units? maybe slapped em around a bit when a disc skipped or a bit of name calling.

 

[oldflame]

And, maybe, time wounds all heals*. No skipping or other mechanical problems existed, however a few verbal utterances were probably offered.

There seems to be a common failure trend. Rather than an immediate and complete break-down, these audio & video components started with one or two functions that quit, followed by more a serious or complete failure.

A short period unplugged would restore operation for varying amounts of time until the next failure. The odd aspect is that a couple CD players came back to life, but only after a very long time unpowered. It was only after I had decided to try them once more, before junking, that they worked again ... for awhile anyway. Maybe they read my mind before deciding to read the next disc.

* I haven't heard this term used for a long time, so let me offer that a "heal" can be a jerk besides the first part of your foot to meet the pavement.

 

[painttoad]

And, maybe, time wounds all heals*. No skipping or other mechanical problems existed, however a few verbal utterances were probably offered.

There seems to be a common failure trend. Rather than an immediate and complete break-down, these audio & video components started with one or two functions that quit, followed by more a serious or complete failure.

A short period unplugged would restore operation for varying amounts of time until the next failure. The odd aspect is that a couple CD players came back to life, but only after a very long time unpowered. It was only after I had decided to try them once more, before junking, that they worked again ... for awhile anyway. Maybe they read my mind before deciding to read the next disc.

* I haven't heard this term used for a long time, so let me offer that a "heal" can be a jerk besides the first part of your foot to meet the pavement.

if i were to make a legit guess, then i might think it has something to do with some type of cache....something happens it didn't like, it throws an internal error and tells itself "something ain't right, stop working" (maybe over or under voltage to the laser, i don't know exactly what it could be)

you leave it unplugged and all capacitors drain down and the cache is erased. you turn it back on one day and it "forgot" that there was a problem until it comes across the same situation and the process repeats.

 

[SPL db]

Might want to take a look at this thread, a lot of good information here.

https://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/troubleshooting-cd-players.440522/

 

[cpt_paranoia]

Might want to take a look at this thread, a lot of good information here.

Might want to read the OP again...

 

[OB56]

Interesting thread. Our 22 year old Aiwa CDP went plum crazy a few months ago. Wouldn't shut off unless unplugged, all lights on or blinking. Took it out of the system for awhile. After awhile decided to look it over. Cleaned the lens, cleaned the sled rail and re-lubed it. Now working as intended for the time being. Weird.

 

[El Rubio]

Might want to read the OP again...

He specifically asked “why extended periods of rest would, for a time, restore operation?” Several of us lean more towards faulty or flakey components and not on gremlins. Suggesting repair ideas is completely within the scope of this thread.
I guess he could call an exorcist, but I saw the movie, and it didn’t turn out so well.

 

[Bill Ferris]

FWIW, I firmly believe that the always constant power line surge/spikes, whether noticed or not are one of the primarily cause a wide range of unprotected modern, especially logic controlled electronic equipment issues/failures..

I seem to have no electronic/electrical equipment issues/failures, except for occasionally undersized cheap OEM provided SMPS wall warts !

Heck, I even have LED house light bulbs still lasting well over 12yrs. even though some have remained 24/7/365 powered up since installation, even though the most intense local thunder storms, because I choose to invest in quality power surge/spike protectors.

4 of my house`s rooms stereo systems remain powered up 24/7/365, some even for several decades, producing all day playing background music from morning wakeup until I switchover to the evening`s BR/DVD video movie entertainment after dinner.

Never had to open any of those system`s audio equipment to need to repair.

The common warm weather thunder storms pounding my area, sometimes several a day, concern me not, I just have to turn up the volume to hear better.

Yes, sometimes I have a digital based electronic piece of equipment that has become confused from a evil power blip, and needs to be power cycled/rebooted, but so far, they all seem perform properly with no lingering issues/glitches afterwards, even yrs. old gear.

Just my spin on these things, feel free to ignore noise from me.

 

[Bradbrews]

Back in the 90’s had a Toshiba VCR that would sometimes lock up and quit responding to any buttons. Unplugging it for 24-48 hours almost always fixed it. If I connected an alligator clip across the power line plug when it was unplugged it sometimes came back to life in a few hours. I never did really figure out what was going on. These days I would suspect the capacitors. Isn’t it always the capacitors….

 

[SPL db]

Might want to read the OP again...

Sorry, thought I'd post a nice reference where the OP might be able to find a cure the CD player instead of putting a band-aid on it by waiting.

Sorry for trying to be helpful. Good day to you.

 

[oldflame]

Thank you, everyone, for your suggestions, even those regarding general troubleshooting information - it's good to review the basics occasionally.

Bill mentioned what may be a frequent cause of failing solid-state components or temporary glitches - which may be cured by completely powering down. In my several cases, unplugging for a few hours/days "fixed" some items but others needed months of sitting on the shelf. It's those long rests that have me curious about what's happening. And eventually, most of them finally did quit.

 

[odcics2]

Never had an issue like the OP did with a CD player. The old Rega Planet 2000 has been glitch free for 22 years, iirc.

 

[Bill Ferris]

Never had an issue like the OP did with a CD player. The old Rega Planet 2000 has been glitch free for 22 years, iirc.

Same with my 1987 Mc. MCD 7007 player, that is all original (zero service required), less the front panel LED light upgrade I did ~6 yrs. ago.
I don`t fire it up often any more, except, like today, to play newly purchased CDs before ripping to my 2 digital music specific thumb drives, master music purposed only HP lap top, and the all day music playing digital music source separate Gateway A/V rack laptop.

The Mc. MCD-7007 CD player has estimated 10`s of thousands of playing hrs. on it from the spring time 1987 time of purchase, being my only Hi-Fi CD player (I didn`t count my 1990s computer& their optical drives as Hi-Fi grade) until 1995 when I purchased my Sony 10 CD cartridge player for background music, but still used the Mc. for sit down critical listening sessions with friends until my first DVD player purchase in 2009.