Sony RCD-W1, repairing the A disc drive (no play)

[razpones]

Hi all, I have posted here a few times always to ask about some issue on a repair I am working on.
But this time am writing to help someone that might run into the same issue. As am certain that this is a problem that happens to all this units.
The Sony RCD-W1 has two trays, one is a CD player, and the other is a CDR/CDRW. For what I have researched the problem always happens to the CD player, not the CDR/CDRW. The player stops working and won't read the disc, and will flash a Disk Error on the screen, the recorder keeps playing the cds and is able to record.
The problem in the CD unit comes from bad capacitors in the CD player board. The board right under the mechanism. There are 13 surface mounted caps that aren't visible under the CD transport. All of them failed, some open. I replaced them with regular electrolytic caps that i mounted laying down. The CD came back to working and is operating normally after the recap. It is an easy fix.
Here is the service manual https://www.hifiengine.com/manual_library/sony/rcd-w1.shtml

 

[cpt_paranoia]

Congrats on the repair. Interesting that all the caps had failed. Maybe a bad design, like the notorious Philips blue axials. I would probably have replaced with decent, higher voltage SMDs. But if there's room to fit leaded parts, and you already have them, why not.

I might have a look at the PSU: poor regulation may have over-stressed the original caps.

 

[razpones]

Thanks for the reply, so far as I've experienced, caps from the very late 90s and maybe till 2006 or so, are prone to fail cuz of the capacitor plague https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capac...sNustt27SGcR2UjDPNTQIFcfZx9sUcfJoeKBZ35mxXbDg of course not all, but a lot of them.
I have a few Walkman that have the same problem with the surface mounted caps, so i was quite sure that they were the problem, this CD unit being from 2000, I only tested with multimeter, but it was enough to find the one open cap and it showed many of the same caps giving me several different values. So after that i was pretty confident. I have a few very nice audio grade caps from Nichicon and Elna from previous recaps I've done on a couple of amps, so I figured i could just use those soldered horizontally as it were. And yes they were higher voltage as well, at least double the voltage.
I believe this one on the picture below even leaked a bit, seems like a bit of rust like stuff on the solder points. a couple others had liquid at the bottom on the plastic base of the cap but it hadn't spread yet of

 

[Techfixer]

Big Thanks to razpones!!!

I just did a partial recap on the A deck and We're back in business!
I did some checking with an ohm meter and while I didn't find any "open or shorted caps" I did see some that measured @1200ohms so I replaced them.
Specifically: C102, C116, C119 and C410.
My initial thought was start with these 4 and move on if no change.
I did the same radial caps mounted laying down scheme.
Worked like a charm.

Techfixer

 

[nbmz]

Hi all, I have posted here a few times always to ask about some issue on a repair I am working on.
But this time am writing to help someone that might run into the same issue. As am certain that this is a problem that happens to all this units.
The Sony RCD-W1 has two trays, one is a CD player, and the other is a CDR/CDRW. For what I have researched the problem always happens to the CD player, not the CDR/CDRW. The player stops working and won't read the disc, and will flash a Disk Error on the screen, the recorder keeps playing the cds and is able to record.
The problem in the CD unit comes from bad capacitors in the CD player board. The board right under the mechanism. There are 13 surface mounted caps that aren't visible under the CD transport. All of them failed, some open. I replaced them with regular electrolytic caps that i mounted laying down. The CD came back to working and is operating normally after the recap. It is an easy fix.
Here is the service manual https://www.hifiengine.com/manual_library/sony/rcd-w1.shtml
View attachment 2547635 View attachment 2547636 View attachment 2547634View attachment 2547637 View attachment 2547638 View attachment 2547639 View attachment 2547640

Just wanted to give a BIG thanks to razpones for his post here. Just like him, deck 1 would simply not read any CDs at all. I replaced all of the surface mounted caps with proper radial caps, and laid them down as well. (Fortunately the laser head does not knock the new caps out of the way when they are laid down)

In either case, it worked like a champ. Thank you so much for taking the time and saving another deck from hitting the landfill.

 

[razpones]

That is very cool you could use my information to fix both those players, glad to hear.

 

[cpt_paranoia]

A neat replacement can be performed using radial lead caps, by forming the leads nicely with a double bend, splaying as necessary, and trimming to fit the available pads.

 

[Delmarva]

I'm having a different/opposite issue with my RCD-W1. It plays perfectly fine on the A (playback) slot, but the B (record) slot has gone wonky. I bought the deck new back around 2000, used it for a few years, and then started using my PC for recording purposes and pretty much put the Sony in storage. I've cycled it in and out of my main system a few times over the years just to exercise it.
Long story short, I decided to try ripping vinyl albums to the machine last week and discovered the recording problems. It will start a recording session, but after 20 minutes or so it quits. At that point I can start recording again, but the recording only goes for about ten seconds or so. Eventually the machine won't read the disc at all and displays a disc error message. Oddly, cleaning the lens will allow the disc to be read, but the recordings only last a few seconds before cutting off. Erasing the CD-RW disc allows a fresh recording of about 20 minutes before cutting off just like before followed by the same aborted session. If I choose to do a straight optical dub from a source CD to a CD-RW it will record just fine with no issues whatsoever.
Replacing caps and general checking of tolerances and specs isn't exactly in my wheelhouse, so I'm kind of at a loss at this point.

 

[razpones]

When I was repairing deck A I looked at deck B only slightly. But I remember it is very different. Sorry I can't really help as I have not really worked on that deck yet, it works as a player, and I only lately did I find CDR's that will work on it, but have not had time to try one. As far as i know it should work. Not sure tho. Good luck on your project.
In my experience, when something takes a few minutes to get warm and then stops working, it might indicate a bad microchip. Some people will spray compress air on components to freeze them as a way to confirm that a chip is failing when it gets to a certain temperature, as the unit will start working again when the chip is cooled.

 

[Delmarva]

That sounds pretty reasonable. I might give that a shot just for grins.
CD-R's shouldn't be too difficult to come by. I found several varieties on Amazon. You just have to read the fine print to make sure that they work with stad alone CD recorders.

 

[razpones]

It is possible that one of the IC might be getting hot and you might be able to measure it if you have a meter with heat readings, or maybe by touching it, though from the design of the decks, usually the components are underneath the tray, if you have a way to shoot infrared with your phone or camera, you might be able to see which part is getting hot. That could be a possible fail, it is also possible that the deck has a few surface capacitors that might gone out of spec, but am not sure that would do this kind of behavior (working for a little while then quitting).

 

[Delmarva]

I like that line of thinking. I've been needing an excuse to buy a laser thermometer gun. Whatever it is, it's getting rather alarmingly hot.

 

[razpones]

there are additaments that you can attach to your phone that will convert it into a infrared camera, some are quite expensive, up to almost $500, I have seen at least 2 under a hundred dollars on Amazon, can't say if they are any good, otherwise this things aren't cheap, a meter that can read heat wouldn't be much cheaper i don't think, but the ability to just check visually for hot parts is quite amazing, I honestly want one...

 

[kostas.v]

I am writing this message to thank everyone contributing to this thread and especially the creator, razpones.

Recently I was given a Sony RCD-W3 with exactly the same symptoms, CD recorder drive reads CDs without any issues (haven't tested recording function yet because I don't intend to burn CDs on that machine) but the reader drive shows disc error after some seconds of it trying to read the CD. Tried both CD-Rs and commercial audio CDs with same results.

First thing to do was to clean the lens but that didn't change anything. So googling the issue brought me here!

I decided to check every single cap on that machine with my ESR/capacitance meter.

All the caps on the power supply board were found OK.

On the green PCB that hosts the back panel audio connectors all the caps were found OK except a visibly bulging Licon capacitor that is located next to the relay, so I replaced that cap.

Then, very carefully removed the 2 optical drives. You should try to remove the 2 CD drives and the PCB bellow them all together as 1 piece and not do as I did. There are flex cables bellow the optical drives that make it very difficult to work while the PCB and the drives are still inside the device.

Anyway, after carefully disconnecting the flex cables and removing the optical drives, I checked every SMD electrolytic capacitor with my ESR meter and found several of them to be bad, most of them totally open! I am really grateful that none of them leaked electrolyte on the PCB.

I decided to replace the caps with used capacitors I have pulled out of other machines, because the device is of no special value to me, economical or sentimental, so I didn't want to spend money on the repair. I also replaced only the caps that were found bad upon testing in circuit. There is a chance that there might be more bad caps there but due to being connected in parallel with other caps, the ESR meter was not able to detect it.

If your unit is important to you, it's better to try to replace all the capacitors on that board, using caps from known Japanese manufacturers rated for 105C, general purpose or entry level low ESR and definitely not ultra low ESR as that might detune the circuit. I used a mix of 85C and 105C capacitors that I first tested to make sure they didn't go bad in storage. Total number of caps replaced: 14
Number of caps left alone: 20

After the recap, reconnected everything paying attention not to damage the flex cables or break a connector.

Finally, I connected it to AC mains and made sure both drives now work without any issues!

The only issue that I found is that when I play extremely scratched CDs I get audible jitter, mainly on the repaired drive but also on the recorder drive on some occasions.

I attach some before and after pics of the repair for reference

 

[eiraved]

I am writing this message to thank everyone contributing to this thread and especially the creator, razpones.

Welcome to AK!!

I purchased my Sony RCD-W3 from Best Buy back in 2003 as a refurbished item. It is still fully operational and has never let me down. Regardless, this is great information to have in case it begins to act up.
If I may add some tips to perform when opening up any CD player. Gain access to the laser head and gently clean the surface with a cotton swab with a light amount of glass cleaner (windex) added, drying afterwards with a dry swab. EDIT: I now use Perfect Glass to clean the laser head, which uses no ammonia. Gain access to the rubber portion of the spindle and ensure there is no hair or lint on it as these foreign items on the rubber can cause disc read errors.
This spindle rubber can also harden over time, so I use a product called 408C Rubber Renue (no affiliation) which softens hardened rubber. Its proper use can ensure the spindle does not slip while spinning the CD which induces read errors. What I do is wet a portion of a clean lint-free cloth with the product and apply the wet cloth to the rubber, wiping it several times to remove all surface contaminants until you see no more contaminants being removed on the cloth. Ensure the rubber is dry afterwards before reassembly.

 

[kostas.v]

Thanks, I had no clue that the disk could slip and not rotate correctly due to that. I have many optical devices that don't work, a couple of DVD players that don't read disks or read only CDs and 3 CD players, a Sony, a Kenwood and a Teac,. None of them is able to read CDs but I didn't put much effort to repair those because they lack digital out. Maybe I should revisit them.

 

[eiraved]

Thanks, I had no clue that the disk could slip and not rotate correctly due to that.

I was given those tidbits of information by an OPPO technician. It's easy enough to do, and so I apply it any time I open a CD/DVD player.

 

[razpones]

Cheers, glad this thread has helped people get their gear back into working order. That is why I made it.

 

[AMG-BENZ]

Hi all, I have posted here a few times always to ask about some issue on a repair I am working on.
But this time am writing to help someone that might run into the same issue. As am certain that this is a problem that happens to all this units.
The Sony RCD-W1 has two trays, one is a CD player, and the other is a CDR/CDRW. For what I have researched the problem always happens to the CD player, not the CDR/CDRW. The player stops working and won't read the disc, and will flash a Disk Error on the screen, the recorder keeps playing the cds and is able to record.
The problem in the CD unit comes from bad capacitors in the CD player board. The board right under the mechanism. There are 13 surface mounted caps that aren't visible under the CD transport. All of them failed, some open. I replaced them with regular electrolytic caps that i mounted laying down. The CD came back to working and is operating normally after the recap. It is an easy fix.
Here is the service manual https://www.hifiengine.com/manual_library/sony/rcd-w1.shtml
View attachment 2547635 View attachment 2547636 View attachment 2547634View attachment 2547637 View attachment 2547638 View attachment 2547639 View attachment 2547640

New member here and definitely not an electronics technician...I would still like to see how I can DIY without bringing it to a shop, perhaps purchasing a replacement board? I’ve already taken the board out myself (pictured) Any suggestions other than manual cap replacement would be appreciated.

 

[razpones]

New member here and definitely not an electronics technician...I would still like to see how I can DIY without bringing it to a shop, perhaps purchasing a replacement board? I’ve already taken the board out myself (pictured) Any suggestions other than manual cap replacement would be appreciated.

Hi there, you will need a solder iron, a bit of solder wire, and some de-soldering wick. For the surface mounted capacitors I would watch some Youtube vids on how to do it, there are a few technics that keep the board from damage. Google and click on the video feeds that come up.