Troubleshooting CD Players

[eiraved]

Red wire rewrapped to third position. Violet wire hangs isolated .
Voltage for ICs now +10.7V and -10 V (Input voltage 244V AC)
I am monitoring now would malfunction will appear again.

PS After 40 minutes of normal work malfunction appears again.
What else can be wrong. Heatsink is not hot as before.

Connect the violet wire and report your findings.

 

[BrankoZ]

I do not know why Violet wire will meter but I will try if you suggest. I am becoming out of possibilities right now.
But I am afraid that laser is problem .
I have one laser diode for KSS-151A but do not know how to change it and is it possible do be done in amateur conditions without some difficult adjustments.
Whole KSS-151A laser pick up is expensive, hard to find and doubtful originality.

 

[2martinis]

Help! I own a Yamaha CD-S300. A few weeks ago,.... display says NO DISC. ...
...The whole transport, including the sled and laser was available for $56. I figured it was worth a gamble.
.... But I'm still getting NO DISC on the display and no visible laser. .....
I'm stumped and in a bit over my head. Suggestions? New player time?
Thanks!

To follow up. I didn't know what to do next. The CD-S300 has been retired.

New Yamaha CD-S303 players were back-ordered everywhere. I found a factory refurb at Accessories4Less. The first one displayed the same NO DISC message!!!
Return/exchange was fast and easy. My new CD-S303 works and sounds great. I'm back in business.

 

[ryanward84]

To follow up. I didn't know what to do next. The CD-S300 has been retired.

New Yamaha CD-S303 players were back-ordered everywhere. I found a factory refurb at Accessories4Less. The first one displayed the same NO DISC message!!!
Return/exchange was fast and easy. My new CD-S303 works and sounds great. I'm back in business.

I have a CD S300 that started giving me the no disc error a few weeks ago. I think Im going to retire it as well since i cleaned the laser and it didn’t help.

 

[gronkle23]

Hi all,

Does anyone have any constructive advice please? I have owned a Technics SL-P999 since new (1990!) and have been having problems with it. The SOAD70A transport spins up but can't seem to read the TOC if it's cold (e.g. on my test-bench in the garage). I think I can hear the pickup coils working repeatedly. If I warm the transport gently with a hairdryer for 30 seconds it will work. If I bring it indoors to inspect it, then take it back outside to put into the player, it will work immediately. Once it's read the TOC it will play flawlessly. If it cools down again after a power-off, the behaviour will repeat itself.

I'm totally baffled by this. I've considered all sorts of things e.g. temperature dependent faulty electrolytics, sticky motor, mucky linear motor / rails, cold solder joints on the PCB (which is really inconveniently mounted underneath the transport). The PCB is also really fragile (as I found when I tried to replace a cap), so I'm reluctant to carry out any serious capacitor replacement exercise unless it's absolutely necessary. Currently my best option is likely to be a low value resistor under the PCB to warm it up, but that feels like a bodge. Note that I replaced the original pick-up with one from an old SL-P250 last year with no apparent ill effects. I also note that the SOAD70As come with different PCB versions and they aren't all interchangeable (so the SL-P250 won't work with my SL-P999 - I tried two of them!).

Thanks in advance...

 

[eiraved]

I would first consider the cold solder joints, as cracked solder sometimes heals itself during heat expansion. I would check all solder joints on the PCB with a magnifying glass in the hopes of finding that needle in the haystack. If unsuccessful, I would reflow all solder joints and hopefully that removes the problem joint(s) from the equation.
Using a small heat gun to heat small localized areas on the PCB can also narrow down where the problem area is.

 

[gronkle23]

I would first consider the cold solder joints, as cracked solder sometimes heals itself during heat expansion. I would check all solder joints on the PCB with a magnifying glass in the hopes of finding that needle in the haystack. If unsuccessful, I would reflow all solder joints and hopefully that removes the problem joint(s) from the equation.
Using a small heat gun to heat small localized areas on the PCB can also narrow down where the problem area is.

Thanks for responding eiraved.

I've been over the pcb several times with a binocular microscope and remelted all the joints that I know get hot (thermal camera). I've noticed a couple of the joints are discoloured (small brown flecks) or have lost their lustre completely - I wonder if a cap has leaked along its leads and degraded the solder, although they all look fine top-side. A couple of the traces on the PCB appear to have degraded but I've bypassed these with wire. Oddly, it seems like the PCB conformal coating (clear brown) has liquified on part of the board - I have been able to wipe it off with a q-tip! It's a really hard PCB to work on, as the traces will pull clear of the board with the slightest encouragement.

Currently I'm thinking I need to buy a long 22 lead ribbon cable so I can run the transport outside the main unit. Otherwise there's no way I can prod it / heat it whilst it's running. It also has a blue five-way semi-rigid ribbon (terminated with short lengths of bare wire) with a push to release connector; I can't tell if this is obsolete but I haven't seen its like anywhere else, so extending this is likely to be a pain.

 

[Bradbrews]

Sounds like friction is increasing somewhere when it’s cold. The sled is the main suspect. Plastic shrinks as it gets colder. Plastic bores with steel axles can get tight.

 

[eiraved]

I've been over the pcb several times with a binocular microscope and remelted all the joints that I know get hot (thermal camera). I've noticed a couple of the joints are discoloured (small brown flecks) or have lost their lustre completely - I wonder if a cap has leaked along its leads and degraded the solder, although they all look fine top-side. A couple of the traces on the PCB appear to have degraded but I've bypassed these with wire. Oddly, it seems like the PCB conformal coating (clear brown) has liquified on part of the board - I have been able to wipe it off with a q-tip! It's a really hard PCB to work on, as the traces will pull clear of the board with the slightest encouragement.

You should be able to check each PCB trace with a multimeter for good continuity while the board is cold. I would go so far as refrigerating the board or use spray freeze on it so it remains cold longer while you perform continuity checks.

 

[dr*audio]

First thing to do is check to make sure the laser slides freely. If you tilt the unit front to back with the power off, the laser should slide to it's limits very easily. If not, the posts and bearing in the laser need to be cleaned with alcohol, allowed to dry, the lubed with a few drops of light machine oil on the posts on both sides of the laser, then move the laser back and forth to spread the oil. If the laser slides freely, buy some freeze spray and start freezing different components until you find one that is cold sensitive.

 

[gronkle23]

First thing to do is check to make sure the laser slides freely. If you tilt the unit front to back with the power off, the laser should slide to it's limits very easily. If not, the posts and bearing in the laser need to be cleaned with alcohol, allowed to dry, the lubed with a few drops of light machine oil on the posts on both sides of the laser, then move the laser back and forth to spread the oil. If the laser slides freely, buy some freeze spray and start freezing different components until you find one that is cold sensitive.

Thanks Bradbrews, eiraved and dr*audio for the advice - looks like I have some work to do!...

 

[Houas07tc]

There will be an open / closed switch for the drawer, clean it with De-Oxit, Inject into any crack or opening in the switch and work it 30 times.

Thank you sir. I have one that close by itself and will De-Oxit.

 

[BobbyN]

Hi all, I sure would appreciate it if someone knows if a there a "typical" problem for the following issue.

2001 GM car AC Delco factory AM, FM, CD. For years it worked flawlessly. It would play anything. CD-R, CD. Now the CD will not play. "err".displayed and CD ejects. Sometimes if I repeatily insert the CD several times (ten or more) it will play & play perfectly, all functions. If I go into a store or something, when I return it still plays. The next day it may or may not play but mostly will not.

So if play does start, it works perfectly. I cannot determine if there's a pattern to this or not. It appears completely random.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you for reading.

Bob

 

[BobbyN]

I forgot to add, CD spins when it goes in. I can hear the motor run and when the CD is ejected it's in a different position.
Thanks again.
Bob

 

[j!m]

I'd open it and clean any and all switches. If not a "disc in" sensor switch, perhaps the disc is belt driven (but I would doubt that).

I figure it's either corrosion or heat expansion/cold contraction related (cracked solder joint perhaps?) Inspecting boards under a microscope may shed some light.

Intermittent problems are always the most fun to solve...

 

[The Fuxtor]

Good luck with the Delco...
I found a good solution to 90's Pioneer players..
Aside from the lenses falling off, the optical pickup suffer from degraded worn out rubber pads causing the stabilizer to not engage far enough down. It will make a chattery noise because of this. I shimmed up the old rubber with small rubber washers about a ¼" in height. Works great again!

 

[Sansuiman]

If the disc is spinning up, then the deck is detecting the disc present. Therefore, limit switches are doubtful to be the cause. Still not a bad idea to clean them. More likely is a problem with the servo control section, and quite often now I'm finding but age home CD players with perished electrolytic caps causing the servo circuits to fail (laser sled tracking of the disc as well as focus of the pickup). I'd expect this to be an even bigger issue in car audio due to environmental extremes.

For a while I had a sideline refurbing older Delco ETR radio modules (from the 1986-92 time frame primarily) and can tell you that these units had tons of bad caps that needed replacement in both the amp and the tuner section to get them working right again. I never worked on the CD players, but would expect much the same issue on one that is 20+ years old now.

 

[BobbyN]

Thanks for your responses guys. Has anyone ever been successful with the CD cleaners? I can see how dust can get around after 25 years. and get on the lens. I have never put any disc cleaner in this deck since I've had the car. I've had it it's entire life, 25 years this month! This CD player has had a lot of use in it's 25 years and 270K miles!

Earlier in this thread someone said to never use alcohol (IPA) on these lenses. I'm glad I read that.

 

[j!m]

I have a cleaner disc. It’s a tiny brush in the disc that wipes the lens when it spins up. I rarely use it as I’d normally open up whatever but I have used it for whatever good it does.

 

[BobbyN]

I have a cleaner disc. It’s a tiny brush in the disc that wipes the lens when it spins up. I rarely use it as I’d normally open up whatever but I have used it for whatever good it does.

I used CD's since they came out and I've never used a cleaner. But, if the problem was a dirty lens and a cleaner would work, that's
much easier than removing the deck.