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CD Player Not Reading Disks

stackowax

stackowax

pfm Member
After many years of trouble free service, my (Farlowe-era) Exposure CD player has stopped reading discs. Started doing this very intermittently about 6 months ago. This weekend it just stopped reading them altogether.

Any chance this could be caused by something other than the drive mechanism (the disc spins for a while and then I get an error message)?
 
The Laser is dead , the symptoms are classic , gets tempramental as the laser gets weaker , then fails altogether. However you coud be lucky and its accummulated dust on the lens/laser.
 
Not necessarily dead- if the disc is spinning, it means the laser has found focus first. It's failing to read the TOC, so definitely try cleaning the lense first (damp cotton bud and a very gentle twist to wipe). After that its worth trying to clean teh sled rails - old lubricant often goes stiff, which can stop the sled moving freely as it needs to track properly (try a search here, plenty has been posted on cd laser cleaning and lubrication)

If you have the top off the machine, try plugging it in and closing the tray with a piece of thin paper over the laser in dim light - you should see a dark red pinprick which tells you the laser is live.

If you can spot any labels on the sled mech while you are in there, it may be possible to find a replacment.
 
I have a Naim CD3 and a few years ago it started doing exactly that. Spinning the disk for a few seconds and then giving an "ERR" message. Intermittently. Sometimes if I gave the swing-out drawer a good slam, it would work, sometimes not.
Took it to a repairman, who changed the whole CDM9 mechanicals. Worked for a few days then on the blink again. Sent it to the Italian Naim service place, who said they repaired it and sent it back. Few days later "ERR" again, just like before.
To make a (very, weeks, driving across Italy a couple of times, etc) long story short, with my local repairman we decided to try changing one of the Integrated circuits on the board, a black rectangular thing with lots of metal feet soldered to the circuit board. We took it out of an old German CDP that I'd picked up in a flea market (Maybe Nordmende, Telefunken, one of those kind of brands anyway, can't remember)
Since then it has worked perfectly (cross fingers, touch wood, etc.)
Not much help, I'm afraid, but just to say that it is not necessarily the mechanicals, if the motor spins and the laser goes up and down to focus. Probably by slamming the drawer I was re-connecting some tiny circuit break somewhere.
 
I should add that the repairman tentatively identified this IC as the one that manages the signals coming from the laser, it was not completely random, but almost.
 
To make a (very, weeks, driving across Italy a couple of times, etc) long story short, with my local repairman we decided to try changing one of the Integrated circuits on the board, a black rectangular thing with lots of metal feet soldered to the circuit board. We took it out of an old German CDP that I'd picked up in a flea market (Maybe Nordmende, Telefunken, one of those kind of brands anyway, can't remember)
Click to expand...

A driver chip maybe? Some times a dodgy driver chip will produce the exact symptoms of a failing laser (or so I have heard). I think these can be had new for less than $1 USD
 
my roksan cdp starts finding it hard to read discs occasionally, then so much most it doesn't read most put in (just 0.00 on mine). Each time, once a year or so, I open it up right down to the mech/ lens area and give lens a good blow clean/ gentle brush with my dl110 brush.. and redistribute the grease on the sled rails whilst im there. new lease of life each time/ works perfect. Id suggest you try same before assuming mech is dead.
 
the above is useful.

put player on repeat for a day so its at is at its temperature . then repeat above cleaning

switch off to let it fully cool down repeat above

power up and leave on all the time
 
So took the lid off and had a look--isn't entirely clear to me how to get to the laser, even just to clean it. The plastic thingie with the white disc appears to be covering the laser. It seems to be attached by an elastic something or other--I can lift it up--but not very far--and it isn't clear to me how to remove it.

Long way of saying I can't seem to even get to the laser to clean it or sled to grease it. Anybody have any suggestions?

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In pic two, with a small screwdriver through that hole in the loader tray near the yellow round sticker you can bend the plastic stop to one side and just pull the loader tray out -it will give you more space to work (look close up and you'll see what to do)

If that's not enough - in pic one, see that little triangular ribbed area of plastic? you can pull that backwards, the gearing will resist (drag) a bit but if gentle no problem.


(If it read discs - you can load a disc, fast forward to and end track and just turn the player off!)

That's a Philips CDM12 series drive mech - what does it say on that white sticker? I bet you can find replacements quite easily.
 
So...was able to get the loader tray out--see pic below (thanks Martin!). The laser still wasn't easy to get to, but did manage to get a very slightly moistened cotton swab in there and that seems to have done the trick...for now (listening to it right now).

Couldn't reach the laser sled rails though. I considered popping the white disc out which probably would make things much easier to get to. Was afraid, though, that I would not be able to get it back in and have it stay in place.

Not sure how many of those numbers on the drive assembly I need to insure that I get the right one--just the VAM 1202J (see pic below)? Thinking it might be good to order a back-up if they aren't too expensive.

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Hi,
No don't pop the white disc out leave as is, you may find that the "bridge" that holds the CD clamp (for that is what the white disc is) is just snapped onto the base chassis and can be gently unsnapped. If so note which way around it fits.
The VAM1202 mechanism is not particularly expensive from people like CPC and Dalbani so might be worth getting one just in case.
The problems usually arise when trying to refit the flexible PC cables between the mechanism and the servo PCB after dismantling. Often not an easy job but does depend on how the manufacturer has implemented it.

John Caswell
 
That's good news :)

VAM1202Js are easily found and pretty cheap - buy two.

Here's what follows - a photo guide to dissassembly of Philips mechs:
http://www.diyparadise.com/cd46/cd46repair.html

Only one note to add - on the new drive, keep any 'shorting' clips on the laser mech flexfoil connectors as long as possible to prevent the risk of static damage to the photodiodes (it'll make sense when you have the parts in your hands!)
 
glad you've got it up and running. you may find you don't need to consider a new mech at all.. I mean if it works still, its working. i wouldnt worry too much re sled rails, i only do mine as the drawer just sticks a bit on going in- if yours is smooth then no need probably/ wasn't an issue.

superb link from martin^ re mech replacing. stored that so i have.. but doesn't look the easiest job! hope to heck I dont have to re-do my (sanyo) mech any time soon. touch wood etc.
 
The Captain said:
glad you've got it up and running. you may find you don't need to consider a new mech at all.. I mean if it works still, its working. i wouldnt worry too much re sled rails, i only do mine as the drawer just sticks a bit on going in- if yours is smooth then no need probably/ wasn't an issue.

superb link from martin^ re mech replacing. stored that so i have.. but doesn't look the easiest job! hope to heck I dont have to re-do my (sanyo) mech any time soon. touch wood etc.
Click to expand...

I wonder if I'm confused about the terminology we are using. I took "sled rails" to mean whatever it is that the laser assembly moves back and forth upon (and maybe the mechanism [gears?] that helps make this happen). It does move back and forth, doesn't it?

But there is obviously a mechanism that moves the drawer in and out of the machine--especially the plastic gears involved in doing this. Is it this that needs to be lubricated ('cause I can get to those gears easily)? Or is it actually the rails that the drawer moves back and forth on--which, duh, the term rails would seem to suggest?
 
PS: Am I just hearing things or is it possible that cleaning the laser actually has improved the sound of the player?
 
Ah yes I cleaned the drawer mech slidy in/out process as well.. so that wasn't the sled rails as I termed them as, these defo what the laser mech runs along- I did these too just while i had it apart as it seemed like a good idea/ ie if perhaps my 0.00 not reading was perhaps that the mech wasn't travelling freely.

dont know how the cd thing works- some sort of brush involved? seems like a plan. you could rent it out to pfm'ers too.
 
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