On Tue, 19 Apr 2011 02:07:09 +0100, Arfa Daily wrote:

"willywainwright" wrote in message
news:1360b0ff-dfc8-4fd6-
...
On Apr 17, 5:38 pm, "Arfa Daily" wrote:
"willywainwright" wrote in message

news:25afe1d0-f5ec-423f-ae7c-
...





On Apr 16, 12:23 pm, wrote:
On Apr 16, 12:10 pm, willywainwright wrote:

hello, I have a number of sony minidisc players that suddenly
won't play the track for no apparent reason. I've tried batteries
and plug in power with no difference. Powers up fine, shows
spinning icon in window, track number shows but I can't get the
units to play the disc.
I've tried it in all positions, even upside down and sideways but
still no playing of disc
any ideas?
willy

1) Try lens cleaner disc.
2) Now toss the whole shebang in the garbage 3) Get a free cell
phone, even they'll come with a MP3 player.

Minidisc is over. It's dead, finished, kaput. And I'm speaking as
someone who bought a MZ-1 when they first came out.

maybe a lens cleaner disc would work. wonder if I can find one. I'll
give it a try. Garbage is full of my cassette tapes and players and
all my 8-track tapes. Willy

Never ever use 'cleaner' discs - not that I recall ever seeing one for
a mindisc anyway. They invariably never do anything to help, and in
the case
of DVDs, I've seen them cause expensive damage where the little
'brush' hairs embedded in the disc, have caught in the lens
suspension, and mangled
it as the disc has then rotated. I used to do a lot of work on Sony MD
players, when a guy that I did work for was a regional service centre.
For
the most part, failure to play discs is down to a worn out laser.
Sometimes,
you can get around that for a while, by resetting the laser parameters
via
built in diagnostic software, but it is a complex and tricky procedure
to do. Another thing to check is that when the disc is loaded, it is
free to rotate. I had many examples where the turntable had been
pushed down on the
motor shaft, until it jammed the motor. Another very common problem
was 'crap in the works'. The sled drive comprises gears with *very*
fine teeth.
The slightest bit of contamination in them, is enough to stop the
gears from
turning. The contamination in question, often seemed to be very fine
sand,
but I guess that it could have been 'pocket grit'. Just one grain in
one of
the gear teeth, will jam the mech and stop the laser from homing,
which will
result in the disc failing to spin up, and the TOC not being read.
Finally,
I suppose you do actually see the display come up and hear the disc
loading
as though it's about to do everything normally ? I have had cases
where the
door-closed sense switch has caused problems. A word of warning
though. You
need to have the patience of a saint to work on these things, and some
very
fine tools, including a quality set of Philips jeweler's screwdrivers,
and
pointed tweezers. Magnetize the screwdriver first. The tiny little
screws are no bigger than an ant, and easily lost. Work on a large
sheet of paper,
and use a strong light, and a magnifying glass. And you need to be
able to
hold your breath pretty well, also ... d :-|

Arfa

Thank you Arfa, great reply, full of good info. Don't know that I will
attempt the fix but at least I want to be sure it's not something I've
overlooked,like the hold switch set to on. In this case I guess these
things just wear out after awhile. Would you, or anyone, know of a good
repair shop to send these units to? And also, would you be able to tell
me about how much you guys used to charge for repairs. Hourly? just
curious.
Willy

My going rate for this sort of stuff is around 22 UKP ( $35 ) an hour.
It's not really a true reflection of the complexity / fiddly nature of
the work, but it's about the most that these jobs will stand. Any more
than an hour plus parts, effectively writes them off.

Arfa

Most of the time unless the customer is willing to pay it's just not
worth it to repair these things. I've had a couple apart and they are
complex and difficult to work on because of the size. Those that I have
repaired I had to use my 20x stereo magnifier visor and hold my face
about 4 inches from the piece while working on it.



--
Live Fast Die Young, Leave A Pretty Corpse