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

willywainwright wrote in message
...
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


How many different players?
Laid the discs near a powerful louspeaker?
Tried on someone elses player ?

More than one? That suggests a bad disk, not a bad player.

On Sat, 16 Apr 2011 10:10:06 -0700, 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

So let me see if I understand you. You have multiple players that won't
play one track on one disc? Or you have one disc that won't play any
tracks on multiple players? Or you have multiple discs that won't play on
multiple players? Which is it?



--
Live Fast Die Young, Leave A Pretty Corpse

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.

On Sat, 16 Apr 2011 12:23:19 -0700, a7yvm109gf5d1 wrote:

On Apr 16, 12:10Â*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.


I own a Sharp S60 and a Sony NetMD. Both record wonderfully with a stereo
condenser mic, the Sony will load songs from a PC in about 4 minutes.
Also has an FM tuner. Minidisc isn't dead for me. I also own 32 gig Ipod
Touch. I use all three frequently.



--
Live Fast Die Young, Leave A Pretty Corpse

"Meat Plow" wrote in message
news
On Sat, 16 Apr 2011 12:23:19 -0700, a7yvm109gf5d1 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.


I own a Sharp S60 and a Sony NetMD. Both record wonderfully with a stereo
condenser mic, the Sony will load songs from a PC in about 4 minutes.
Also has an FM tuner. Minidisc isn't dead for me. I also own 32 gig Ipod
Touch. I use all three frequently.



Which reminds me. Presumably you got on ok dismantling the Touch a few weeks
ago ?

Arfa

Meat Plow wrote in message
news
On Sat, 16 Apr 2011 12:23:19 -0700, a7yvm109gf5d1 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.


I own a Sharp S60 and a Sony NetMD. Both record wonderfully with a stereo
condenser mic, the Sony will load songs from a PC in about 4 minutes.
Also has an FM tuner. Minidisc isn't dead for me. I also own 32 gig Ipod
Touch. I use all three frequently.



--
Live Fast Die Young, Leave A Pretty Corpse


I use a Sharp MD R60 once a month recording and transcribing public talks
and more
testingly Q&A from the audience in acoustically about the worst possible
environment.
Rarely do I miss a word if I do it is some obscure technical term. Two basic
electret mikes on fine multistrand cable and rubber
sleeving plugged directly into the recorder and acoustically decoubled body
by use of a "Benny" between it and the table.
I'm always amazed by the clarity of sound.


Cafe scientific talks www.divdev.fsnet.co.uk/scicaf.htm
past talks, www.divdev.fsnet.co.uk/scicaf2.htm

On Sun, 17 Apr 2011 02:21:07 +0100, Arfa Daily wrote:

"Meat Plow" wrote in message
news
On Sat, 16 Apr 2011 12:23:19 -0700, a7yvm109gf5d1 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.


I own a Sharp S60 and a Sony NetMD. Both record wonderfully with a
stereo condenser mic, the Sony will load songs from a PC in about 4
minutes. Also has an FM tuner. Minidisc isn't dead for me. I also own
32 gig Ipod Touch. I use all three frequently.



Which reminds me. Presumably you got on ok dismantling the Touch a few
weeks ago ?

Arfa

It was a video IPod a relative gave me before I bought the Touch. Those
had a common problem and they had a name for it "ink spot". The backlight
is a couple leds on the bottoms of a plastic diffuser that spreads the
light out evenly behind the LCD. I'm guessing it was dropped
because the former owner won't admit to it. It came apart nicely once I
looked up where the latches were, a thin pocket knife blade did nicely.
You can buy the replacement cheap enough along with the plastic
disassembly tool. I decided to buy the Touch instead of repairing the
video IPod and reassembled it. It works fine audio wise and the display
issue is only a nuisance not interfering at all with selecting songs and
other menu items.



--
Live Fast Die Young, Leave A Pretty Corpse

On Sun, 17 Apr 2011 12:58:24 +0100, N_Cook wrote:

Meat Plow wrote in message
news
On Sat, 16 Apr 2011 12:23:19 -0700, a7yvm109gf5d1 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.


I own a Sharp S60 and a Sony NetMD. Both record wonderfully with a
stereo condenser mic, the Sony will load songs from a PC in about 4
minutes. Also has an FM tuner. Minidisc isn't dead for me. I also own
32 gig Ipod Touch. I use all three frequently.



--
Live Fast Die Young, Leave A Pretty Corpse


I use a Sharp MD R60 once a month recording and transcribing public
talks and more
testingly Q&A from the audience in acoustically about the worst possible
environment.
Rarely do I miss a word if I do it is some obscure technical term. Two
basic electret mikes on fine multistrand cable and rubber sleeving
plugged directly into the recorder and acoustically decoubled body by
use of a "Benny" between it and the table. I'm always amazed by the
clarity of sound.

The feature on the MD-SR60 I like the most is the sync mode for
recording. This allows the SR60 to start and stop recording automatically
by sensing audio. It's very useful for surveillance or recording from
my police and public service scanner. No dead spaces in between activity.
I used it a couple weeks ago to record the local airport air traffic
control inbound traffic frequency and caught an inbound flight having
difficulty verifying the locked position of it's nose gear. One thing it
lack though is the extended modes of the Sony as it use a couple extra
MDLP modes to increase record/playback times the Sharp can't handle.
The modes are fairly useless for music but for voice recording they are
more than sufficient. This is the MZ-NF610 Type-s Net Med TV/Weather/FM/
AM model. Advantages over the Sharp is it can load discs at several times
normal speed using a USB cable. It also has some good playback EQ modes
for better bass and treble. And the wired remote has an LCD screen on it.
I use it to listen to Sirius radio throughout the house when I'm doing
chores. I recently added an indoor Sirius receiver because sometimes in
bad weather the signal from my Sirius radio in the SUV is interrupted.
That's understandable since the signal has to pass through a garage roof
to get to the receiver.




--
Live Fast Die Young, Leave A Pretty Corpse

On Apr 16, 10:30*am, "N_Cook" wrote:
willywainwright wrote in message

...

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

How many different players?
Laid the discs near a powerful louspeaker?
Tried on someone elses player ?

I have three players that won't play any disc. I also have two others
that work fine. didn't do anything to the players that won't play,
that I know of. haven't dropped them or anything. Can't figure out
why they all of a sudden won't play and if there's anything I can do
about it.
willy

On Apr 16, 11:30*am, Meat Plow wrote:
On Sat, 16 Apr 2011 10:10:06 -0700, 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

So let me see if I understand you. You have multiple players that won't
play one track on one disc? Or you have one disc that won't play any
tracks on multiple players? Or you have multiple discs that won't play on
multiple players? Which is it?

--
Live Fast Die Young, Leave A Pretty Corpse

I have disc's that play fine on two of my players but no disc's at all
will play on these three.
in other words, it's not the discs it seems to be the players. can't
figure out if there's anything I can do.

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

On Sun, 17 Apr 2011 14:49:12 -0700, willywainwright wrote:

On Apr 16, 11:30Â*am, Meat Plow wrote:
On Sat, 16 Apr 2011 10:10:06 -0700, 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

So let me see if I understand you. You have multiple players that won't
play one track on one disc? Or you have one disc that won't play any
tracks on multiple players? Or you have multiple discs that won't play
on multiple players? Which is it?

--
Live Fast Die Young, Leave A Pretty Corpse

I have disc's that play fine on two of my players but no disc's at all
will play on these three.
in other words, it's not the discs it seems to be the players. can't
figure out if there's anything I can do.

I doubt if it's coincidence. Maybe a bad disc damaged the three. Do the
'bad' players read the TOC? Can you try to add names to the tracks to see
if that gets written to the TOC? Something just doesn't add up.



--
Live Fast Die Young, Leave A Pretty Corpse

willywainwright wrote:
On Apr 16, 11:30 am, Meat Plow wrote:
On Sat, 16 Apr 2011 10:10:06 -0700, 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
So let me see if I understand you. You have multiple players that won't
play one track on one disc? Or you have one disc that won't play any
tracks on multiple players? Or you have multiple discs that won't play on
multiple players? Which is it?

--
Live Fast Die Young, Leave A Pretty Corpse

I have disc's that play fine on two of my players but no disc's at all
will play on these three.
in other words, it's not the discs it seems to be the players. can't
figure out if there's anything I can do.

Try one with an external powersource.

"willywainwright" wrote in message
...
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

Arfa Daily wrote in message
news


"willywainwright" wrote in message
...
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



For the last I use felt laid in a 2 inch high sided tray. Felt stops
bouncing and rolling to a certain extent and walls trap any that have idea
of escaping.

willywainwright wrote in message
...
On Apr 16, 10:30 am, "N_Cook" wrote:
willywainwright wrote in message

...

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

How many different players?
Laid the discs near a powerful louspeaker?
Tried on someone elses player ?

I have three players that won't play any disc. I also have two others
that work fine. didn't do anything to the players that won't play,
that I know of. haven't dropped them or anything. Can't figure out
why they all of a sudden won't play and if there's anything I can do
about it.
willy

+++++++

Have you been using system or diagnostic discs on the non-workers?

On Apr 17, 5:38*pm, "Arfa Daily" wrote:
"willywainwright" wrote in message

...





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

On Apr 18, 12:35*am, "N_Cook" wrote:
willywainwright wrote in message

...
On Apr 16, 10:30 am, "N_Cook" wrote:





willywainwright wrote in message

...

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

How many different players?
Laid the discs near a powerful louspeaker?
Tried on someone elses player ?

I have three players that won't play any disc. I also have two others
that work fine. didn't do anything to the players that won't play,
that I know of. *haven't dropped them or anything. Can't figure out
why they all of a sudden won't play and if there's anything I can do
about it.
willy

+++++++

Have you been using system or diagnostic discs on the non-workers?

Don't know what those are for minidisc players. have you seen them for
sale somewhere?
appreciate your help, thank you.
Willy

On Apr 17, 3:34*pm, Sjouke Burry
wrote:
willywainwright wrote:
On Apr 16, 11:30 am, Meat Plow wrote:
On Sat, 16 Apr 2011 10:10:06 -0700, 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
So let me see if I understand you. You have multiple players that won't
play one track on one disc? Or you have one disc that won't play any
tracks on multiple players? Or you have multiple discs that won't play on
multiple players? Which is it?

--
Live Fast Die Young, Leave A Pretty Corpse

I have disc's that play fine on two of my players but no disc's at all
will play on these three.
in other words, it's not the discs it seems to be the players. can't
figure out if there's anything I can do.

Try one with an external powersource.

did that, hoping it would make a difference, but got the same result.
Thanks for the suggestion. willy

"willywainwright" wrote in message
...
On Apr 17, 5:38 pm, "Arfa Daily" wrote:
"willywainwright" wrote in message

...





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

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

"Meat Plow" wrote in message
news
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.



Yep. Pretty much par for the course. I would guess it's probably been a
couple of years now since I last worked on one. MP3 players killed them,
really. In actual fact, I think that I would have to think hard before
really getting into one these days. It was ok when I was doing them on a
virtually daily basis. You get so used to them that you can pull them down
with your eyes shut. My eyes are nothing like as good now as they were a
couple of years back, so that wouldn't help either. I also have a stereo
headband magnifier, and I find that I am using it more and more for
'standard' sized electronics, let alone surface mount stuff. Oh to be young
again, eh Meat ?

Arfa

--
Live Fast Die Young, Leave A Pretty Corpse

On 20/04/2011 02:01, Arfa Daily wrote:


"Meat Plow" wrote in message
news
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.



Yep. Pretty much par for the course. I would guess it's probably been a
couple of years now since I last worked on one. MP3 players killed them,
really. In actual fact, I think that I would have to think hard before
really getting into one these days. It was ok when I was doing them on a
virtually daily basis. You get so used to them that you can pull them
down with your eyes shut. My eyes are nothing like as good now as they
were a couple of years back, so that wouldn't help either. I also have a
stereo headband magnifier, and I find that I am using it more and more
for 'standard' sized electronics, let alone surface mount stuff. Oh to
be young again, eh Meat ?

Arfa


Minidisc is still used extensively in touring theatre, preferred by many
companies over cd and laptop for sound cues.

I haven't repaired a huge amount, but IMO Sony players seem to suffer
from either contaminated switches on the mech[1], or the tiny 'levers'
on the mechanisms which engage the switches.

I`ve seen a few with mangled heads, no doubt due to 'finger trouble'

[1] If I recall correctly, the contamination comes from the flexible
mounts of the mechanism, and can sometimes be seen as a brown 'stain' on
the metal work.

Ron

On Wed, 20 Apr 2011 02:01:49 +0100, Arfa Daily wrote:



"Meat Plow" wrote in message
news
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.



Yep. Pretty much par for the course. I would guess it's probably been a
couple of years now since I last worked on one. MP3 players killed them,
really. In actual fact, I think that I would have to think hard before
really getting into one these days. It was ok when I was doing them on a
virtually daily basis. You get so used to them that you can pull them
down with your eyes shut. My eyes are nothing like as good now as they
were a couple of years back, so that wouldn't help either. I also have a
stereo headband magnifier, and I find that I am using it more and more
for 'standard' sized electronics, let alone surface mount stuff. Oh to
be young again, eh Meat ?

When I first started out and for maybe 25 years after I was pretty proud
not to need glasses for reading or working. Evermore so since all my
siblings wore glasses and contacts from a very early age. Now I need a
350 diopter pair to work close up and 150 just for general reading.
Really intricate things require the visor. I can say though that I've
repaired some bad solder joints on PC boards by inspecting them using the
visor and a bright light. Normally with even 20-20 vision some of these
you aren't able to spot unmagnified. So I've been using the visor long
before my need for reading glasses.



--
Live Fast Die Young, Leave A Pretty Corpse