ARCHIVED FORUM -- March 2012 to February 2022READ ONLY FORUM
This is the second Archived Forum which was active between 1st March 2012 and 23rd February 2022
Hi All,
Just thought I would share how I managed to track down and resolve an issue with my CD5500 not reading disks.
I bought the CD player as working from ebay but of course when it arrived it didn’t work. Having already read many articles here about the usual suspect C2103, I decided to buy a capacitor service kit from Dillen rather than return it. Within a few days I received the kit and promptly installed it using the super easy to follow guide but it made absolutely no difference.. :-( The CD would spin for a few seconds before entering into standby just like before.
Tried entering service mode and got a flashing number 2 - suggesting focus issue.
I checked the laser and could see it was still emitting.
I checked power rails on the mainboard - all present and correct.
I checked the power rails onto the servo board - All present and correct
Checked continuity of the ribbon cable from the servo board to the laser unit end to end - all good
I replaced the power caps on the mainboard - still nothing changed.
At this point I was ready to start trying the trimmers on the servo board, but the number of contradicting posts that referred to test points and Dillen’s cry of "DO NOT ATTEMPT TO RESET THE TRIMMERS" in each one of these post was just enough to resist the urge.
A few months passed and I decided to buy another CD5500, this time advertised correctly as not reading disks. In the process of checking the laser on this unit, I noticed that the mech made noises that my original unit didn’t and the realisation hit me, it was the focus lense moving!
Back to the original unit...
I had previously confirmed continuity so checked to see that voltages could be seen at the two solder points on the laser head - again all checked out fine.
I then remembered something I read about testing resistance and expecting to see around 20-25 ohms at these two points.. Bingo!! open circuit! At this point I was done :-( There’s no way I could do anything more with this unit. Fortunately this defeatist attitude combined with the fact I had recently been gifted a digital microscope led to a discovery that resulted in the successful repair of my cd player :-)The focus coil is connected to the assembly by the use of two metal leaf springs, one connects to the top the other to the bottom. Under the microscope I saw one of these had disconnected from its weld?!?!
With nothing to lose, I carefully managed to drop a tiny lump of solder over the disconnection and retested resistance...bingo!!! 22ohm!! Popped a CD in ... Tadaaaaaa!!! MUSIC!
Not sure if this was the right thing to do, but my CD player now works perfectly well. My guess is that perhaps the unit DID work but got damaged during shipping. Hope this helps someone else
Excellent repair!
Martin