OK I've about had it with my CD player not finding tracks, skipping and not liking any and all burned CD's. So before I chuck it I was wondering if it would be worth a stab at realigning the head. Any ideas how this is done? Do you need some sort of a calibration disk or just find a pot and twiddle? Lyle
I don't believe what you're looking for exists. CD players use an optical servo loop that locks onto information embedded in the disc. I doubt there are any adjustments possible. This kind of problem is usually the result of either a dirty/scratched lens on the pickup, or the laser output degrading with age.
You can try cleaning the lens but be GENTLE, the assembly will be easily damaged.
Not reading burned CDs is a common problem for old/cheap players. CD-Rs don't meet the reflectance/contrast requirements specified in the "Red Book", so there's no guarantee any CD-audio player will be able to read them, unless they explicitly say they do.
-- Tim Hubberstey, P.Eng. . . . . . Hardware/Software Consulting Engineer Marmot Engineering . . . . . . . VHDL, ASICs, FPGAs, embedded systems Vancouver, BC, Canada . . . . . . . . . . . http://www.marmot-eng.com
Try cleaning the lens with a cotton wool bud soaked in Isopropanol. (Water doesn't work)
-- ~ Adrian Tuddenham ~ (Remove the ".invalid"s and add ".co.uk" to reply) www.poppyrecords.co.uk
When i was younger, I took apart my Sony Discman (early, fairly heavy w/ lit screen model) to repair it for the same problem; and found that there were indeed little screws (orange head, plastic, I just guessed that maybe they had something to do with it). There were like 6 of them. I played with each one thoroughly; while skipping thru the whole disc and playing some songs to see if it was fixing the problem. About 1 hour later, it did seem to be working a bit better, albeit not perfect. No idea if this applies to the more modern stuff, but might be worth a peek if it's almost junk already.
Please note however, that I had no formal training of how to do this, nor do I know to this day what the hell it was I was playing with exactly. (ie potentiometer, whatever... I just messed with em). I did notice that there were certain ones that did seem to make the skipping notably worse when turned all the way one way or the other, and in some cases one would affect the first few tracks (ie fix seeking etc) but mess up the seeking on the last few tracks. It took time to figure out how to 'balance' all 4-5 of them.
-cyBORG
not
it
twiddle?
Isopropanol = isopropyl alcohol = rubbing alcohol
--Mac
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