CD Player Issues

April 4, 2004 12:42 PM

Help! CD Player Laser Lens Not Working - Why? [more inside]

I have a very old (1990-ish) Sony 5-CD Changer as part of my stereo system. It's always worked great but lately, tracks on CD's (regular as well as CD-R) had been skipping or stopping completely.

I thought that this was probably just dust in the machine and bought a CD lens cleaner. I followed the instructions exactly after the CD was inserted but when I took the cleaner disc out, the CD player no longer recognized ANY discs - regular ones, CD-R's or the cleaner that had just given me verbal instructions on its use two minutes earlier! When a disc is inserted now, the player "whirs" trying to find it but then shows "No Disc Found".

I'm assuming that either somehow the laser lens got scratched by the cleaner (fresh out of the box - shouldn't have had any impurities) or that maybe this process somehow conked out a very old laser reader completely (though this seems less likely.)

Any expertise or similar experiences? I know a new CD changer is WAY cheaper than what I paid 10 years ago for a top of the line Sony unit. But I'd love to be able to fix this one if possible before I spend the cash to buy a new one.

Thanks in advance!

posted by Jaybo to technology (7 comments total)

I always considered broken cd players broken. Sony repair shops may repair it, I'd bring into a Sony repairs shop and see what they say would be the cost of repair. The cost of labor alone would probably negate the value of having it repaired. Keep in mind that a new cd player will be more compatible and better then the early 90s.

You can probably get a 5 disc cd changer by Sony for ~$80 and a 300 disc cd changer for about $180.
posted by geoff. at 3:09 PM on April 4, 2004

My old Sharp one did that and the only thing they were going to do was replace the entire laser system, which, unfortunately, would have cost mere dollars less than I paid for it.
posted by dflemingdotorg at 5:09 PM on April 4, 2004

My experience has been that a CD player that doesn't work is now a plant stand. On the very rare occasion when I have convinced someone to look at one, the cost of repair has invariably been far in excess of the value of the machine. A sad indication of the times we live in, when everything is disposable.
posted by dg at 7:56 PM on April 4, 2004

Before giving up completely, open 'er up and clean the lens with a cotton swab and some isopropyl rubbing alcohol. Rub in a circular motion around the lens. There also may be some trimmers/potentiometers you can twiddle to increase the laser output, but it's pretty much experts only for those things.
posted by zsazsa at 9:03 PM on April 4, 2004

If you don't mind screwing it up potentially, then an operation like this upon your cd player might be an option. I vaguely remember an AskMeFi about it, but couldn't find it in the search. It does seem however, that screwing it up may just be the excuse you need to break down and buy a good and new one.

On preview, what zsazsa said about fiddling. it's fun and enjoyable.
posted by apathy0o0 at 9:19 PM on April 4, 2004

And taking the old one out to the backyard and bashing the hell out of it with a hammer is really a stress-reliever.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 11:48 PM on April 4, 2004

Lasers do wear out, unfortunately. 7 years is a long life and you should be happy it lasted so long. Sorry.

BTW: Sony is probably the worst offender this way -- the life of a PS2 laser is between 2 - 4 years and they die so commonly that it is pretty much the only repair part available for the general public to buy. Sony managed to do this to the PS1/PSOne also.

They are basically famous for not being able to design a high quality product (or so I'm told by people from Japan) and it shows whenever I have to open their trash.

2nd BTW: I wouldn't reccomend a circular motion to clean a lens. Make straight strokes, that way if you manage to cause a scratch with some grit, it'll only put one scratch on the lens.

New lasers for PS2s go for about $50 - $100 US. I expect a 7 year old uncommon item like what you would need will sell for about $200 - $300 US. Labour cost should be negligible (perhaps $40 - $80 US) for something this simple.

Last, but certainly not least: You can probably squeeze a little more life from the laser by adjusting the laser's intensity. Inside there'll be a micro potentiometer to adjust. Mark the original position. Tweak it a *little* one way, then the other if that made it worse. Note that too much tweaking will cause instant permanent laser failure.
posted by shepd at 4:34 AM on April 5, 2004