UPDATE: Duo-R CD Drive not dead. Bad controller port.

[Ninja Spirit]

UPDATE (scroll down further for a detailed explanation)

[rolins]

Short description...

Tried to play a CD, and when I press RUN, not only it doesn't spin, the red light doesn't even come on. Is this a bad motor?

Is it just overheated or something? My old Duo-R would have the same problem when its been on for hours, but coming back to it after it cooled down made it worked like usual.

Does it also happen when you play a music cd?

[Ninja Spirit]

Tried a music CD, nothing.No LED light and CD Lens movement.

The deck was unplugged for days, and tonight was the first time I plugged it in since.

[Platinumfungi]

Hmm...can you give us a little more background information?

Just some general thoughts:

- Will Hucards play? If so, then it sounds like the unit is receiving power but has a CD based issue. If not then the unit might not be getting any power.

- Try gently wiggling the power supply cable when it's turned on just to make sure there isn't a break in the line.

- When you try and play a CD can you hear the unit making any noise? Any grinding or buzzing or anything?

- Have you owned the unit for awhile or is it relatively new to you?

- Was it working 100% and then one day crapped out, or was there anything gradual that you noticed?

- Any chance of someone accidentally dropping it, spilling something on it, stepping on it, etc?

- Has anyone opened the system?

Hopefully with a little more info we can get to the bottom of this!

[Ninja Spirit]

Little good news, leading to more bad news....

It wasn't the CD Drive after all.

I couldn't get off the title screen of Galaga 88, so that leads to Problem no. 1:

WEAK, GHETTO CONTROLLER PORT

As you can see, I had to bend and tuck the controller cord underneath the machine to give it juice. It seemed to work for about a few seconds, and then things get worse, the D-Pad controls start fucking up, from reversed directions to no movement at all.

Tested out Soldier Blade, I get trapped in the left hand corner of the screen, or whatever direction the d-pad allows at the moment ....

On Art of Fighting, I either couldn't select the mode I wanted to play, or on the VS mode character select screen, both P1 and P2 cursors moved through the roster simultaneously and then POOF! No controls period.

The party's not over yet...Problem Number 2: (Video)
Art of Fighting crashes during the intro right after Ryo punches Jack. The LED light goes out right along with it. Yet when I open the CD Lid, the disc is still spinning at full speed. No abnormal noises or anything.
http://s8.photobucket.com/albums/a13/Oldschoolage/?action=view¤t=011709_184900.flv

[Platinumfungi]

Problem #1 = resolder the controller port. It's just a bad connection with the pcb. This is actually somewhat common.

Got any answers for those questions I asked? That might help solve problem #2...

[Ninja Spirit]

For the record as far as your questions go, Hucards, everything else works fine. Had the Duo-R since 2005. I spent a half hour watching the intros to my CDROM2 and Super CDROM2 games and they all passed.

Tried out Art of Fighting 5 minutes ago before this post, intro came through entirely, and kicked Todo, Jack, Lee and King's asses without sprites scrambling and disappearing. The Arcade Card was acting up a bit, kinda like I had to reinsert the Street Fighter II hucard 20 times before getting it to work. Though I still had to play in a funny position with my elbow on the controller cord.

So, with that said, controller port needs repairing.

My mind was playing tricks on me for the past week.

As I never soldered before, is it easy to learn to fix it myself or should I leave it to a pro?

[nick3092]

Soldering isn't too bad.  You have the easiest kind ahead of you, re-flowing an existing joint.  That means your basically going to be heating an existing joint, letting the iron sit for a second or two after it melts to let the solder "flow" around the prong and the hole in the circuit board, maybe add a little extra solder if it doesn't look like there is enough, then taking the iron off.

However, if you've never done it before I would recommend finding some dead electronics, or even just go to radio shack and buy a small project board and a few resistors and just practice.  And Google "soldering tutorial" or something to that effect.  You'll find more info that you would ever need.

[Ninja Spirit]

Come to think of it, since I don't have the proper screwdriver to open the Duo-R up, I'd like get a hi resolution pic of the controller port diagram from the motherboard so I can see what I'll be dealing with whenever I'm ready.

[rolins]

Bad controller port, eh? I'd never have guessed it. Well seems like an easy fix, if all you need to do is re-solder the controller port. So easy even a cave man could do it. 

[Ninja Spirit]

Okay went out and got my soldering iron..


Now what kind of screwdriver do I need to open the system up?

From the looks of it it looks like a Torx. But from the looks of the screw (has a groove inside of it), I can't get it from home depot and the like.

[spenoza]

What's the wattage on that? Even with a 14 watt you have to be careful not to damage circuitry, but if that's higher wattage than 14 you'll have to be extra careful.

[termis]

Problem Number 2: (Video)
Art of Fighting crashes during the intro right after Ryo punches Jack. The LED light goes out right along with it. Yet when I open the CD Lid, the disc is still spinning at full speed. No abnormal noises or anything.
http://s8.photobucket.com/albums/a13/Oldschoolage/?action=view¤t=011709_184900.flv

Just a note about prob#2,

I've also had issues with AoF during the load screen where it can either (1) take an extraordinarily long time, (2) get stuck middle of loading, (3) the loading jump screen "jumps" back up to the right side, as if it's retrying to read (and thus leading back to problem 1).

I heard this particular problem from other users as well.

[rolins]

Okay went out and got my soldering iron..
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a13/Oldschoolage/012009_151000.jpg

Now what kind of screwdriver do I need to open the system up?

From the looks of it it looks like a Torx. But from the looks of the screw (has a groove inside of it), I can't get it from home depot and the like.

Does the screw look like a 6-pointed star but hollow in the center? Last time I opened a Duo-R I had to buy sercurity torx bits from Fry's Electronics - Torx Bits-Selector by Wiha.

[NecroPhile]

Does the screw look like a 6-pointed star but hollow in the center? Last time I opened a Duo-R I had to buy sercurity torx bits from Fry's Electronics - Torx Bits-Selector by Wiha.

Or this set.  It's dirt cheap, especially if you can pick it up locally.

[rolins]

Does the screw look like a 6-pointed star but hollow in the center? Last time I opened a Duo-R I had to buy sercurity torx bits from Fry's Electronics - Torx Bits-Selector by Wiha.

Or this set.  It's dirt cheap, especially if you can pick it up locally.

Thanks for sharing never heard of this place. They even have unibits for $15, wow awesome definitely a must buy.

[Ninja Spirit]

Yikes! My soldering iron's a 30 watt! 


This is a cell phone pic of the screw, there's also a little piece sticking up in the middle.

Problem Number 2: (Video)
Art of Fighting crashes during the intro right after Ryo punches Jack. The LED light goes out right along with it. Yet when I open the CD Lid, the disc is still spinning at full speed. No abnormal noises or anything.
http://s8.photobucket.com/albums/a13/Oldschoolage/?action=view¤t=011709_184900.flv

Just a note about prob#2,

I've also had issues with AoF during the load screen where it can either (1) take an extraordinarily long time, (2) get stuck middle of loading, (3) the loading jump screen "jumps" back up to the right side, as if it's retrying to read (and thus leading back to problem 1).

I heard this particular problem from other users as well.

Yeah I also noticed that after Todo's silhouette comes off the screen, instead of going straight to the match, there's also an extra loading screen with a chibi Ryo running around

[rolins]

Yikes! It's a 30 watt! 

A 30watt iron will suffice, just don't leave it on the pcb for more than 2 sec at a time. If you can exchange it for a 15w or at least a 25w iron.

[Ninja Spirit]

Thanks for the help y'all, as easy as you guys say it is, I'm still a bit afraid.

Might as well learn now, cause I'm highly considering getting into building custom joysticks

[Platinumfungi]

A "Hollow Torx" (size 10) bit does the trick. That set Necromancer posted has it in there, among others, and really is a good variety set. I bought a set a few years back and now wonder how I ever did without them.

As per that soldering iron - for general everyday pcb work I'd recommend a 15W iron. A 30W will be nice to have when you need more heat to work on larger components though.