Another PCE Duo Tale of Woe

[RetroRepair]

I'm literally about to bin this thing.  

I got it off ebay ages ago and it was sold as such, won't read discs, HuCards work fine. True enough, it couldn't read discs. It did at least try though and once I actually had it playing an audio cd (briefly).

Then I did a full cap job, still no luck, despite finding a fair few bad caps.

Next I started adjusting pots. This is where it all went to hell. All of a sudden it wouldn't move at all. The laser was still bright but no movment on the disc at all.

I have tried going through the adjustment thread and had a go at just about every trick but still nothing. I made a note of the pot values before I started and they seemed pretty much the norm.

I bought a new laser thinking this would be the magic wand to fix all my issues and.. same thing. Dead.

So now, a month or more later I tried again. Made some VERY slight adjustments to VR102 and it did something! It span very fast and then died again. I have been at it for over an hour now and though once or twice it span up, almost as quickly it went back to doing nothing. Oddly enough I found 2.1 ohms to be a nice value for VR102 for a while but now nothing again.

VR103 helped slow it down and almost making it sound like it was reading but then out of the blue with NO further adjustment, nothing again.  

I'm not technically inept but I feel like I'm out of my depth with this steaming pile.

So is there any kind soul out there who might be able to shed some light or go into more detail about the various pot adjustments? Common pitfalls, etc? Is it even a pot issue? I'm starting to wonder if it's just spinning up whever it feels like it, regardless of my adjustments!

[SignOfZeta]

What happens if you swap the entire drive from another Duo?

[HercTNT]

Don't give up. If you can't fix it thier are plenty of people here that can. Pm Thesteve, Keithcourage, Bluebmw, or appolloboy, they can help.

[soop]

Don't give up. If you can't fix it thier are plenty of people here that can. Pm Thesteve, Keithcourage, Bluebmw, or appolloboy, they can help.

Don't PM them!  Share the knowledge

[Keith Courage]

You are going to have to mess with the pots for a while until you get it figured out. The rough one is the V101 cause if that's off by even a little the drive won't work. I think I spent a good 2 hours making adjustments on the first DUO I ever changed a lens in until I got it right. There is a way to do it with a multi-meter but I've done it so many times now I actually do it by ear.

[RetroRepair]

The rough one is the V101 cause if that's off by even a little the drive won't work.

When you say won't work, do you mean the issue I'm having or it'll spin but not read?

[RetroRepair]

Ok, I've got it to the point of the lens bouncing up and down going "ca-chunk, ca-chunk, ca-chunk" then please set disc. Here's what my pots are at (I'm only looking at points A+B)

vr101 - 7.7
vr102 - 2.1
vr103 - 15.3
vr104 - 15.7
vr105 - 0.0 (never been able to get any reading from this one?)

Any ideas from this point? If I adjust VR102 or 104 I can get it to spin up but it just goes flat out at top speed and doesn't try to read.

[soop]

Ok, I've got it to the point of the lens bouncing up and down going "ca-chunk, ca-chunk, ca-chunk" then please set disc. Here's what my pots are at (I'm only looking at points A+B)

vr101 - 7.7
vr102 - 2.1
vr103 - 15.3
vr104 - 15.7
vr105 - 0.0 (never been able to get any reading from this one?)

Any ideas from this point? If I adjust VR102 or 104 I can get it to spin up but it just goes flat out at top speed and doesn't try to read.

I have this same problem.

[RetroRepair]

Ok well I have managed to get it to the point of spinning the disc at a normal speed for TOC reading and it stays steady with the occasional seek blip but again, just asks to set the disc. I got here by adjusting to these values:

vr101 - 4.1
vr102 - 5.6
vr103 - 17.5
vr104 - 15.7
vr105 - 0.0

No matter what else I tweek though I just get super speed or nothing at all. The only in between seems to be jittery seeking followed by super speed again. This seems to be the closest I can get to it doing anything. I just seems like it can't read the TOC.

I've no idea what I'm doing with VR105 since it turns out it's a variable capacitor? It doesn't seem to make any difference either.

I tested the old laser for giggles but seems that one might actually be dead, unless it needs further adjustment.

So near yet so far..

[RetroRepair]

Oh I give up. I can't get it to change from that.

Anyone want to buy this thing?

[BlueBMW]

Dont give up yet! Shoot me a pm and Ill try and help .

[Keith Courage]

The problem you are having is what happens when the pots are off or the lens is bad. Maybe you got a bunk lens? Also, did you change the pot on the lens itself at all?

[RetroRepair]

Dont give up yet! Shoot me a pm and Ill try and help .

I really appreciate that, thanks. I'll PM you now then.

[JohnnyPhantom]

Did you ever get it working? I'm going through the fun of adjusting pots myself in mine.