pce cd rom2 not reading discs

[WiJoDa]

I recently bought a cd rom2 and interface unit that was untested.

Disc wouldnt spin so i opened it up and the middle gear had teeth missing, thats been replaced and the worm motor has been re greased and now it runs really quiet And smooth.

Trouble is that it wont boot any discs ive tried pressed cd's and cd-r's and nothing. the laser lights up but im assuming its not strong enough to read data. How bright does the laser need to be?

Im assuming that a little pot tweek is needed but not really sure of which pot to adjust.

Any help would be awesome.

[Keith Courage]

Some potentiometer adjustment might be in order but it could also be cap related. I find that the white pc engine CD drives are more prone to that than the black US CD drives. Maybe cause they are a bit newer? I don't know.

Anyways, try changing out these four caps. https://postimg.cc/image/5cd75jjpv/ )circled in red)If it won't read due to caps these four are generally the culprits.

Also, make sure you put the larger lens ribbon cable back in correctly. The contacts should be facing outwards away from the center of the drive.

[graffias79]

...the laser lights up but im assuming its not strong enough to read data. How bright does the laser need to be?

From what I understand, the laser is infrared so you are only seeing light wave interference within the diode when you see the little red light.  The actual infrared laser is extremely bright but of course in a wavelength that we can't see so be careful about looking into it.  You don't want to give yourself lasic surgery!

[WiJoDa]

Went to my local electronics shop earlierto pick up the capacictors but they didnt have an exact match to the ones in the red circe, the replacements all have a higher voltage.

Ive never dealt with capacitors so i dont really know if the voltage has to match (uF matches exactly though).

[Keith Courage]

Higher voltage is fine. Just make sure you don't go lower on the voltage.

[WiJoDa]

Finally had a chance to have a look and at first the capacitors looked pretty good, there wasnt any bulging on them and no apparent leaking until i removed them. Some of the points look dirty or possibly starting to lift. Any opinions would be awesome.

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I have used a circuit tester on some of the traces and they seem fine, although the dirtier part doesnt complete the circuit so i dont know if they are salvageable?

[WiJoDa]

I've replaced the 4 caps and now its slowly starting to work

With burned games i will either get load error or it will initally boot but i get a black screen. With genuine music cd's it will load to the cd menu but wont actually play music. It will go to track 1 for a second or two then go back to 0. The index numbers go nuts though.

[Keith Courage]

start doing some minor potentiometer adjustment. Generally the two black pots that are next to one another  are the ones to try first.