Super CD-Rom 2 Lens and Cap Help

[lukemccreanor]

Hi, First post here. I'm hoping you guys can give me some advice.

It's started struggling to read discs, the disc spins and sometimes it loads fine, sometimes it loads after doing a bit of seeking and sometimes it continues to seek and then gives me the set disc message. The strange thing is it started doing it one time while a mate was playing on it, I was in the other room and he decided to turn it upside down like he used to have to do with his PS1 back in the day and it worked! In fact if you turn it upside down it plays all discs fine first time and the load times are quicker. It'll even play CD-r's if upside but refuses to play them at all if its the correct way up.

Does anyone have any other fix suggestions or is it time to do a full cap replacement, laser swap and pot adjustment?

I've had a good look in the unit itself and non of the caps look like they need replacing but i'm aware of the problems with them and they'll likely need doing soon anyway so my question is are there any specific caps the would give me the issues i'm having that I should look to replace first? My next question is around POT settings, I've found plenty of threads discussing duo pot values but none for the super cd rom, should the values be the same or does anyone have the best values to apply to a super cd rom or any other advice?

Thanks

[thesteve]

the caps are a must, but the issue sounds more like an adjustment

[lukemccreanor]

I've had another look inside and I think a number of the caps may have already been swapped. I'm fairly new to all this so could you guys have a look at the pictures and tell me if you think these look like they have been swapped?


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[lukemccreanor]

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[PCEngineHell]

The surface mount caps, the ones with the black plastic base, would be your major concern either way it goes since those are the ones that like to leak. Though if doing a cap swap you might as well replace everything. I cant remember what brand the original through hole caps were in those Super Cd Rom 2 add ons, maybe someone else here will remember so they can advice you on if they have been swapped out yet or not.

[schweaty]

having capped a SCDROM2 and a Turbo Duo, i can tell you the SCDROM2 has similar (if not the same) shitty caps.  PP is right about the surface mount caps.  all the caps around the AV port, which is where the sound caps are located, are all surface mount caps. 

i agree with thesteve that this sounds like a simple pot adjustment fix, but the caps do need to be replaced if they havent already (hint:  if you still have surface mounted caps on the board, it probably has NOT been recapped)

[pnauts]

I Think also a pot adjustment (focus I suppose)
if the capacitors next to the regulator have been changed, check they are in 105°C grade

[lukemccreanor]

Thanks for the info guys, I'll look at the pot settings first. do I use the same values as those identified in the DUO laser and pot adjustment sticky thread?