CD burner revisited

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ModRob
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CD burner revisited

Post by ModRob »

This is driving me nuts...

I received some interesting tips on last post, but still having
trouble with this Philips stand-alone CDR775 burner unit.
Right now the biggest problem is upon powering up, it scrolls
through brief intro, then within 2 seconds displays constant
"OPEN" and recorder side drawer does nothing. I've powered
up and down several times and finally it will be ok. Today,
however, seven or eight times, and still same result. Once I
did get a "CLOSE" display, but then it goes to "OPEN". Pushing
on the button for open and close only toggles the display with
no action to drawer. I can't remember if normal or not, but I
hear a "rrrrrrring" sound about two or three times from the
unit, that pitches from low to high to low. Maybe revving is
more like it...
I've taken it apart to clean the lense and everything looks like
new inside unit, for what it's worth--no dust or grime of any
sort. No smoking environment too.
Thanks for any help again,
Tim
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Post by EEPROM777I »

It sounds like a problem with the tray limit switch(s) and or the the drive motors. If you hear the sound of a motor but the tray does not open and the screen says open it could be that it's trying to open but with the motor out of action it never gets to that point so it keeps displaying open because it has yet to reach that point (trip the tray switch).
Craig
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Post by Craig »

Check if there's a pin-hole in the front of the tray. If so, stick a paperclick in there to manually open the tray. From there, pull it open and see if that changes anytyhing. Try putting a CD in it then closing it to see if you can read it.
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Post by EEPROM777I »

Good suggestion Craig but I've never seen a stand alone player or burner with a pinhole to open the tray if it's stuck or broken.
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ModRob
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RE:

Post by ModRob »

No, there is no access hole in front of unit...
I want to think it's mechanical in nature, like those switch(s) mentioned,
since it acts up for a time, but then out-of-the-blue, it works ok. At least
until shutoff, then it's the same all over.
What do you think is common problem with units like this? Drive motors
as mentioned, or some kind of switches? I've banged around on it when acting up, but it does not change things....hmmmm...almost got
out the hammer. Now that would have fixed it for sure! At least
made me feel better for all of about 30 seconds...
The other side of the unit seems to function just fine. If I could maybe
find a parts manual and possibly replace any switches and motors?
Thanks again for ideas...
Tim
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Re: RE:

Post by SETEC_Astronomy »

ModRob wrote:I've banged around on it when acting up, but it does not change things....hmmmm...almost got
out the hammer. Now that would have fixed it for sure! At least
made me feel better for all of about 30 seconds...
lol me too see here-> http://www.servomagazine.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6413

It sounds like a bad motor to me as well. My DVD player would sometimes play well and others not. The spindle motor had a bad brush that only made intermittent contact. I would say the tray motor is in trouble. Most trays "lock" when they are all the way closed so is there a way to have the case open while plugged in? That way you could hit the eject button and try to help the tray along and if after a nudge it opens and works I think you have located the problem.
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haklesup
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Post by haklesup »

To summarize; it intermittantly works but the trigger for working/not working is powering up. It never quits while powered and never recovers without power down. Furthermore, it does not respond to mechanical input (banging).

If the above is accurate, it sounds more like a failure of a semiconductor device. A certain failure mode called Latch Up can occur in which a CMOS device will either work normally or quit working but not actually burn up. Latch up can be triggered by a number of events and power up is one of them (for a susceptable device).

A dirty switch contact should have responded to banging and a cold solder joint should not recover from powering down (at least not right away if it is a thermal expansion problem) but either could masquerade as another.

If it is a latchup related problem or just a device who powers up poorly, additional decoupling caps to eliminate power supply bounce and larger filter cap to slow power up rising edge might alleviate the problem somewhat. Replacement of the marginal device however would be the only sure fix.

If the door switch is optical, then you need to investigate the switch side and the LED side for proper bias. If the IR LED is flickering, you wouldn't see it. If mechanical, you can just manually operate the switch to see if it makes a difference.
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Chris Smith
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Post by Chris Smith »

If you can open the door, try to remove the door cover.

Then try it again. Some doors just pop up wards, then off.

Often it hangs up [the dust seal] and that last bit can make a difference.
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Post by Edd »

.

Can you get a thin shim of metal with a VEWY small L bend on its front to get behind the front cover of the unit such that you can enact a slight pull / assist on the front cover at the time of activating the OPEN command to the unit. Since you hear the moter rev up and eventual gradual decline in its attempt to cycle the unit.
Frankly I think that you might have developed a "wimpy and saggy" square drive belt between the tray drive motor and its associated drive pulley that it couples into . If your slight mechanical "assist of Its JATO forward thrusters" enacted a successful cycling of the opening / closing tray mechanism, I believe that will confirm that belts deteriorated situation.

73's de Edd
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Post by dacflyer »

thats what i was gonna say,,had that problem before..but most all cd players have that tiny emergency hole where you stick in a paper clip and push...this manually opens the cd tray in event of failure....
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ModRob
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RE:

Post by ModRob »

I've had this on now for the last couple of days..I used it twice to record a song mixed from my multi-track unit and it did fine. Tonight, I just tried powering it down several times, and it comes back fine...maybe since it's warm?...
I've shut it down, and I'll try again tomorrow after it's cooled during the night...
Again, thanks for the help.
Tim
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ModRob
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more...

Post by ModRob »

After leaving the unit powered off for a day, fired it up, and same symptoms happened. Tried wriggle the tray with an object, but nothing changed. Again, I powered down and up several times before I could get the unit to come up in "ready" mode. I did try and wrestle with the tray while I toggled the "open-close" button too, to no avail.

I've left it on now for two days, and unit is sitting in "ready" mode. I used it last night to mix a music track to, and it worked fine....

tim
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ModRob
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More info

Post by ModRob »

Well, the gremlins are back again...
After repowering several times, I can get it back to "normal" mode. Then I can record some audio, click on "stop" and it resets. Click "finalize" and nothing happens. Nothing. Repower. Remove disc. Put disc back in; unit says "recovery" and disc will not work. And again, that danged stuck "Open" display mode will come up from time-to-time. Clicking "Close" just changes display only--nothing else happens. Again, repowering a few times can usually fix that, but it's hit-or-miss on making an actual CD work correctly. And I've tried several different kinds of CDs too.
While I would just LOVE to give it a bash with a sledge hammer, I just can't afford another unit at the moment, and when this one works, I like its simplicity....
Any more thoughts out there?
Thanks again.
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