My Duo won't spin it.

[XYXZYZ]

When I try to play a CD game on my Duo (PC Engine, Japanese) I get to the boot screen, press start, and... nothing. The disc won't spin. Took the case off, held down the door switch and tried again, still nothing. Doesn't move at all, no noises or anything. I'd try to play a HuCard, but I don't own any HuCards.

Any ideas?

[RadiantSvgun]

Sounds like the motor for the CD drive is gone. I'll bet that's expensive.

[Dreamc@sting]

Sounds like the motor for the CD drive is gone. I'll bet that's expensive.

What he said - while I didn't have that happen on a Duo, I have had it occur on a Sega Saturn unit. The menu can load up because its built into the system startup, not the cd rom. I never tried replacing a cd rom motor before, so I'm not sure whats involved.

[InsaneDavid]

Woah, woah, woah guys.

Before tearing out and replacing the motor see if the switch itself that registers the lid being closed is bad. This is an extremely common problem with JVC X'Eye systems so it wouldn't surprise me if one went bad in a TurboDuo. Open the system up and close the switch by overriding it with a jumper. Basically solder in a jumper (small piece of wire) on the underside of the board between the two switch contacts. Reassemble everything back to a testable point. Remember now the system will act as if the lid is closed. Turn it on, press the Run button, and see if the spindle starts up. If it does then you need to replace the switch with an equivalent one. Of course you could just leave the jumper in there but remember the system will always think the door is closed.

[FABombjoy]

IIRC, if the door switch fails, the screen will display the message "Please close lid!" or something like that when you hit start. From a cold boot, disc in & door closed, hit start. If you get that message, it's a bad door switch.

[evildragon]

From what I noticed with certain lasers, is that if the laser doesn't see a disc, it won't even try to spin the motor.

Sony KSS 240's are one of these (which Model 1 Sega CD's have)

[XYXZYZ]

Okay, I just applied 1.5 - 3V to both motors, they spin without a problem. The + and - terminals on the motor both lead to a rather hefty IC on the bottom of the board, to pins 1 & 2. Good continuity between the motor terminals and the IC. Checked the door switches with a meter, 2.5MΩ open, 0Ω closed. Switches are good.

If the laser doesn't detect a CD, doesn't it give some kind of message? By the way, after pressing start my Duo says "JUST A MOMENT..." but that moment never comes. Just hangs there.

[InsaneDavid]

Okay, I just applied 1.5 - 3V to both motors, they spin without a problem. The + and - terminals on the motor both lead to a rather hefty IC on the bottom of the board, to pins 1 & 2. Good continuity between the motor terminals and the IC. Checked the door switches with a meter, 2.5MΩ open, 0Ω closed. Switches are good.

If the laser doesn't detect a CD, doesn't it give some kind of message? By the way, after pressing start my Duo says "JUST A MOMENT..." but that moment never comes. Just hangs there.

Damn, well you've stumped me but at least you know your motors aren't shot. Are you sure the power supply is good? (assuming it is since the system is running) If it is then I'd check for bad solder joints unless someone else has a different direction to go. The CD drive in the 'Duo makes a very distinct sound after your press Run, if everything is working correct that is.

[evildragon]

Here's a test. Without a CD, does it say the same thing and act the same way?

If so, try cleaning the laser, and carefully cleaning under the lens too if you can. Had a Sega CD that had massive ammounts of read errors and errors loading a CD. turned out the laser was dirty under the lens.

[FABombjoy]

^^^

The spindle wont spin until the laser achieves focus.

[SnowKitty]

From what I noticed with certain lasers, is that if the laser doesn't see a disc, it won't even try to spin the motor.

Sony KSS 240's are one of these (which Model 1 Sega CD's have)

sounds like you have a dead laser unit. the duo will not spin the drive up if it does not see the CD. you can easily and cheaply get a replacement from electronix.com 18.95$ plus shipping. it's a HOP-M3 (NOT A HOP-M3A) you could also yank one from an old CD player deck made between 89-95. although if you go that route it's not guaranteed you'd get the right laser but the HOP-M3 was common back then. dont go for sony or JVC decks though. they used their own lasers. this page may be of use to you too. http://www.teamfremont.com/features/TurboDuoRepair.shtml

[XYXZYZ]

I just realized something, it's a Japanese Duo with a Japanese power supply, I have it plugged straight into an American wall with no stepdown transformer. I've heard that this doesn't really matter much, but could this have caused the problem?

I still haven't tried replacing the laser because I'm too lazy. :D

[FABombjoy]

I just realized something, it's a Japanese Duo with a Japanese power supply, I have it plugged straight into an American wall with no stepdown transformer. I've heard that this doesn't really matter much, but could this have caused the problem?
Nope.

[papa_november]

http://www.robotpanic.com/?p=59#more-59

[Lord Contaminous]

I have a similar problem in my Duo-R.

Thing is though, I don't think it's the laser.

In short, when I press RUN, the LED light doesn't come on at all. Just.....nothing. Until I find something to open the unit up and see what's inside, I'm going to assume there's a motor problem.

I can still play Hucards though

[raylydiard]

i repair consoles and i have had it with sega saturn if the discs dont spin i desolderd the spindel i tryed with a 9v batt and the spindel worked so i have orderd some laser servo witch tell the laser to read and tells the spindel to spin simply will be repairable