TG16/CD system issues.

[Bighab]

Hi all I am looking for some help with getting my TG16/CD system working again. About 2 years ago I turned my system on after not playing it for 4/5 months and it wouldn't power up. I initially thought it was a power supply issue. I had someone test the power supply and it appeared to work fine. I figured the CD Drive was dead and set out to see if I could get it fixed or to find a new one. After sending everything away to a great repairman(known on here as Omnedon) he wasn't able to fix the CD Drive. I gave up hope on ever getting the drive fixed and turned my attention to finding another CD Drive or eventually getting a Duo. About 3 months ago a friend in the US(New Jersey area) found a computer store that sold PCE CD Roms drives. These drives are exactly the same as the US TG-CD drives except they are white. The power supply ratings for these are 10.5 V 650mA I tried these new drives on my system and although the screen would load up telling me to hit the "run" button the drives either wouldn't spin or would spin and spin with nothing happening on the screen. If you pressed the play button on the CD Player it would play the first track stating "this is a computer/game disk...blah..blah" Maxlords was over last night and we took a look at my setup. WE unhooked everything(TG16 from the docking station,all the wires,CD Drive from the docking station) and reset it back up with my original US CD Drive. We put in Last Alert and low and behold it worked! I was like WTF! We tried another game PCE Arcade card game Strider(my TG16 is modded to play Jpn HU's and was using the arcade card Pro as my system card) and it wouldn't work. The system wouldn't even power up. WE hit the reset button on the power supply and got to the load screen where you hit "run" to start the game and again the drive didn't spin. Pressed "play" on the CD Rom and again it spun to play track 1 only to say "this is a computer/game disk.blah...blah" So do people think there is an issue with the docking station or the power supply? The power supply is outputting 12V 1A and is a radioshack generic unit. What does an "official" TG16/CD power supply output? Should I grab a new power supply? I never thought the docking station would ever "break" myself.

[ApolloBoy]

First off, please learn to use paragraphs.

Second, the fact that you're using an underrated power supply is most likely the problem. You need at least 1.5A for the TG-CD to work, not 1A.

[Bighab]

Fair enough but why would the system work for a few years then all of a sudden stop working while using the same power supply?

[ApolloBoy]

Fair enough but why would the system work for a few years then all of a sudden stop working while using the same power supply?

Using an underrated power supply for a long period of time doesn't exactly do wonders for electronics.

[InsaneDavid]

This topic is the same reason why one shouldn't use a Genesis Model 2 power supply on a JVC X'Eye or Sega CDX, it is underrated by 0.65mA if I remember correctly.

[Bighab]

I did a search on the net looking for the exact power supply output needed for the TG-CD and found this article http://www.geocities.com/cpepin1976/voltages.txt
It says it should be 11V DC 1.53mA. I went to circuit city and could only find a 12V 1.5 mA power supply. I tried it out and I am getting the same issues as before. I get the screen and hit run. I get the "PC" light coming on on the CD Drive with the disk spinning but nothing else happening on the screen.
Now is the problem still with the power supply or should I be looking at issues with the dockign station?

[papa_november]

Your laser might be dying. You can try adjusting it before trying to replace it, but that might not help. Either way you're looking at quite an ordeal as that drive is very cramped inside and difficult to work on.

If you're willing to brave poking through something that looks like it was put together by the Keebler elves, there is a CD drive that has an identical mechanism that you can (with some soldering) just swap in; it's the NEC CDR-35D and it's available from here (http://www.computertradeexchange.com/inventory/NECB.html).

Your power supply doesn't look like it's an issue. Almost everyone with one of these machines has had to swap in a 12V adaptor and it should work just fine.

[Bighab]

Well after some searching on ebay I was able to track down a spare parts auction and grabbed 2 docking stations, 2 official power supplies, a US CD Drive and a 2.0 system card. I tried just the official power supply on my setup and like before I would get the load screen but nothing else after that. I swapped out my old docking station with the ebay one and it works. This has led me to believe that after using the wrong power supply for a few years did some sort of damage to the docking station.
I then tried the white Jpn CD Drives and I still get the same problem as before. What could be the issue with these? I have been told these drives are 100% compatible . The other US Drive I received in the ebay auction is completely dead(won't spin even when play is pressed) I was thinking of trying to swap a Jpn laser with the US one.

[papa_november]

Where did you buy the PCE drives from? What's their part number?

If you got them from where I think you got them from, they're not true PC Engine drives. The drive assemblies from them should work though.

[Bighab]

I got the drives from a computer store in NJ. Their part# is CDR-35D

[papa_november]

I'm in the exact same situation. Those drives are NOT a drop-in replacement, even though they look exactly the same. They're still useful though, because the CD mechanism is 100% identical and can therefore be swapped into a TC/PCE drive with a minimal amount of soldering.

[Bighab]

I'm in the exact same situation. Those drives are NOT a drop-in replacement, even though they look exactly the same. They're still useful though, because the CD mechanism is 100% identical and can therefore be swapped into a TC/PCE drive with a minimal amount of soldering.

Whats the reason they aren't compatible? Are you saying they will only work on a PCE system or these drives were meant for something else? I have a dead US drive. Can I just swap out the laser assembly?

[Bighab]

Well its been awhile and I am looking for some new info. I was wondering if anyone has or knows the specs/voltage needed for the CD Drive.

[Lost Monkey]

Well its been awhile and I am looking for some new info. I was wondering if anyone has or knows the specs/voltage needed for the CD Drive.

I was able to track down a replacement laser assembly at Electronix.com - still no success after installing it. I have pretty much given up on riviving this guy...

[Bighab]

I had a friend put in the CD Laser assembly from one of the PC88 drives I had and it still didn't work right either. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. That's why I was hoping to find the voltage specs for the Drive so I could test where the problem(s) might be.