Getting a Laseractive ready for a move

[Vlcice]

I'm moving soon, and I was wondering if I need to do anything special to get my Laseractive ready. I remember reading somewhere before that there's something special you have to do to get it to park the drive properly (like turning it off with no PAC in, or turning it on with a PAC in), but I can't remember what now. Anyone have any advice?

[allyourblood]

Whoops! In the last two moves, I didn't do squat; I just packed it up and went on my way. Always arrived safe on the other end though. If it helps, I did have the Sega PAC plugged in both times.

[Mobius]

I had a LaserActive shipped to me, and as far as I can tell, there was nothing special about how it was done. It works great and had the Sega PAC in it.

[Damaramu]

Ditto. I had my LaserActive shipped to me in a PC monitor box packed with shipping peanuts.

When I moved from my old apartment to my current, I placed it in a tub lined with towels. In both cases, the LaserActive was fine and no problems were encountered!

[Cryomancer]

Moved mine by car about a 45 minute drive with it just sitting the in the back seat without issue...it was winter, too. Only problems I've had with mine are the Sega PAC itself acting up, still plays LDs fine every time we use it.

[FABombjoy]

Only problems I've had with mine are the Sega PAC itself acting up
It probably needs it's capacitors replaced. I've opened about 4 Sega PACs so far and every one of them had bad caps.

[Vlcice]

Thanks, everyone. It's been packed and is being moved, so hopefully it's okay!

FABombjoy, I've heard the stories about the caps in the Sega PACs too. Is it a good idea to get them preventatively replaced, or should they be replaced when they start acting up? Have you seen anything on the NEC PAC?

[FABombjoy]

I would replace the caps sooner than later. The longer it sits the harder the job becomes. Whatever is in that goo does a good job of helping to loosen the traces from the board.

I recapped my NEC PAC. Most of them were good, but a couple of them showed the early signs of going bad. Fortunately, the NEC PAC has far fewer caps than the Sega PAC - 42 total. The Sega PAC has about twice as many.

[retroman]

yup...put it in a box...

[dendawg]

yup...put it in a box...

Better yet, DOUBLE BOX IT!

Just put the laseractive in a box just big enough for it to fit into and fill the gaps with styrofoam peanuts or some other packing material, then put that box into another box just big enough to allow a minimum of 1-1/2 inches on all sides, then more peanuts/whatever packed densely enough so that the inner box is immobilzed.