JVC X'EYE "Door is closed" How to Fix?

[Contrabassoon86]

I just got a X'EYE and the Genesis portion plays great, but the Cd portion claims that the cd-door is always open. The cd-spinner works and so does the laser eye. It just claims the door is open, so I can't play any games.
Does anyone have any suggestions?

Scott

[Logicdustbin]

My uneducated guess would be the lid switch. If you open it up you might find it a simple fix.


(but I would wait for someone like Omnedon to reply :D )

[Contrabassoon86]

I already took the plastic casing off to check, but couldn't find anything (obvious) wrong.

[omnedon]

Your going to need to replace or short out the door sensor switch.

[Contrabassoon86]

How am I to do this? Or where can I get a replacement?

[omnedon]

Well, you first need to be able to spot it. Once you can spot it, you can short it, tape it down, or something.

I don't know off the top of my head where the 'Eye keeps it's sensor.

[Lost Monkey]

The plastic piece which depresses the lid switch is very thin and may be just misaligned to the actual switch inside the X-Eye...

If you have taken it apart already, put the top half back on ,paying very careful attention to the placement of the lid switch and the piece which presses against it.

[InsaneDavid]

This seems to be a really common problem with the JVC X'Eye (almost as much as not having the original power supply) but it's also the problem that will allow you to pick up these consoles dirt cheap from those who can't fix them. (I got mine for $3)

There's a tiny little pinswitch on the CD laser assembly daughterboard that is pushed down with a cheap plastic plunger (connected to the top of the shell) which is pushed down by a little tab beneath the disc lid. Really you can't see it unless you're looking for it. (as both you and another has already said) When the disc lid is closed the pinswitch is pushed down which tells the X'Eye "okay, the lid is closed, initialize disc spin / read" however for one reason or another the pinswitch in your system is not being pushed down, so even though the door is physically closed the X'Eye interrogates the switch which is still open and goes "I can't initilaize the disc spin / read - the door is still open."

Instead of going though the "look here first and then..." I'll run through the proceedure to bypass the lid closed pinswitch. Read through this entire post and you should be able to figure out what you need to do. :) The proceedure is EASY as long as you take your time and pay attention to what you're doing. (a TINY bit of electronics experence helps as well)

First off you'll want to open up your X'Eye and locate the laser drive assembly. (where the disc sits) You'll spot a board that looks like this adjacent to it...

http://www.classicplastic.info/JVCxeye12.jpg

That's the CD drive assembly daughterboard. CAREFULLY unplug all it's connections and remove it from your X'Eye...

http://www.classicplastic.info/JVCxeye14.jpg

Basically this part handles the back and forth video and data read between the CD drive and the rest of the unit as well as lets the X'Eye know the disc lid is closed, which is our problem. (does other stuff too but that's not important right now) On the daughterboard, up where the board sticks out and has a white plug socket (the part in the upper right, where the yellow and blue wired plug that runs to the CD drive was removed) you'll see a little black boxy deal just below the white plug socket is. That's the lid close pinswitch...

http://www.classicplastic.info/JVCxeye15.jpg

As you can see, mine is shot. Now you can replace the pinswitch with another you may have on hand or you can override it with a jumper on the back side. If you're going to replace it (which I need to get around to doing) simply desolder the old one and replace it with another.

If you're going to override the switch then flip the daughterboad over and find where the pinswitch makes its connections on the back side. Solder a small piece of wire between these two points to override the switch - this way the X'Eye will ALWAYS think the lid is closed...

http://www.classicplastic.info/JVCxeye17.jpg
(not my best work, but it got the job done)

Now when your turn your X'Eye on it will think the lid is closed (EVEN WHEN IT IS OPEN) so you have to remember to always have the lid closed when using your system. In other words put your CD game inside, close the lid, THEN turn the power on. Also if you open the lid while the system is running it will NOT disengage the disc motor / laser assembly (since it always thinks the pinswitch is being pushed down by a closed lid) so make sure to turn the system off before opening the disc lid and removing your game.

The ideal solution is to replace the pinswitch itself, however this will get you up and running and - as it did with me - work as a check to see if your X'Eye CD drive is working or not.

I hope this helps - welcome to the ranks of JVC X'Eye ownership, hope you can get your system running 100% :D


Also - can anyone show me a picture of a JVC X'Eye lid close pinswitch that is in the PROPER working condition? I'm just curious and have never seen one. :/

[InsaneDavid]

Let's give this a little (BUMP) to see if it helped solve the problem. :D