PC-Engine Duo problem - sound and loading

[segagamer]

I am hoping that someone can help me out. I just bought a second hand PC-Engine Duo console from Japan and everything looks in great condition. However, I am having some trouble playing CD games; I don't have any HuCard games at this time. All of my PCE CD games are the original JP versions.

I have come across a few issues with my Duo.

First day:
1. Missing sound effects. Played Gate of Thunder and Nexzr. CD music plays fine. Volume and balance is fine. But some of the sound effects are missing, such as the explosion sound of my ship in Gate. Similar issue in Nexzr, when some of the enemies explode without sound.

2. Missing voices. For example, in Ys IV, when the game begins, there is dialogue that is spoken between some characters on the ship. I can see the mouths move but there is no audio at all. I can tell because in emulation I can hear the voices and music, and they are sound chip generated.

3. Games locked up. Happened on both Ys IV and Dracula X. I believe it has to do with the lack of chip generated sound before data is loaded, so in both games, the system just spun the discs and the screen remained black.

Second day:
I just tried my Duo again tonight, and could play Dracula X, but noticed the missing voice samples. Tried Ys IV next and the same thing occurred as last night - no voices and the game froze/locked up after the initial scene on the ship.

Today, a new problem developed...The left channel seems to be low in volume. And whenever there is no audio (eg, during loading), I can hear some scratching noise as if I was listening to vinyls from the right channel.

From the research I have done so far, the audio problem seems to caused by the faulty caps. But does that also explain the game freeze/lock up in Ys IV?

Therefore, I would like to know the fix for this problem and if there is someone on this forum that is experienced at this type of repair. I would not mind paying for the repair as long as the job is well done and I can trust the person, and if it does not cost too much.

All of my games are working fine on Magic Engine, and do not have any scratches or dirt. So that rules out the discs themselves. The CD drive is working fine. I don't know what could be the issue here, so any help will be appreciated.

[PC-ENGINE HELL]

The normal TurboDuo and PcEngine Duo had bad capacitor issues which would cause faulty audio over time. Hit up www.pcenginefx.com. You may be able to locate someone over there who will replace the caps, and laser too if need be, for a fee if that is the problem (which is what it sounds like from what you describe). It is either that, or do the work yourself. If you have zero experience in removing surface mount caps though, I recommend you go to someone who does for the work.

[staxx]

Removing the audio caps is not too difficult, there are about 6 caps. It's just a tedious process and you need a fine tip soldering iron.