Sega CD Disc Issue

[evildragon]

I honestly have no clue what can cause this.. My experience with electronics is quite good, but when it comes to the Sega CD, it's a whole new world for me..

Simply put, it don't like games.. It plays music CDs fine, I am playing an Aerosmith CD on it right now (real printed CD).

If I play a CD-R music CD, it takes it about 20 seconds before it even realizes it's a music CD (on the printed CD above, it's pretty much instant)..

On a Sega CD game however, it NEVER gets passed "Checking Disc", and it completely hangs there, sometimes the "Access" light on the Sega CD will turn off, stay off, and blink 4 times, and repeat.. OR, it seems like it's really "trying", but just says "Checking Disc"..

I have taken apart the Sega CD unit, and I swear, whoever owned this thing last, must have been hiding something from the cops.. Inside, not only is there coffee stains on the motherboard, but there is cocaine powder!!! (i am NOT kidding, had it checked out, it really was cocaine)..

I cleaned it up pretty good, and used a multimeter to make sure there is no short, but it still fails to boot..

Though, it's not a total loss, it DOES boot sometimes, and that's a big "sometimes".. When it boots, it's usually running perfectly fine, no problems.. But sometimes when it does boots, it's very slow, music not playing when it should (CDDA music), or it just randomly freezes up...

Any ideas as to what else can be wrong with it?

[SkiDragon]

Is it the tray loading of top loading model?

[evildragon]

Is it the tray loading of top loading model?

it's the top loader (version 2.0)

i bought it on ebay, and the seller even said it had this problem (i thought cleaning the laser would work)..

i've been playing music CDs on it all day, but putting in a game CD, no go, just hangs at checking disc... it's annoying, I only got to play this thing ONE time today (it actually worked for a whole session, but turning it off, and back on killed it)...

i have a feeling it's a laser problem, but that wouldn't make sense, would it? it plays music CDs just fine...

[evildragon]

I think I may have fixed it, but it's still very touchy.. But it IS playing VERY good right now..

I rotated the ribbon cables connecting the laser assembly to the motherboard (kinda like a car), i switched ends..

And now it seems to be working...

though, why did it still have problems with data, but play music just fine?

[evildragon]

*sigh* (i wish i had a edit button so i didn't have to keep doing this)

I just desoldered the ribbon sockets, and soldered wires directly from point to point (wires from an IDE cable, still in ribbon formation)..

While it still plays music, it will NOT play Data again.. so it wasn't that..

suggestions are still up for grabs..

[MarioMania]

I don't know the prob dude..Hope you get it fixed....

[Kitsune Sniper]

How the bloody hell does a Sega CD get COCAINE inside?!

Damn FEKA goons!

[evildragon]

I wish I knew how it got Cocaine in it, but it was damn funny!

anyways, it still doesn't work right, I only can use it for music CDs and CD+G discs.. Though, if I smack the thing hard enough, not only will the PCM channel in the Sega CD make a screeching sound (when at the BIOS intro), it will say to Press Start, and games actually load! BUT, mostly unreliable, sometimes it plays great...

I just don't know what's wrong with it, and being I am very good with a soldering iron, I just want to fix it.. I re-flowed all the joints, and even added solder on some joints that looked "low".. Still didn't work...