Messages

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: REPAIR GUIDE - TurboDuo/PC Engine Duo/R/RX: Laser Swap & Adjustment Guide]

what can i do here?  it showed up like this and i'm not certain if i have enough on the side to maybe catch with a pair of needle nose pliers and adjust that way, or should i try to remove it & replace with something else (assuming that's even an option)? or is it supposed to look like that?  appreciate any help i can get here. 

It looks very damaged.

Take the measurements (if you can) with an ohm meter. Compare them to the measurements I posted.

If they are similar you may want to try a new laser unit.

Adjustment is very fine and needle nose pliers might not do the job. You need to turn just a fraction at a time.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: REPAIR GUIDE - TurboDuo/PC Engine Duo/R/RX: Laser Swap & Adjustment Guide]

fact is the duo and duo-r have the same drive and with the same laser will read equally well on CDR and originals
that said i have seen more marginal parts on the duo vs the duo-r (likely because its older)

I can only speak of what I know. I only know about the DUO-R.

I didn't make any comment about the DUO or any other variant.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: REPAIR GUIDE - TurboDuo/PC Engine Duo/R/RX: Laser Swap & Adjustment Guide]

Ok, my problem has been solved.

In my experience DUO-R do not have a hard time reading CD-R. I was having trouble with CD-R and originals.

I say in my experience because between me and my brother we have 3 of these units.

I purchased a known working DUO-R from ebay (from japan) last week and it arrived today. Coincidentally so did my replacement laser unit (also from ebay).

I had borrowed my brother's DUO-R and over the weekend and tested all my discs on it. No errors or issues playing an disc.

I tested my new DUO-R from ebay and found the results to be the same. Perfect.

I did not want to open his unit because it is working properly and it has a region mod switch and I didn't want to disturb anything.

I opened the new DUO-R and measured the pots. The results are as follows:

VR101
AB:10
AC:9
BC:15

VR102
AB:8
AC:10
BC:12

VR103
AB:6
AC:14
BC:15

VR104
AB:7
AC:10
BC:15

VR105
AB:.5
AC:0
BC:.5

I replaced the laser on broken unit and tuned the pots as close as I could get them. The replacement of the laser unit was unbelievably easy. I couldn't believe it literally took 30 seconds.

The results for the pots were as follows:

VR101
AB:9
AC:10
BC:14

VR102
AB:8
AC:8
BC:12

VR103
AB:4.5
AC:14
BC:14

VR104
AB:15
AC:7
BC:10

VR105
AB:.5
AC:0
BC:.5

The result.... I now have 2 perfectly working DUO-R systems. The inside of the unit from ebay is extremely clean and the hu card slot seems to work perfectly as well.

I guess I will sell one now.

I paid $335 with shipping.

A reasonable offer would not be refused. If anyone is looking for a system.

Thanks for the suggestions, and I hope this info is helpful.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: REPAIR GUIDE - TurboDuo/PC Engine Duo/R/RX: Laser Swap & Adjustment Guide]

caps are unlikely
yours has a different value pot most likely
your best start point is set how it was working
look for issues with binding first, before trying to adjust pots

Thanks for the reply.

If I position the unit all the way to the right before power on the unit works it's way inward with no visible impedance after applying power.

I was able to adjust the pots to the pot where the disc spun the entire time between "press run!" and "set disc" but it never actually accepted a disc.

I will try a new laser unit when it arrives.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: REPAIR GUIDE - TurboDuo/PC Engine Duo/R/RX: Laser Swap & Adjustment Guide]

My Duo R recently stopped reading all CD media types.

I have taken measurements at the pots and tried adjusting them to settings specified in this thread but I cannot get even close to the values specified here.

as an example:

VR101:
GOAL:   AB=12.33 AC=10.65 BC=19.55
ACTUAL:AB=12.0 AC=10.2 BC=10.5

As you can see the BC value is only half of the value we are expecting.
I can adjust the pot to get somewhere around 20 for BC but then the values for AB and AC are all out of whack.
I worked on it for hours and could not dial in the right settings.

I have ordered a new laser unit because it can't hurt to have a new laser but I don't think that will solve my problem.

The power supply is the original A/C power supply that came with the system.

Could bad caps be the cause of this? I don't see any obvious issue with the caps.

If it is believed to be the caps... how do I test them and where do I find replacements?

Thanks!