Fixing an Fm Towns Marty

Hey Guys

I have a Marty here that just boots up into the main menu when a disc is inserted. The disc spins and the access light lights up for a split second but the game doesn't actually load. The floppy is spinning fine. I used to just replace the laser units but I don't have any extra one available at the moment.

Any tips?

 

Make sure the laser motor tracks are clean and free of dust and try cleaning the lens. At least that should be easy to try with a marty, aren't they easy to take apart? I once spent 4 hours disassembling a FM Towns II UG (all in one model), just to engage the power plunger to the switch, as it had fallen off during shipping. That was one bitch to take apart.

 

I had the exact same issue on one Marty (which was given to me for free as broken). Well almost the same. The light would come on for a split second, during which the cd would spin. Then both would stop. (Unclear from your post whether your cd keeps spinning once the access light stops)

Turned out the plastic catch / switch that tells the system the cd tray window is closed had popped out. Took all of 1 second to click it back in, free Marty! (It's on the LHS of the cd tray as you look it, ie controller ports facing you)

Although I'm sure you've checked for that already. Good luck.

 

Thanks for your responses.

The CD switch was the first thing I checked. It seems to be working fine. The CD starts spinning then stops after a few seconds. I had the lid off and even held the switch down with my finger using a bit of pressure and it didn't change anything. I checked the connections that I could find and replugged them in. As you can see, I'm a technical expert...

Oli...if you think an FM Towns II is a bitch to take apart, try taking apart a Super Famicom Sharp 14" combo TV....

 

Exactly the same problem here. But where is the cd switch?, it's the white plastic thing above the yellow button?



Thank you.

 

No. You have to take the top of the console shell off. http://nfggames.com/forum2/index.php?topic=2130.0 2nd picture, on the left of the cd drive.

 

Wow, talk about necro bumping!

Moved to the repairs forum... it didn't exist when the topic was created!