Japanese Mega CD 1 problems when running on a European AC adapter?

Hello, first off, if I posted this thread on the wrong section, I am sorry, I'm not very used to forums. Please also note that I am not a native speaker.

So anyway here's my problem:

I've bought a Japanese Mega CD that was advertised as working. The problem is that it doesn't recognise any CD I insert. I contacted the seller and he told me that I should use an official Japanese Sega adapter because using an European one "bungles because the rotational speed of CD is not steady" (his words). So before to reply him or try to do anything on my Mega CD, I wanted to ask anyone who knows this kind of thing if what the seller says is true or if it's just a trick to avoid refunding me. If you want more details on which AC adapter I use I can show you a photo but keep in mind that I used the same AC adapter on an American Sega CD 2 and it worked fine (I finished Sonic CD 2 times with it without a single issue).

Thank you for taking time reading my story and hopefully answering my question.

 

Hahahahaha, European AC adapter bungles rotational speed of CD... hahahaha

Oh they do pull some fast ones, as long as you are putting in about 9V to 10V DC on a PSU that is rated 1 to 1.3 Amps into the Mega CD (ie not a Game Gear or Master System PSU) then it will work fine. The output of the US, European or Japanese Megadrive PSUs will be the same. The fact it is not reading the CD is probably due to the laser being knocked during transit as they are fragile things (esp if not packed well, ie it should be packed so you can throw it across the room and nothing will happen).

Tell him he is talking out of his arse and do a Ebay / Paypal refund if you can.

 

Thanks for the answer, I sent him a message and I hope that he'll eventually refund me. In the mean time, I would very much like to repair the Mega CD if possible. In fact the Mega CD is somewhat able to read a disk but I think the problem is that the mechanism that moves the lens is a bit worn off. I was able to read a music CD, but only if I read each track continuously. If I skip for example from track 3 to 30, the CD reader stops working and I need to reset the console. Any chance I can fix that or even replace the mechanism?

 

You might want to have the unit go through a "re-cap" service, where all electrolytic capacitors are replaced. It even fix bad laser problems (lol the problem was the capacitors, not the laser really) ...

 

Yes a re-cap may be the key. I recently re-capped my Mega CD model 1 and the SMD caps had leaked (think almost Game Gear). Well worth it.

 

I see there are 3 parts inside the Mega CD: The CD reader, the board where cables are connected and the board where chips are soldered into. There are capacitors on each of those three parts. Should I change the capacitors of every boards?

 

Yes, change all the caps.

 

if you are capable enough, you might even want to replace the two capacitors on the optical pickup circuit board (if it's SONY KSS-240) ...

These capacitors have a expectancy of service life around 30 years. So they're well around their limit.

I replaced the capacitors on my MEGA-CD about six or seven years ago and it's still working great.

And I use a lot of CD-R in it. It still has it's original factory optical pickup...

 

Ok thanks for the information. I just checked and I can see only one capacitor on what I think is the optical pickup board. Here's a photo (it's a Sony KSS-240A btw):
http://image.noelshack.com/fichiers/2012/47/1353510307-2012-11-21-16-02-10.jpg
Is the yellow capacitor the one you talked about, l_oliveira?