SOLVED PC Engine Duo disc not spinning

Well, curiously and suddenly my PC Engine Duo stopped spinning discs. It's been re-capped, the gears are not stuck, the laser lens does seek (or at least resets when trying to read the disc after being moved to the furthest position right). I cleaned off the laser lens the best I could because I've heard that the disc will not spin until the laser can focus (not sure the validity of this statement).

Is there anything else I can check?

I've already ordered a new spindle motor and laser lens assembly for it, along with grease for the rails and gears. If it turns out I could have fixed this because of "derp, didn't check that", then... hey! Spare parts!

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

 

Sounds like the laser is to blame. is there a laser potentiometer that u can adjust to check if it tries to seek.

 

Hi. I've had a lot of experience with Duo's.
One thing you can check.

The Cd-rom connects on three connection plugs to the motherboard, each one has multiple pins.
Try pushing each pin down with a needle or micro screwdriver. they can look connected but in fact not.

I do this every time I reassemble a DUO and if I forget then the drive sometimes won't spin.
try this before fiddling with the pots!

Worth a try.

 

Make sure the wires to the laser are routed properly, they sometimes get stuck on the retaining flap.
Edit: DO NOT MESS WITH THE POTS.
I made that mistake once and it took a week to fix it even with another system for reference.

 

Well, I guess I won't mess with the pot Didn't even know where it was until I lifted the whole assembly. I learned that lesson after messing with a Sega CD years back, anyway. I have no way of knowing if tweaking it helps.

I did push in all the pins individually to see if that help, but sadly it does not. I hit the run button, the lens "clicks" trying to get a read, then absolutely nothing.

 

Upon closer inspection, it looks like the lens itself is pretty discolored around some of the edges, so... that might be it :/ Should be getting the new lens next week, so I'll post an update / mark as solved if that did it.

 

Ok, might still be the laser.
If it does not get a focus to the the CD, the spindle will not start spinning.

 

Another problem I've seen on Duo's is "Spindle Drop"
This is where the CD is sitting too close to the laser (because the spindle core has dropped) and sitting out of focus. Does the CD spin in the tray freely without grinding on the laser or tray edges?
I've had a few units where I've needed to pull the spindle back up.

 

My suggestion to adjust the laser pot was not to save the laser but more to confirm it was failing. Laser pot adjustment is only to calibrate a new laser or get some more life out of an old one. It should only be done by someone who has access to an oscilloscope and knowledge of RF voltage/ eye patterns.

 

Well, on a whim since I'm receiving a brand new laser assembly anyway, I decided to mess with the pots and... holy shit, it works! No desync or anything! I got insanely lucky with my second adjustment and it just started spinning.

Thank you everyone for your input and suggestions. I love this community :3