Laser getting stuck when trying to load the end section of Ys Book II (PCE Duo)

[Johnpv]

So I thought I would finish Ys II today but I've run into a situation.  I'm at the area with the 2 goddess' frozen, and I step up to the one Goddess and the game acts like it's about to load some dialog but nothing happens.  I hear the laser searching and then it stops, as does the spinning of the disc.  At this point it won't load any CD games at all. So I opened it up and none of the gears look cracked, or broken.  So I roll the laser back into the inner part, and it'll load cd games again, but same thing go to the 2 Goddess' section and laser gets stuck on the outer edge again.  Any thoughts? 

[thesteve]

either there is an issue with your YS CD or with the tracking sensing
it could be the pots but bad laser is more likely
burn a cd of ys and try again first

[SignOfZeta]

This is a CDR, right?

[Johnpv]

This is with a CDR and with an original disc.

[SignOfZeta]

I mean, did it jam itself with a CDR or an original disc?


Basically, this is a known but poorly understood thing with CD-Rs and black Duos. Possibly the SuperCDROM is subject to it as well, I don't know. You either want to try burning to different CDRs, limit yourself to playing games that exist in smaller sizes (a 500MB game instead of 650 for example, to stay away from the edge) or play more legit stuff.

I ran a US Duo for about 15 years and never saw this problem. Then some friends started getting into PCE so I made some burns for them and tested them on my machine and only then did I experience this problem. Now I have only a Duo R and a briefcase and this issue has never occurred with either legit stuff or CDRs.

If it jammed itself with an original disc then...I don't know what to say but I'm assuming that isn't the case.

[Johnpv]

It jams itself with both a CDR (of different types) and Original discs as well.  I'm sending it off to get worked on.

[thesteve]

foot notes on this issue
the DUO-R has a clutch to prevent this issue (which tells me NEC knew about it)
the CDR2 and super CDR2 are immune to it due to different sled drive designs
this happens when during a seek the laser loses focus causing it to lose count, when seeking near the outer track
this can be caused by disc defect, laser defect or having the focus gain set too low (pots)

[Xenogears]

What I could add to this issue - I found out, that if I burn Winds of Thunder on a CD-R with 40x Speed, the DUO is not able to play the outer audio Tracks. If I jump from Track 1 to Track 19, the sled moves to the outer right, does not find the track, moves to the left (center) finds a Track, moves out... and so on.

 The Original one and a copy made with only 4x Speed (the slowest possible for me) work perfect. Since I made this experiance, I was certain, the burning speed does not affect the reading result. But it does somehow and beyond my knowledge...

[thesteve]

well the burn speed effects the required burn power
if you burn max speed for your burner, you have no headroom for burn calibration

[Punch]

I still haven't calibrated my duo correctly... I need an oscilloscope but I also need to know where are the hook ups and the ideal peak readings...

Riot Zone is excellent to check calibration in the "stuck laser" dept., just go to options and BGM and play track 1, then select some far away track. It seems that when the console is seeking something far away it loses control as mentioned, since selecting audio tracks one by one doesn't give any laser errors.

e: maybe buying the familiar US DUO AGAIN was a mistake, I should have bought a RX.

[SignOfZeta]

Well, that goes without saying.

[Vimtoman]

I've just posted on the "PC-Engine DUO only recognizes CD-Audio - NO LASER OR POT ISSUE" thread my Duo pot positions.
Also suggesting that you give your Duo another clean around the CD circuit.

My Duo was doing a similiar thing to yours regarding getting stuck.
Was doing it on the 4 to 1 compilation.