I had several of these that didn't work and with all the discussion of the broken gear I was anxious to investigate. I came up with one of 8 with a bad gear! I managed to bring 4 back to life just by removing that gear and lubing it up with some wd-40, i'm not kidding! Anyway I had a couple of them acted funny and I couldn't get them to spin but they were making noise so I moved the laser out halfway and restarted the machine. Upon opening the lid right away I could verify the laser sled was returning to center, but it was clicking and wouldn't quit moving toward center so i took apart the limit switch, cleaned it, put it all back together and walla, working cd unit! That was a fun day!!!
First pic is where the switch is located inside the tgcd cd player. I can also provide some pics for those who want to know how to open it, its really easy...
Second pic is of the limit switch taken apart, sorry about the bad quality, I was too close. There is a tiny spring in there so be very very careful! Once apart its fairly obvious what surfaces need to be cleaned, two flats inside the switch and the wipers.