Turbo Grafx/PC engine CD Gear replacement available! $12 shipped

[YAGRS]

I'm going to show my ignorance here but, would the laser still move if that were the case? I followed all of the wires, and everything appears to be intact.

[Keith Courage]

Double check that you put the lens cables back in the correct direction. The larger one goes in with the contacts facing outwards away from the system and the smaller one goes in with the contacts facing inwards. Also as Thesteve said you should check to see if there are any rips in the lens cables

[YAGRS]

Well . . . damn. The only issue I saw with the cables is that the ground strip was coming loose. I pressed it back on, made sure that everything was hooked up correctly, and the disc still won't spin. The only other issue that I can see is that I have at least one cap that has leaked (either one of the 470 uF caps or the 100 uF cap that is next to it—they're so close I can't tell which).

Any other suggestions?

EDIT:

Never mind. I pressed down on the CD assembly, and now discs spin. Working well now. Thanks for the help, and thanks for finding this solution to the gear problem, Keith!

EDIT 2:

Well, I thought everything was okay, but it won't spin some discs. It seems to do okay with Turbo CDs, but I put in an audio CD, and it either won't spin at all or will just barely spin. It's almost as if it's struggling to spin the disc. Could this have anything at all to do with the potentiometer? I'm going to try to adjust it.

[Keith Courage]

struggling to spin? Is the assembly back in all the way? You shouldn't have to press down on it to get it to not scrape on anything. The pots could need a slight adjustment but not much. Make sure you didn't bump them and knock them way off during the install.

[YAGRS]

Yeah, it looks like I f'ed this one up. The screw that held the metal piece I needed to remove to make room for the gear wouldn't unscrew. I tried a few times, and all that I managed to do was strip the head a little. So, I decided to cut the metal piece out instead. I didn't realize how thin the metal is for the black cover, and I guess when I was cutting the metal piece out, I pressed into it and bent it. I've been trying to fix it, but I haven't managed to get it right yet, and more things are going wrong, so . . . I'm done, at least for tonight. I've managed what should have been an easy fix into a bit of a nightmare

[FiftyQuid]

Keith, I received the new gear today.  My CD unit was already lying open awaiting the new part.  I tossed it in, closed it up and nothing... Not even power.  So on a whim I installed it into the docking station.  It powered up right away, and the laser moved to the middle.  Sweet!  Why the heck doesn't the AC adapter work with it when it's stand-alone?  Anyway, the only CD based game I have is Final Zone II.  I tossed it in and it loaded up right away.  I started watching the cut scenes...  The audio seems fine to me.  Even the 'warning' by the TurboGrafx voice sounded perfect.  Looks like no adjustments for me.  The only thing I noticed out-of-sync was the voice to the lips of the characters in the cut scene's.  I'm guessing this is normal, as getting them in sync wasn't a huge thing back in the 90's.

One thing I did notice is that when the laser moves to another track I can hear a loud "grrrrr" sound.  I remember you saying the unit will be louder with the new gear, but I'm not sure if this is the normal loud you mentioned or a different one.  It doesn't sound terrible, no gears grinding (I think), but it's not a warm fuzzy sound either.

Could you confirm a few things with me;

1) I take it the out-of-sync lips with voice is normal in Final Zone II?
2) How loud should the unit be when the laser moves to another track quickly?

I never owned a TG-CD back in the day so I'm not sure how they behave, or how loud they were/are.  I can tell you this is the best $12 I ever spent.  I now have a functional TG-CD!

[EDIT] BTW, that larger lens cable is a pain in the ass to re-install!  Could they have made it any shorter!

[Keith Courage]

Did you look at the two gears and spin them to see if all the teeth lined up well before putting it back together? It might need to be shimmed. If that part check out fine then try this.  Play your final zone game as a music CD. To do this you hit play on the cd player itself. Start by going to track 3 and then hit stop. Did you hear a weird sound? If not procede to track 4 then hit stop and so on. If it doesn't happen until around track 12-15 or so then the sound you are hearing is the plastic part that holds the lens on track. Sometimes the lens can move so fast that this part hops around when the lens returns to the stop center position. This is especially noticeable when a game loads for the first time from a games first cinema cut scene. It is possible to slightly bend the peice or add some grease to the lens track to try and remedy it but usually it's just something that happens from wear and tear. It is not gear related and shouldn't really get worse over time. I have a CD drive on hand that has made that sound for about 3 years now depending on the game being played and it hasn't gotten any worse.

[FiftyQuid]

Did you look at the two gears and spin them to see if all the teeth lined up well before putting it back together? It might need to be shimmed. If that part check out fine then try this.  Play your final zone game as a music CD. To do this you hit play on the cd player itself. Start by going to track 3 and then hit stop. Did you hear a weird sound? If not procede to track 4 then hit stop and so on. If it doesn't happen until around track 12-15 or so then the sound you are hearing is the plastic part that holds the lens on track. Sometimes the lens can move so fast that this part hops around when the lens returns to the stop center position. This is especially noticeable when a game loads for the first time from a games first cinema cut scene. It is possible to slightly bend the peice or add some grease to the lens track to try and remedy it but usually it's just something that happens from wear and tear. It is not gear related and shouldn't really get worse over time. I have a CD drive on hand that has made that sound for about 3 years now depending on the game being played and it hasn't gotten any worse.

I did check the gears.  They spun easily.  I did not butt the teeth 100%.  I left a very small gap.  I did use a small shim (one of Sparky's labels, just the backing).

What you're telling me sounds like what I'm hearing.  I've never used the TG-CD to play music.  So I put the v2.0 system card in, put the FZII disc in, turn on the power and hit play on the TG-CD?  Sorry, I'm a complete noob.    I need to be spoonfed through the process.

[Keith Courage]

Yes, leave in the CD system card and then hit play on the top of the CD drive itself. If you only hear the noise when hitting stop from the higher track numbers then the issue isn't gear related. Meaning you can just ignore it and use the CD drive as is or if it really bothers you try some grease on the lens track which will slow down the lens movement slightly or actually bend the metal tracking piece every so slightly(This one is kind of a pain and risky since if you break it there are no replacements available so I wouldn't do it if it's your first time). Here is a pic of the piece circled in blue. You would have to remove the piece then bend it ever so slightly. The slightest changed will make a huge difference so just barely bend it so the teeth will push down a bit firmer then before and then screw back on. I think this part just wears down over time. Before putting the drive all the way back together you can check the lens movement with it still apart by hitting play on the CD drive. Honestly if you only hear the noise every now and again i'd just leave it alone or try some grease on the lens track. Wouldn't want to accidentally break a part on the drive when it is currently working.

[FiftyQuid]

I may just give this a shot.  So far I've had good luck with this repair.  I'll try the grease first, then maybe bend the metal.  I'll have to see how flimsy the piece is before deciding to do anything.  If it does break, I take it the only way to fix it would be to replace the laser?

I dread having to fight with that large lens cable again, but I'll do it because I prefer my electronic devices quiet.

[Keith Courage]

The piece doesn't come with a laser. The only way to get another one would be to buy another CD drive.

[FiftyQuid]

The piece doesn't come with a laser. The only way to get another one would be to buy another CD drive.

Ugh... maybe I won't bend it. 

I'll give the audio test a try and get back to you.

[FiftyQuid]

*double post*

I tried the audio test out last night with FZII.  The noise started at track 17, but it was only really noticeable at 30.  I'm going to try adding the grease and see if that does anything.  One shitty thing I discovered while doing this test is that one of the LEDs is burnt out on the display.  So 20 displays, but the middle LED doesn't light up on the number 2.   

Wanna point me to the thread to replace the LED display? (I'm being serious).

[Keith Courage]

Well your CD drive isn't really all that bad off if it doesn't happen until around track 30. Try using some lithium grease on the lens track. That should slow it down a bit. Honestly I have never changed a display before. This is the first I've heard of a light being out in one. It's up to you if you want to change it. There appears to be 10 points on the back of it to de-solder. Not sure where to buy a replacement one. Maybe someone else here knows. I'd leave it alone since when you are playing a game it only displays the letters PC anyways.

[BlueBMW]

Hmmm i wonder if you could change the digital display to another color....