Graphical glitches when playing from CD-ROM

[Everblue]

I just got myself a PC Engine complete with CD-ROM2 and was trying to play some copies which I burned on Traxdata CD-Rs with verification (no errors). Some games work fine, others show some glitches - see images below. Also sometimes audio track music stops playing while the game still keeps going. Any ideas what is wrong? Thanks!

[thesteve]

dirty system card
bad cd work ram
bad iso

[Everblue]

A small update. I got in touch with the guy who sold this to me (he buys them from Japan then refurbishes them) and I was told that he puts a brand new laser in them (not the original). As long as I stick to particular brands of CD-R I should not have problems.

[blueraven]

There is a lot of information on this in the repair forums. Do a search here and read up on whats involved in a laser replacement.

[blueraven]

And thesteve is 100% right.Start there before you think about replacing it.

[Everblue]

Which is the brand of CD-R to use in terms of compatibility?

[bozo55]

Which is the brand of CD-R to use in terms of compatibility?

You're more interested in Media ID than brand.  This is because the same brand can have different suppliers.  Perfect example is Verbatim.  Their Super AZO discs are some of the best, but their other stuff is typically terrible these days.

What you want is Taiyo Yuden or MAM (Mitsui). 

[Keith Courage]

Some CD drives hate CDRs no matter what you do.

However, I have found for me that regular Sony CDRs or TDK CDRs work best. All those expensive gold or silver discs do not seem to make a difference with what I've tested. Waist of money. Make sure to burn at 8x or slower.

[bigbacon]

having the same issue with memorex cd-r.

burning at 7.3 speed on a old computer. Oldest cd-r drive I  have as well. only drive that worked for burning sega cd games.

[Keith Courage]

Does the CD drive sound like it's having trouble reading the games? Does the lens click or reset at times? If not then you have a hardware issue. Maybe a faulty CD system card or IFU docking station. I haven't come across a CD drive with these issues before but maybe some one else here has? Generally when I see those glitches it's system card or bad IFU. IFU might be repairable.

however, if you are having reading issues like slow loading times or clicking of the CD lens here and there as it's trying to read then maybe some minor potentiometer adjustments will take care of the problem

[bigbacon]

and I assume just because it can read and play audio cds no problem that it doesn't mean games will work?

[thesteve]

The drive doesn't care what the CD contains, so if it reads CD music I'd suspect the base or card
Connections between the system and base could also be at fault

[bigbacon]

If you get the CD player on the screen is that any different than just popping the disc in there and hitting play?

like Ys 1&2, text shows up but graphics are a mess. I tried cleaning the connections between the drive and the base and it seems if I wiggle the drive around and keep trying it never seems to fix it but it seems to effect loading time depending.

I can move the drive and it loads quite quickly but other times it seems to take a good 30 seconds to start to load the game.

I am running CD-R game as I have no legit games to try.

[thesteve]

it would be system to base, not drive to base

[bigbacon]

wouldn't all games have issues then?