Needing A Bit of Help With A Few Things (Laser Problem, and Game Help Too)

[Cleria]

This is probably happening to a lot of people, but is there a way to clean / restore the laser without going through the hassle of buying a new one? Sometimes the audio cuts out during a game, or the game takes a long time to load lately. This happens to my Duo.

As for the game help, it's with Ys III: Wanderers From Ys. Not sure if anyone can help me with this, but when you go to the mine and to the first boss (I can't remember where the exact location etc is) but it's some wizard guy and there's stuff flying everywhere. It's at the beginning of the game. How the hell do you beat him?!

[Necromancer]

1.  You could try adjusting the pots that calibrate the laser's power, but you'll likely just end up having to buy a new laser anyway.  Who knows?  Maybe you'll get lucky.

2.  Kill a few more of the worms, bats, and other cave beasties.  This game is pretty easy, so a little leveling up should let you kick the bosses ass with ease.

[Cleria]

So just keep leveling? Damn I keep doing that over and over and that wizard guy or whatever is still a pain in the ass really. To tell you the truth I don't think I've ever killed him...

As for the Turbo again...adjusting the pots? Huh? I don't want to open the console at all if that's what you mean...

[Kitsunexus]

I think it's kinda funny, I think it's kinda sa-----nvm I hate that song.


I think it's kind of funny that no one ever bothered to tell this guy what the pots do. Poor f*cker just broke his Duo. 

Cleria, if you don't want to open the console, I can only reccomend to you the VTech V.Flash. It's highly reliable, and overly edutainmentical.

[Cleria]

Cleria, if you don't want to open the console, I can only reccomend to you the VTech V.Flash. It's highly reliable, and overly edutainmentical.

Say who/what?

[Necromancer]

Ignore Kitsune's post, he's just being a tool, albeit a funny tool.  If you don't want to open up your Duo, then you don't want to fix it.  Cleaning the lens won't really do any good for the problems that you're describing.

As for Ys III: I don't remember anything all that difficult about the first boss, and you shouldn't need to gain more than 2 or 3 levels.  Make sure that you've bought and equipped a shield, sword, and armor, and that you have a herb for healing.  I'll check it out tonight and see if I can provide any tips on beating his ass like a rented mule.

[WoodyXP]

Just replace your laser and be done with it.  You'll be amazed at how easy it is to do, and you'll have
peace of mind.

[Cleria]

Woody it's easier said then done man...

1. I have no idea where to get them around here.
2. I ain't confident with changing stuff like that.
3. I don't want to open up my console.
4. I don't even really know if it's the actual laser because it's the sound that's the problem.

[_joshuaTurbo]

Just curious clera,

Are you using CD-r's in your Duo?  Or have you used some recently?  either playing ISO's or listening to music. 




That could have lots to do with your issues.....

[Necromancer]

You can get them here.  If you're not comfortable doing the job yourself, which I completely understand, maybe you can find someone else to do it for you.  I'd offer, but I haven't done the deed myself, and I'm not about to experiment on someone else's Duo.  The long load times do sound like a laser problem, but the audio problems do not.  What cuts out - the red book audio, the chip generated sound, or both?  If it's just the CD audio, then you probably have dried out capacitors, which is a common Duo problem.  Either way, there is no easy fix for your Duo.

TurboStar has a good question.  If you're using CD-Rs, then that may be your problem, as Duos are damned finicky when it comes to burned discs.  Try another brand of discs, burn at a slower speed, or stick to the real deal.

Back to Ys III:  I played through the first two bosses last night.  By the time that I got to the first clown, I was at level 5.  With the cheapest sword, armor, and shield equipped and with the help of the power ring and a tasty herb, I sliced and diced his ass but quick.  Just duck down and stay down to avoid his fire balls and chop him up good.  I didn't even really try to avoid the falling swords, as they weren't hurting me as much as I was hurting the him.

[nat]

Are you using CD-r's in your Duo?  Or have you used some recently? 

I still don't understand how it would be technically possible for a CD-R to cause lasting issues with a laser. Maybe your laser would have trouble reading the CD-R, but how would it have any effect on a game on a normal CD you play at a later date? The CD-R doesn't touch the laser, and a CD-R can't speak so it can't cut a deal with the laser to work like shit from then on.

From a technical standpoint, it seems to me anyone having problems with normal games after using a CD-R is the victim of pure coincidence.

[Necromancer]

I still don't understand how it would be technically possible for a CD-R to cause lasting issues with a laser.

The lower reflectivity of the CD-R surface causes extended seeking by the laser.  CD lasers wear out over time, and the harder they're pushed, the quicker they'll croak.  Burned discs don't spell instant death for a drive, but they can shorten there lifespans (especially if they're weak to begin with).

[nat]

I still don't understand how it would be technically possible for a CD-R to cause lasting issues with a laser.

The lower reflectivity of the CD-R surface causes extended seeking by the laser.  CD lasers wear out over time, and the harder they're pushed, the quicker they'll croak.  Burned discs don't spell instant death for a drive, but they can shorten there lifespans (especially if they're weak to begin with).

OK, I'll buy that, but even at that point you're talking hundreds/thousands of hours seeking on the "hard-to-read" CD-R's before anything happens. Say Gate of Thunder takes 10 seconds to load up when played from the real disc, and 15 seconds to load up from a CD-R. You're only talking 5 additional seconds of seek time. That's an extremely neglible difference. (And in my experience using CD-Rs, 5 seconds additional seek time is pretty generous. It's usually like 2 or 3.) You're talking a loooooooong time before your laser calls it quits as a result of "using CD-Rs". And by that point, you'd probably be fairly close to the natural end of the laser's life anyway.

[Turbo D]

Sometimes a new laser doesn't always fix the problem, but it seems to for most of the dudes on here. Its pretty easy to do; just open up the console, unplug one and plug the other one in. Took me like 3 minutes or less, and that was being extremely careful with my beloved duo.

[Cleria]

Okay I don't know what the audio type would be called, so how about we go with this:

I was playing Gate of Thunder and the audio went either gurgly-to-off and sometimes fights to stay on and then finally stays totally off.

The game works fine, just the audio is off.

As for actual audio CDs - no idea.