Problems with my Duo-R? (American Ys Books 1 & 2 on a Duo-R)

[Nico87]

Well, got it in the mail yesterday and played it for a short while today. I've experienced a number of issues with it, though;

* Sound stuttering - Excessive stuttering in the intro and on occasionally on the world map. Sometimes the music totally dissapears, and I have to change scene to get it back.

* Fails to read the disc occasionally when booting up the game. Also happends sometimes during loading between change of scenes.

* Inconsistant loading times - Sometimes it takes up to ten seconds between change of scenes, whereas other times it takes about two seconds, which it should take.

No idea what causes this, though. All my other games works perfectly. There's not any deep scratches on the disc worth mentioning, except for a few light scratches, which shouldn't cause a problem, but unfortunately it does.

Has anyone else experienced similar problems with an american version of Ys 1 & 2 on the Japanese Duo-R?

[nectarsis]

Welcome Nico (sorry for the repeated typos)    Sounds lik epossible laser issues (weak, or out of alignment).

[Nico87]

Haha, hi, man! Yeah, I was thinking it might be something of the sort, but all the other games work perfectly, so I've kinda semi-ruled that out.

[Zeon]

Welcom Nico (sorry for the repeated typos)    Sounds lik epossible laser issues (weak, or out of alignment).

I'll second this. Definitely a weak or out of alignment laser in need of calibration or replacement.

Haha, hi, man! Yeah, I was thinking it might be something of the sort, but all the other games work perfectly, so I've kinda semi-ruled that out.

This does not necessarily mean the laser is not at fault. There have been many cases in which a select few games would not properly play in a duo, and replacing the laser solved the issue. Only other problem could be the disc itself, ie scratches, or dirty. Honestly though the game would have to be pretty scratched up for it to behave as you describe on a good, properly calibrated laser.

[Otaking]

I had a similar problem with a US Ys and a Jpn Duo back in early nineties, it was my laser, it started with only Ys having problems then the weeks that followed slowly other games started to play funny, sound dropping out etc..

[Nico87]

So, where can I get a new laser, and is it difficult to replace?

Oh, and also, sometimes when loading you hear a "stuttering" sound from the Duo-R, it's like it's trying to read but there's something blocking it if you know what I mean. The red light on the Duo-R stops when this happends, then it's back to normal. Also, on Ys 1&2, the picture is kind of tilting.

Forgot to mention this before, but I bought two sealed copies of Cosmic Fantasy 2 for $6 each. I started playing, and after a little while just before an anime movie sequence is about to take place, the screen goes black while it loads the movie sequence, but it just stayed black. I opened up my other copy, and it worked as normal. Also, just played some Cotton, and while I've never experienced any problems with it, I noticed that 2 out of 5 times tested, the loading times between the first and second level was about 6 seconds, while normally it's like 2.

Also, the following is quoted from the item description for the auction I won for the Duo-R.

"Before a list, I exchanged the old lens of the CD-ROM drive for a new lens.
By this exchange, the precision of the pickup laser improved for some scratched CD."

[Arkhan]

sounds like whoever replaced it did it wrong. lol

[Black Tiger]

I had the exact same experience when I first played the patched Ys IV on my Duo RX. The laser continued to get weaker until it didn't play original games. Replacing the laser made it better than new and it now play the patched Ys IV with no problems.

[BlackandBlue]

Also, the following is quoted from the item description for the auction I won for the Duo-R.

"Before a list, I exchanged the old lens of the CD-ROM drive for a new lens.
By this exchange, the precision of the pickup laser improved for some scratched CD."

Ebay I'm assuming?  You can never believe a word they say unfortunately. 
But, if they did replace the laser, perhaps it just needs to be adjusted?  Theres usually a tiny screw on the unit itself for adjustments.  Or, they could have pulled it from a compatible unit and it was on it's way out too.