mmachlis@athena.mit.edu (Matthew A Machlis) (07/06/88)
Hi! Sorry to take so long to respond to a question from a few weeks ago, but
I don't usually look at this newsgroup. I probably never will again, either,
so if you have any questions, email to me!
I left my disk player (Technics SLP-2, about 4 years old) with a friend over
the summer last year, and when I got back it was having problems very similar
to what you were describing. It would start skipping and eventually get
totally messed up on certain places of certain disks, but never at -exactly-
the same moment. It was kind of random. It wasn't too bad when I first got
back, but it got gradually worse and worse until it was unbearable. I called/
visited several electronics repair places, and all of them said, "We charge
you $50.00 (minimum -- some were $80 or $90!) just to look at it, with no
guarantee it won't cost more to fix it." So I thought... new CD players are
only about $250. So screw the repair places -- I'll take a look at it myself,
and if I completely destroy it I guess I'll have to get a new one (not that
$250 is anything to laugh at, but spending over $100 to get a 3-year-old player
fixed... I didn't think it was worth it).
So I opened it up. I didn't know what to do, so I did two things: rubbed a
Kleenex back and forth on the laser pickup lens to clean it off (using Windex
or something probably would have been even better), and used more Kleenex
to wipe some WD-40 onto the two metal bars that the whole laser assembly
slides back and forth on as it tracks from beginning to end. You know what?
That completely fixed the problem! It took me less than half an hour, and
saved me over 50 bucks. I was pleased. So... if you're not afraid of opening
up electronic devices, give it a try!
-Matt Machlis
"Don't worry, it's only a dream."
"No! It's not!"
-Phantasm II