exxos's Atari, Amiga & retro forum

Steve wrote: 09 May 2023 10:51 @rubber_jonnie I have a spare laser assembly and a phantom universal bios spare if you want.

Hey Steve, that is definitely a possibility, thanks.

Let me see if I can adjust the pot on the laser assembly, as it is detecting a disc, just not reading them, and I'll drop you a PM if I get nowhere.

Cheers

@rubber_jonnie Check outage laser height adjusting guides and tweaking the laser strength. Mine initially didn't work because the disk sat too far away from the laser.

PhilC wrote: 09 May 2023 11:00 @rubber_jonnie Check outage laser height adjusting guides and tweaking the laser strength. Mine initially didn't work because the disk sat too far away from the laser.

Thanks, I will :)

After a minor tweak to the laser pot over lunchtime, it is reading commercial disks, though not reliably enough for me to say 'fixed' and also it won't read the disks I burned for use with the Sega Saturn Kai, so that's not good either.

I'll have a look at the height adjustment, see if I can do anything there, but I'm feeling like the laser is weak.

Great progress here Jon.

Yet another case where I will be following how you fixed it when I dig my Saturn out (which also cannot read disks anymore).

Keep up the good work! :dualthumbup:

mrbombermillzy wrote: 09 May 2023 15:38 Great progress here Jon.

Yet another case where I will be following how you fixed it when I dig my Saturn out (which also cannot read disks anymore).

Keep up the good work! :dualthumbup:

It's bloody annoying, as it was working just fine and I put it under my desk while I was using something else. Brought it out today, nothing.

There is a way of measuring the bias voltage for the laser, but the video I watched has a different PCB, so I need to do some more digging, though it at least gave me the correct direction to turn the bias pot.

I have tweaked it slightly and it is reading both commercial and burned disks again. For now!!!

I'll see if I can find the test point I need to connect to and do it more scientifically by measuring the voltages.

Did you check if there was any laser adjustment needed between the burned and original disks? Any variance between both media types?

mrbombermillzy wrote: 09 May 2023 16:20 Did you check if there was any laser adjustment needed between the burned and original disks? Any variance between both media types?

AFAIK there isn't any adjustment needed, just a mod chip or the plug in cartridge to enable it to read copied CDS

Ok. Thanks Phil. :)

PhilC wrote: 09 May 2023 16:48

mrbombermillzy wrote: 09 May 2023 16:20 Did you check if there was any laser adjustment needed between the burned and original disks? Any variance between both media types?

AFAIK there isn't any adjustment needed, just a mod chip or the plug in cartridge to enable it to read copied CDS

Actually, in the video I watched it suggested that there may be some variance between real and copied backed up media, and that you may need the laser to be a smidge stronger to read the backups, but that it should still run originals at that point.

Annoyingly, he did his adjustment and both worked for him after that!!!

Mine is now reading both again, so it seems a little tweak was all I needed, but nevertheless it's annoying I had to do it when it had been working fine at last use. Perhaps the laser is fading slowly, I guess time will tell.