jim.hoggarth

Purely for my own records and notes, I now differentiate the two as MD80 and HiMD. (Yes, I know there are 60, 74 and 80 minute variants but I just find the generic label convenient). I have not yet found a need to label legacy discs formatted to Hi-MD separately from HiMD, ie 1GB, but I suppose the time will come. Jim

You need to refer to the service manual for that model, which can be found here: You need to remove the lower casing first (four screws). Remove as if the side with the in/out sockets was a hinge, if you see what I mean. Now unplug the display connector, and remove the two step screws on the side of the upper casing. Note how the spring on the other side is mounted as this will come off. Remove the top case from the chassis, lifting from the screw end. You can now get to the display board screws, and the board just lifts off. Reassembly is the reverse. Points to watch for: ensure the hold switch is correctly positioned when replacing the display board. Refit the hinge spring after you get the top screwed back on. Don't break anything, especially the write head. Replace the bottom case carefully, get the sockets into their respective holes first, be sure the eject button is in the 'out' position before pushing the lower case home. If you do manage to break it, or it seems too much for you, I do a repair service. Jim

Hi. Standard problem with N505s and N707s. It's caused by flaky key contacts. You can strip the keyboard down, peel back the sticky plastic film which holds the key contact 'domes' down and clean the board contacts with a Q-Tip soaked in a little safe solvent, such as methylated spirits. Usually works a treat. Jim

I haven't worked on this machine before, but I think I recognise the fault. Can you take a photo of the drive unit and post it so I can see if it has the drive I think it may? Jim

I can now confirm the above. With the MZ-E20, if you just put two AA NiMH batteries, in the charge function is disabled. But I took a strip of normal 80g paper, about six inches long and half-inch wide, and rolled it into a small sausage. This I inserted between the end of the plastic 'ridge' (designed to help separate the batteries) and the black 'finger' of the switch which protrudes from the end of the battery compartment. It was just the right size to hold the switch in. And inserting the batteries over this paper roll held it in place. The batteries will now charge. I suppose you could make a 'battery pack' by taping the batteries together, with the paper roll jammed between and protruding the required distance, just as the original battery pack did. Jim

Here in the UK that model was sold as the E20 I believe. I am sure that you can use two standard NiMH AA rechargeables, so long as the 'hidden' switch is forced closed. That's how the machine knew the rechargeable battery pack was inserted rather than dry cells. I have no access to my stock machines at the moment to confirm this, I will try and remember to pull an E20 out tomorrow and have a proper look. Jim

For future reference, the Sony PSP mains adapter is perfectly suitable for all Sharp equipment with the 5 volt DC power input. And they come a lot cheaper than genuine Sharp chargers on eBay etc. Jim

Ok, I am now almost convinced. but I had the impression ATRAC1 was developed independently from ATRAC3 once the latter was released. As an interesting aside, I am currently working on an MZ-E909, which is a playback only machine. On the box and the sticky label is proudly declared " Type-R ATRAC DSP". Bit naughty really. The bit reallocation applies only to encoding as we know, so declaring a decoder as Type-R is a tad misleading. Obviously the marketing boys had a hand in this one. Jim

I have to disagree with you Stephen. I am absolutely sure having reread the available documents on-line, that Type-R is the final release of bit allocation algorithm for the ATRAC (or 'ATRAC-1') encoder. It has nothing to do with ATRAC3. On the other hand, Type-S is an improvement on the ATRAC3 decoder, which of course is solely concerned with MDLP encoded data streams. The two standards are implemented totally separately in the encoders and decoders, although I am not sure to what extent the modules such Digital Filters and MDCTs are shared by the two standards or whether two complete, separate DSP channels are used. Possibly the latter, as speed is very important, of course. For example, this page has an extract that is quoted from a Sony press release which seems to back me up: http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/9899/more-atrac-type-s-info Jim PS - if I get time I will email you, see how you are. Had a bad last couple of weeks - days behind with repairs. Again!

Please correct me if I am wrong, but wasn't Type-R the last incarnation of ATRAC1 anyway, in other words it only applies to SP recordings? LP2/LP4 are ATRAC3, and Type-R is not part of the encoder algorithm? Jim

That's the filament wires glowing, a good sign. I can't remember if they still glow in a cracked display tube (they are vacuum tubes), but I think not - been some years since I worked regularly on calculators, cash tills etc. Presumably you don't even get a ghost image on the segments. Probably not the DC bias zener diode on the filaments, then, as I would have expected some ghosting. Most likely cause then is the 35v supply line to the tube drivers. Has the recorder had a knock? I know some models suffer from cracked PCB tracking when the AMS knob gets a hit, as the boards used are only SRBP and crack easily, especially near screw holes and the like. Jim

Hi Hudson The N1 is a good machine until the cases get bent. Are there any gaps between the main body and the pop-up lid? this is a definite sign of bending. Even mild bending can cause major mechanism problems. Assuming the metalwork is fine, I would guess the problem is with the optical pickup. Could be the sled motor, which can give similar faults, or indeed the spindle motor not coming up to speed. These machines also famously suffer from the cracked overwrite head cable problem, but of course you wouldn't get to see this if you can't even read discs, let alone write to them. And check the battery contact under the battery access flap. Often these are corroded to hell and covered in green fluff! A repair needn't be too expensive. I currently fix these for

Yes, you are right. That serves me right for answering at quarter to six in the morning!!! The N707 is Type R, which means so is your S1. They use the same CXD2677-202GA processor, unless you have a rare version not covered by the service manual. Other recorders with this main IC are the N1, R501 and N505. How do you know the soldered joints on the IC are not cracked? It's almost impossible to tell this without some form of magnification. Are you looking at the right chip? The fault has nothing to do with the remote socket connections, although I admit these sometimes get bad joints and bent connections due to the earphone jack plug having pressure placed on it, which moves the socket around in the whole in the bottom case, causing stress on the solder joints to the main board. This is the main stress that causes the fractures in the IC302 solder joints. Jim

Hi all. The S1 uses the same hardware as the N505 and N707. It's not even Type R. And the fault described with the audio is most certainly caused by the same fault that many N505/N707 machines suffer (and R700, G750/755 etc), that is the solder connections to the headphone amplifier IC cracking and requiring resoldering. It can be fixed, so long as the pins are not glued up (I suspect an attempt by Sony to cure the problem, which didn't work), but you need some pretty fine soldering equipment. Jim

Thanks for the photos, Sony_Fan. I see what you mean about the logo. I have never seen this before, must be a regional thing. Perhaps it is a major retailer's logo? I assume this is the full kosher US model? Jim

It still went for over fifty quid, though. I know because I was beaten by just a few pence. What was probably behind this were the eight 1GB discs included. But I wanted it for the spare parts in the RH1 too! Anyway I know who bought it, so I will see how soon it comes back up on eBay and how much it goes for. He will probably just resell the eight discs for a tenner apiece, followed by the PSU, and then try to offoad the faulty unit for

Hi Tom. I had a very similar problem once, but can't remember which particular model it was. I seem to recall it being a metallic silver model though, probably an N10 or N910. In my case when a remote was plugged in, the machine went into record mode. The fix was to replace the main board. I never bothered diagnosing any further, but guessed it may have been the ADC converter in the main ARM processor responsible for converting remote output voltages to digital 'command' value codes. Which led m to thinking: perhaps the firmware in every MD recorder is capable of recognising a remote control key value as a record command. Would make an interesting add-on for experimentation and automation. Jim

Sony_Fan, looks like nobody understands and/or cares what you mean, but this has piqued my interest. Have you any images you could upload to support your observations? Jim

Having read this thread again, it occurred to me that this could simply be bad connections between the gold pads on the display board and the equivalent contacts on the LCD glass itself. If the connections are too high resistance, exactly these symptoms can happen. It's the kind of problem that needs a good few sentences to describe, but a simple glance to diagnose. Ghosting, very low contrast, better visibility at different points on the display, etc. Otto27, as you are in the UK and so am I, would it be worth us getting to the bottom of this? Please send me a private message (PM) to discuss if you wish. Jim

Hi. I don't think it is voltages, as in the adjustable VDD 2.3v line. It is more likely to be the power inverter which drives the LCD on the display board. May be as simple as a leaking capacitor, but more likely the LSI chip on the board. These displays need a high voltage to work properly (relative to the battery powering the equipment), and need at least three stages of voltage doublers to get the right amount of juice, probably four on this board. Can't tell as the actual display board schematic is not included in the service manual. The whole board is regarded as a single part by Sony. Jim

Hi all. The first item to check off the list is the discs themselves. I often find this problem is down to one machine not liking a particularly dusty or scratched disc, and yet others accept the disc fine. Try opening the flap of a disc which fails on the Sony and inspect it for grime or scratches - a small screwdriver or even a toothpick pushed against the plastic lever between the two halves of the disc casing and the metal or plastic shutter will easily slide open (it's easier to do than describe). The disc surface on both sides should be an immaculate unmarked mirror finish. Dust isn't too much of a problem, but scratches spell disaster. The recorder will try and map out any bad track sectors, but using scratched discs is not a good idea. You also have to ask how it got scratched in the first place - usually it is grit stuck to the recording head, or the had is physically damaged. If the discs seem ok, then you need to start thinking the Grundig write laser is on the way out, or the overwrite head is dirty, or the head drive electronics/power supply is bad. Or it could be a fault in the servo system, as Stephen has suggested. Jim

This is a recent thing. Two to three years ago you couldn't get 99p for most pre-recorded MDs, and you would be lucky to see more than five a day being sold. Somehow the 'market' has exploded. I think one of the reasons for this is the sheer persistence of a few sellers. There are at least three 'private' sellers on eBay UK (and by private I mean they are dealing, but have not declared themselves as businesses), who buy up secondhand discs or bundles at auction for a few pounds, then relist them as 'buy-it-now' items at grossly inflated prices. Usually accompanied by a listing title that includes the word 'RARE in capitals. This seems to have paid off in the long term, and now innocent buyers are being duped into paying

138 NG on a recordable (MO) disc is often caused by the overwrite head being open circuit, or damaged or misaligned. It can also be caused by a faulty head coil driver circuit on the main board. Does it come up 138 NG immediately, or does the machine 'hang' on the 138 and only go 'NG' when the stop button is pressed? The operational symptom of this error is blanking discs when recording, ie all disc data is erased when the TOC is updated. 138 NG can, very occasionally, be caused by the optical pickup but in my experience 138NG means overwrite head in nearly all cases. Has someone been in the machine? Desoldering and resoldering of the OWH terminations on the main board, especially with a cheap over-hot soldering iron, can destroy the solder pads on the write head flexible cable. Jim

Hi Ian. I totally agree. The R30 / R35 are great machines, in many ways the equal of the R50 which attracts much higher prices, presumably due to the thinner design. So I now know who is snapping up all the R35s on eBay! Do you find the non-Sony batteries to be as good as the Sony originals, or do you fork out for the genuine product? Jim PS - do I perhaps recognise the blue R50 in the centre as the one I have just repaired for you?

Hi. The usual cause of this on a JE510 is a stripped off write head. In my experience, many of these drives have been 'modded' by owners following the on-line instructions. What is not properly explained, and trips up most deck owners, is the procedure for replacing the upper slot housing. You need to do several things in the correct sequence otherwise damage can occur. One such damage-control method requires the overwrite head to be in the right position when the metalwork is put together, otherwise when you first power up the machine, the act of loading a disc shears the head straight off, or just mangles the head's flexible arm. It is also possible to break the chuck-in switch, the switch which is actioned with the metal arm you have bent. Ok, this is in response to your question and Ian's (Soundbox) about the JE510. It also applies to the JE500, S38, S39 and a few other rare models from that era, as well as the JE510. All these decks use the MDM-3A drive, and its B variant. The modification described on-line (the insulating tape mod) does not work. Nor does bending the arm which contacts this switch. Nor does replacing the switch, or spraying the switch with contact cleaner. And praying to the Gods that anything else may work as regards this switch is a waste of time. I know, because I have spent the last three or four years, on and off, trying to solve this problem. And I have a workshop full of the blasted machines!! The problem is not *just* with this switch, it is a combination of factors which *includes* bad contacts on this switch. However, I may now have a solution to the problem, but as I have only just worked this one out, I can't say for sure that it is permanent. It may, yet again, just be a short-term fix for the problem, but I am willing to wait. I have fixed a number of drives in the last week, and all seem to be working fine, for now. I intend storing these and bringing each and every one out onto the bench over the next few months for a test. Let's see if the fix holds up to the 'test of time' or not. And as for your deck, Mr Sheep (sorry to be so informal but I know not your true identity), as you are in the UK, how about stripping your drive out and sending it to me? I can repair the non-recording problem, and do my 'fix' at the same time. You can have the joy of being my first guinea pig perhaps? PM me if you want to do this. Jim