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Problems with Sony Deck

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Hello guys,

I'm Pedro from Portugal, natural from Madeira Island but living for 20 years now in Lisbon. I grew up with music all round, K7s, Vinyl, CDs and Minidisc from my brother which had was a DJ back in the day. Recently I bought a Sony MD-S38 from portuguese auction website, they aren't audio specialists and sell from books to watches, etc - I bought has in working condition. So since I don't have any recorded MD, I bought some blank new and used from Ebay. Today I Started to record from analog input, from a Mac output. I could listen in the headphones and then started play to record and ejected to save the TOC. After ejecting, resinserted the MD and it always says its Blank Disc. I do have a trustworthy hifi technician for my repair, but I'm looking for advice from you guys - to know If I'm doing something wrong - or if it is a record problem from the TOC when ejecting?

Cheers,
Pedro Lopes

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Sounds like a bad write head 😞

 

This is the small flappy arm that hovers on top of the disc and provides the magnetic field for writing the disc as the laser underneath heats the bits to the Currie point.

 

Its not specific to just writing the TOC.
 

You could check for obvious damage/wire breaks but repair may be down to finding a replacement drive from another machine. (Same drive in European MDS-JE510).

 

Can you get a recorded disc to check the machine will read and play discs? Sounds likely as it can read a disc ready for recording. 
 

https://www.minidisc.wiki/equipment/sony/deck/mds-s38

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On 3/20/2023 at 8:09 PM, BearBoy said:

Welcome to the forum, @Pedro Lopes.

 

You mentioned that you'd bought some used MiniDiscs? Do they play back okay?

 

After making a recording (but before ejecting the disc or turning off the machine - i.e. before writing the TOC) can you play back and hear what you've recorded?

 

 

Used but blank. Not sure if I can playback without TOC writing. 

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On 3/20/2023 at 7:51 PM, kgallen said:

Sounds like a bad write head 😞

 

This is the small flappy arm that hovers on top of the disc and provides the magnetic field for writing the disc as the laser underneath heats the bits to the Currie point.

 

Its not specific to just writing the TOC.
 

You could check for obvious damage/wire breaks but repair may be down to finding a replacement drive from another machine. (Same drive in European MDS-JE510).

 

Can you get a recorded disc to check the machine will read and play discs? Sounds likely as it can read a disc ready for recording. 
 

https://www.minidisc.wiki/equipment/sony/deck/mds-s38

Today I will get a recorded MD, I'll try playing. And feedback.

 

If does play, the flappy arm will be just adjusting or I do need a new unit?

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If it does play ok then the laser is good for read. 
 

If you try to record over a disc but that disc ends up blank, then the write laser power is ok but there is an overwrite head (or circuit) fault.

 

If it won’t record as above then it’s hard to diagnose from a distance. If you’re not into diagnosing and repairing electronics then a replacement drive is the easiest approach. 

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  • 1 month later...
On 3/24/2023 at 5:28 PM, kgallen said:

If it does play ok then the laser is good for read. 
 

If you try to record over a disc but that disc ends up blank, then the write laser power is ok but there is an overwrite head (or circuit) fault.

 

If it won’t record as above then it’s hard to diagnose from a distance. If you’re not into diagnosing and repairing electronics then a replacement drive is the easiest approach. 

Finally got my hands on recorded MD, and it plays on my deck. But recording still not working.

 

So might be a circuit fault, head fault or loose flappy arm? Better send to my technician! 

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52 minutes ago, Pedro Lopes said:

Better send to my technician! 

If you’ve got a technician that understands MD decks, otherwise I fear you will get a machine that is more broken than now.

 

Forums like this have numerous stories along these lines. If your tech knows stuff in this field, go for it. If not, and you’re not the type to ‘tinker’ then I’d put your money towards sourcing another machine instead. 

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