Guest Anonymous Posted August 9, 2003 Report Share Posted August 9, 2003 Firstly id like to thak anyone for having read this post. I had a little query and i was hoping someone could help me with it. Its actually quite simple. I own the MZR-500 PC and i formatted it about a year back. It worked EXCELLENT! no problem glitches whats so ever. But recently any md that i record over the track 12 area dosent playback. It just sits there! or at times the figures move extremly slowely with no audio whatsoever. Mind you the md records perfectly. With no halling at any place. And old mds play properly throughout though. It might be worth mentioning that i purchased a Maxell MD cleaner and the cleaner stops working on the third rack area (im assuming that its the same as the 12 cause the cleaning track is really long) I think the case is this cleaning MD, though im not sure. What would you suggest i do. Is this a common problem? If you have any answer suggestion on hand probably a web link or something id be extremly greatfull! Also i dont not have a sony service center that is willing to work on my MD since its not that commonly used or sold here except in the grey market. Thanks once again Cheers and regards, Kay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mAjEsTiC Posted August 9, 2003 Report Share Posted August 9, 2003 But recently any md that i record over the track 12 area dosent playback. It just sits there! or at times the figures move extremly slowely with no audio whatsoever.did u try a different disc? because it could be just a faulty disc...otherwise if it happens to all of the discs you put it (which i don't think because u said it works fine with old mds) then i would've said that it would have been the head assembly that was faulty...the md cleaning is not very effective as all it does is shift dust around inside the unit near the pickup lens...and as for recording if it works fine then my guess would most probably be the disc... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted August 10, 2003 Report Share Posted August 10, 2003 Hello, Thank you for your reply. Some viable options there. But ive already experemented with stuff like that. However ive not tried to record in LP mode cause i dont use LP. However 'on any new/re-recorded/blanked MD' the same thing seemes to occur. My guess would be your suggestion regarding the Head assembly. Cuase nothing seemes to get recorded after that mark. And on playback it playsback anything and everything (LP Setreo Mono...) Would you feel that its possible to fix this through service mode (i highly doubt it though) or anything like that. The only option would be to ship it to the US (where i bought it from) for repairs and buying a new player would make more sence. Any suggestions would be greatly arrpriciated. Thanking you once again for your previous reply, Cheers Kay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mAjEsTiC Posted August 10, 2003 Report Share Posted August 10, 2003 in that case then it would most probably be the recording head assembly...going into service mode of the MD itself i don't think would fix the problem if it is indeed a mechanical fault...playback seems fine so i think it's just the recording heads that are screwed up...if you know what you're doing (and want to experiment) then you could take the MD apart and see if you can fix it...my friend's old R30 had the same problem but it was because the head was misaligned so he just opened up the unit and tried to realign it himself and it worked to a certain degree until it stopped being able to record a few months later...shipping the unit back to the US would be a good idea but if the cost of repairing it far outweighs that of buying a new one i think it's better that you buy a new one... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted August 10, 2003 Report Share Posted August 10, 2003 Thanks once again fo your reply, I think gogin in for surgery would be the only option here :shock: Though it sounds intresting and like you mentioned a freind was sucessfull so there is some hope! Though i can hardly remember when i did someting like that last...it was the RS SPL meter I had to replace 8 capasitors to get a flatter frequency response. At any rate before i go rambling on.....Atleast I could say that i have quite a strong guess its the recording head now! Thanks for narrowing it down...i shall try doin it myslef...and incase any positive results i shall make a mention of it on the forum for later refrences. Oh BTW what intresting mods have you managed to get by, you seem quite well verced with this topic. Thanks a tonn. Kay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mAjEsTiC Posted August 10, 2003 Report Share Posted August 10, 2003 np...glad to help... mods? well not much actually...i've managed to rip apart things and get them fixed up but that's about it...MD's i've been using for a LONG time (since 94 with my MZ-R2) and i've had my fair share of problems with a few of my units and decided to rip them apart and see if i can manually service it myself (most of the info i've gathered over the years about MD came from minidisc.org and various other forums)...i think the closest thing to a mod that i'v done is to co-develop a simple hardware (& software) MD titling device a few years back with a friend and yeh that was pretty fun... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted August 10, 2003 Report Share Posted August 10, 2003 Huum...sounds intresting, Though i could imagine how you've decided to stick onto Md's for the past decade (almost) Theoir just so flexible and do form a part of the semi-pro gear in the audio industry. A dream would be to have a good binural mic with an external amp to have direct recording onto the player. There was an intresting mod for the SBlive though i dont see the purpose of goin that way. The MD would anyway have a Digital to Analog back to Digital conversion. I would doubt that this method would enable one to remain in the Digital domain. THough im not too sure. Anyway im really looking forward to see if ill be back to get this thing up and runing soon enough. Let you know how i make out. Cheers Kay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mAjEsTiC Posted August 11, 2003 Report Share Posted August 11, 2003 sweet i'm interested how things will turn out for you... and in a way i've owned many other format players such as Panasonic SD Players, Creative Nomad mp3 player, Sony MS Network Walkman and just recently an Apple iPod...although most of these i use on a day to day basis when i'm commuting to and from uni they still don't have the flexibility that MD has such as recording and editing and as such i still stick to the MD format... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted August 13, 2003 Report Share Posted August 13, 2003 I managed to find a posting on the site. Oddly enough i share the same condition now. I cant even record half and MD. Im pretty positive that its service mode. Do you know a link for the Default service more settings for all MD players/recorders. Thanks a tonn ************************************************************* Croatia, March 1999 I entered test mode, just to see how it look like.... I thought I didn't change anything, but I guess I did. Now my MDSJE500 is playback only! Recording doesn't work and TOC writing doesn't work either. When I record something I can't play it. When I eject the disc and reinsert it the MD RECORDER always says "Blank Disc". Is there any way to fix my MD recorder? Please help me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mAjEsTiC Posted August 13, 2003 Report Share Posted August 13, 2003 oh right if u were looking for a way to reset the settings/values to the default go here for the instructions...that basically gives you a step by step tutorial on how to reset your unit back to its previous state... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted August 13, 2003 Report Share Posted August 13, 2003 Hi, Thanks for your reply...i happend to find the webpage earlier this morning and tried the format (reset) Though it didnt help tp solve the problem. Which leads me further clueless as to what the problem might be. I wouldent know exactly what to do after opening the player up either So i find myslef in the middle of either having a player that dosent work AT ALL or one that only plays back and MIGHT be able to record after opeing it up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mAjEsTiC Posted August 13, 2003 Report Share Posted August 13, 2003 hmm...this really has me stumped...it's most probable that your recording head is stuffed up...over the years MD units in general will lose the ability to record...y this is so i'm not sure...i've never had a general failure of the recording head on the units that i own but i've heard many people who have...soo it's not an uncommon thing actually...usually when it records funny (or doesn't record) sometimes the recording head is out of alignment...and as i said earlier you can check by taking the top off and putting in and MD in the device and closing it...the laser assembly below and the head assembly above the MD should be aligned perfectly...but after some shocks it may get out of alignment...just becareful if you attempt this because if you stuff up sumware in the manual alignment it can render the recording head useless...(i've seen this happen before) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted August 14, 2003 Report Share Posted August 14, 2003 Hi again, I thought id quickly post regarding my experience. Ive come to many conclusions in the past day or so. 1.) Its not that the MD wasent workig due to faluty errors in the service mode---reason: It worked well for about a year after changing them 2.) I completely formatted the EPROM as instructed in the MZR 500 Service manual. (its not the normal manual...i managed to get this one off of the net a while ago...i could send it to any1 intrested) Anyway so i re-assigned all the service mode value as instructed in the manual. No luck! 3.) I opened the damm thing up! but i couldent seem to find my way round. I managed to remove both the covers (front pannel and the back) but couldent seem to look at the head afer placing the MD in like you suggested. Its impossible to go a step further and disect the PC board as i would need to solder off 3 joints. It seems rather complex and no such method to follow as the Manaul says noithing regarding head alignment. Any suggestions :-? Thanks for Actually* having followe this up, Regards Kay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mAjEsTiC Posted August 14, 2003 Report Share Posted August 14, 2003 ah yes...well realigning the head does take a bit of patience and trial and error i suppose...basically the recording head should be this thin dangling thing that sits on top of the MD disc when the shutter is open (inside the unit) this should be able to line up with the lens below...(you may need to half open it and just squint to see) but what we did was take the whole unit apart (including the main board) and aligned the head ourselves by kind of gently pushing it back into place....not too sure on how the R500 unit looks like since i've never ripped one apart before...the curcuit diagrams in the service manual seem to help a bit i think? it'll help you locate the parts and what you need to do to open the unit up...(i'm sure u'v already looked @ this) but otherwise if i come up with an idea on what to do next i'll be sure to post it up here... :wink: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted August 15, 2003 Report Share Posted August 15, 2003 Firstly, As always, Thanks for your advice. I think there must be a slight difference as for the R500 as far as the soldering and record head mounting but id check that out. I can't really seem to get by the hole thing. Though im pretty sure the day i get really annoyed of having a semi-useless player id probably do something about it without the fear of wrecking tings (i have a couple of new mds with me before the mishap came upon me) Anyway id like it if you would post any idea that comes up regarding solving the problem. Since ive been lurking around this forum helplessly ive seen that may plp have/had the same problem. Though none seem to have gotten back as to how they managed to fix it. Oh BTW you mentioned you had the IPOD! how is it working out for you. Is it worth the buy? Thanks once again kay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mAjEsTiC Posted August 15, 2003 Report Share Posted August 15, 2003 Anyway id like it if you would post any idea that comes up regarding solving the problem. Since ive been lurking around this forum helplessly ive seen that may plp have/had the same problem. Though none seem to have gotten back as to how they managed to fix it.rest assured that i'll try and post any ideas that come to mind regarding this topic... Oh BTW you mentioned you had the IPOD! how is it working out for you. Is it worth the buy? yep i do have an ipod...it's working very well for me on a pc running win xp pro...very convenient as a portable hard drive as well as an mp3 player...very small and light as well...though battery life doesn't compare to that of MD's (then again there is a difference in the amount of power needed to powering up a whole hard drive (whether it be a small, thin 2.5" laptop one or not) and powering up the motor of and MD unit...) but IMO it's pretty worth it if you can stretch the budget...only warning i have is that hard drives inevitably crash soo you gotta make sure everything is backed up just in case (ware as for MD's this won't matter)... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted November 12, 2003 Report Share Posted November 12, 2003 Hello again! After a reallllly long time. Anyway i must be brief but i thought i could post some usefull information about the MD and the ever so common problem. 1.) It was hard to find out what actually was wrong with it cause most repair persons (cheaper facilities) are usually bullshitting. They dont know enough to actually get the thing up and running.....just complaints and MORE TIME 2.) The MD doestn have a seperate Recording and playback lence. Its JUST ONE lense that does all. 3.) There couldent have been the issue of re-mounting it or shhifting of the head because its almost like a floating head. That explains the G-Shock protection! i think 4.) ONly possiblity might be DIRT or a faulty Lence. Im getting mine repaired for about 50$ US (if its not the lence) but its in reliable hands. Would be glad to post exactly" what was wrong with mine specifiacally and what are the possible reasons for such a thing to occur with other users. Thanks once again Majestic for the initial courage Your a pal! Chao, Kay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mAjEsTiC Posted November 12, 2003 Report Share Posted November 12, 2003 i have to comment on what karan_and said above...i just recently got my N1 back from Sony repairs and basically they just change the whole optic block...it didn't say anything on the receipt about what they did other than to take apart the unit, put a new recording mechanism in and put it back together and test to see that it works...still it works so i'm happy but i would have liked more details to what apparently went wrong...my guess is that the recording head was misaligned thanks to my friend dropping it a few weeks back...oh what i mean by recording head is that it has two seperate parts...one for heating up the MD (the lens) and the other to change the data on the MD (the electromagnetic head) sorry if this has gotten you confused... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted November 14, 2003 Report Share Posted November 14, 2003 Im sorry was slighty confused there, ive just heard diffrent things from diffrent people (imagining that ive gone throught tonnes here cause there are hardly any certified repair stations) anyway according to this "last" repairman (i hope, He usually handles pro gear for our recording facility (consoles, effect processors, meters etc) There is just one head to do all of that (maybe he meant the entire optic block) and if replacemnt required he would have to change that entire block (which contains the recording mechinism) or there might be a hairline facture in one of the circuits. Ill get a better insight cause ive got an apponinment next week and he asid that he dosent mind woring on it with me around. So hopefully more answers Again sorry for anything wrong posted...im just a novice idiot round here bubh bye kay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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