A Solution To Blankdisc And Recording Problems.

[boojum]

bobt is correct. I used some thin wire from an old headphone set (in this case an old cell phone handsfree earpiece) as suggested in the original post. It was pretty tricky as I'm not the best solderer in the world. I had trouble 'tinning' the thin coated wires with solder at first but solved this problem by burning the end 2mm or so of the wires with a flame. (hold the wires in pliers with only the bit you want to strip sticking out the end or else the flame will take off down the wire and burn away more insulation caoting than you want.) Once I got the wires tinned with a little solder, joining then to the solder points on the overwrite head and the main board wasn't as hard. You just need a bit of a steady hand and a little patience.

Sheesh! Brain surgery next.

[Pilz!]

I just found this thread and I'm so happy I finally found an explanation / solution for that problem (I am using MZ-N707, I suppose the blankdisc-problem is as common with the n707 as it is with the n1).

As soon as I get home I will try to fix it.

But noone described how that recording-problem evolved yet, right? I used OpenMG Jukebox (it sucks..) and one day I couldn't listen to the song I just transferred. It was on the MD with tag and original length and everything but when I tried to play it there was silence..

I suspected an error on the disc itself (some songs had interruptions) so I tried moving the songs around on the MD and all the sudden it worked.

But a couple of transfers later it wouldn't work again and so I had the assumption that the scratches (or whatever it was) on the MD weren't the problem..

Since then I haven't been able to transfer songs anymore and in the worst case it would even erase my MD (I had worked for months on that compilation ) - the "BLANKDISC"-problem.

Has anyone else had these problems in that sequence? Especially with the N707?

But thanks again to purenagst for that great instruction!

[deleted]

hi all,

I just signed up specifically to reply to this thread. I bought my first MD off ebay the other day quite cheap. Well alas after i had left them feedback, i discovered that it would not write to the discs, and kept saying "BLANKDISC". RAAHHH

Anyhow, thanks very much to this thread and instructions, i have today fixed it. I cannot believe that it works, it was really rather dodgy. I also cannot believe that people make earphones that are as terrible as the ones i paid 2$ for today, perhaps all the BLANKDISC fixers are keepin them in business .

Thanks for the detailed instructions, and hopefully i have attached a pic of my handiwork for all y'all to see. Time to go screw it back together.

BYE

[felip3]

TNX A LOTTTT u saved my day

this worked on mi r700. so i think that should work on any sony minidisc from the mz series...

also,.. i dont think thats the recording head as some say, i think its more like an erasing head, like in cassette walkmans.. but im not really sure...

again... tnx... my minidisc is alive againt...

ps: how you say it walkmans or walkmen??? interesting question... LOL,... anyway sorry about my rusty english

Edited October 26, 2007 by felip3

[urbicus]

I had a related problem with my MZ-N707. The ribbon cable snapped at a flex point. I was able to bypass the break and now it works!

I've posted some pictures of the problem and my ham-fisted repair here

http://vis-com.tripod.com/minidisc/minidisc.html (beware--robot porn)

[carlesraf]

Hi !!

I had an MZ-N505 that died by blank discc err....

Now I have an MZ-NHF800 and two MZ-RH1 afther looking this pages... anybody knows if blank disc erro is a general isue with all MD units ?

If this isue happend on all MD units, can we demand Sony for it? Cause RH1 isn't cheap

Thanks

[thermalmusic]

hi all,

I just signed up specifically to reply to this thread. I bought my first MD off ebay the other day quite cheap. Well alas after i had left them feedback, i discovered that it would not write to the discs, and kept saying "BLANKDISC". RAAHHH

Anyhow, thanks very much to this thread and instructions, i have today fixed it. I cannot believe that it works, it was really rather dodgy. I also cannot believe that people make earphones that are as terrible as the ones i paid 2$ for today, perhaps all the BLANKDISC fixers are keepin them in business .

Thanks for the detailed instructions, and hopefully i have attached a pic of my handiwork for all y'all to see. Time to go screw it back together.

BYE

Thanks, this image is worth a 1000. The original article by pureangst answers a lot of questions and was very well done. I have a feeling I will be doing this soon to my MZ G750. I just bought it used on Craigslist and surprise surprise. gah.

S

[robbuetler]

I have one MZ-R700 and one MZ-N1. With both MDs I still can play and alter the play mode. Now they have exactly the same problem however, before I start taking them apart I'd like to make sure we are talking about the same "wiring" issues. With both units if I record, it sais on the display first "Data Save" for a few seconds and the "TOC Edit". The disc stays blank. If I record on a partly recorded disc it does the same but erases the entire disc. If I insert a T Mark in a song it also erases the whole disc. I checked if recording via the computer with OpenMG Jukebox (only MZ-N1) would bypass the problem. No it didn't. I cleaned the heads with 96% alcohol but no changes. Thanks

[bonuspunkt]

Instead of pushing down on the left chasis arm to 'load the disc', you can detach the left chasis arm (by pulling it gently to the left farther), and let the chasis , along with the disc, drop into the loaded position. Get something to keep the right chasis arm down (as it activates a switch that tells the unit the cover is closed, allowing you to turn it on).

You should be able to turn on and play the disc using the controls on the top casing, while being able to see the disc spin and the magnetic head track across the disc surface. Pay attention to how high it floats above the disc (vertical distance)

thx for the great guide so far!

i'm stuck at this point with my mz nh700. it does not play the disc because i cannot cheat the unit into believing the lid is closed. i assume there is a connection between upper case and the main board!? how can i get the thing to run without the upper case??

Edited March 27, 2008 by bonuspunkt

[st165]

thx for this post dude. I'm like 90% fixed now for the player... 1 big problem still... when i was picking at the glue to get the record arm off i accidently "slid" the entire arm down a bit... then after i put it together it won't record. I opened it back up and "slid" the arm as far to the middle as possible... and it now records 90% perfectly. the first 2 tracks don't record correctly (showing 0:00 play time) but everything after that records and plays perfectly. How do i pull myself completely out of this hole and finally stamp my poor mz-n1 as resurrected?

Edit: Just wanted to add that putting in my pre recorded mds (b4 my md had the error) I was able to successfully play the first track of the disc so it looks like it's a recording issue. Have you guys ever listened thru your headphones to the player while ur loading songs to it thru the pc? I can hear wierd buzzing and electrical noises. I dunno if that's normal

Edit2: crap... i dont' know what i did now... but i made thigns worse and it keeps going blank disc

Edited April 24, 2008 by st165

[bunnyboi]

EDIT:

I think I fixed it. I just had to bend the head back in place(I hope it holds).

My minidisc player stopped being able to record about 2 months ago. Its a MZ-NF520D. I've looked at the guide and it seems like the write head isn't touching the disc at all. How do I keep it in the right spot? Should I use stirafome, a piece of wire, plastic?

Edited June 11, 2008 by Snow pawson

[jpmermoz]

Hi! I have the exact same problem that you described here

The only problem is that i don't really speak well english, and i'm not very good with electricity language..

is there a translated guide to spanish of the same problem??

Thanks a lot! I really want to repair my MZ-N505

[bobt]

Hi! I have the exact same problem that you described here

The only problem is that i don't really speak well english, and i'm not very good with electricity language..

is there a translated guide to spanish of the same problem??

Thanks a lot! I really want to repair my MZ-N505

For the rime and effort to fix a 505 you can get a far better MD unit on ebay, or in second habd stores etc. If you really want to try, there is a how to in this forum, babelfish can translate,

Good luck,

Bob

[tikka]

I found my mini disk recorder yesterday and thought, awesome!

Until I tried to actually record something.. So today I start to google and voila I end up here, I strip my device and discover the exact same fault as described with the snapped ribbon and proceeded to fix with the enamel coated strands of wire..

Omg, I can barely see the connections as I am soldering them, the wire is _that_ thin.

Anyway, after going blind from trying to see what I am doing I have a fully functioning mini disk recorder now, .. 5 years after the original post too, this thread is just pure gold.

Thanks a lot guys, for the suggestion and service manuals, etc.

Edited June 1, 2009 by tikka

[sfbp]

That must qualify you for some sort of record! Well done, and welcome to MDCF.

[zee1]

That must qualify you for some sort of record! Well done, and welcome to MDCF.

Right said.

Really a good explanation and very well explained

Regroupement credits

[sfbp]

Right said.

Really a good explanation and very well explained

Regroupement credits

Why do I think this post isn't real?

Anyway it turns out I did this hack yesterday. I actually ignored the exhortation to use headphone wire so I may be doing it again. But it works quite fine (at the moment).

Turns out the biggest problem was some guck where the overwrite head travels. this may even be what caused the ribbon cable to break in the first place.

I've a pretty good idea the guck was from a sticky label.

[Rubber131186]

This was very helpful and some really good tips i might take apart my g750 again and look at the mag head again.

Is it possible to buzz out the mag head with like a multi meter to see if it working as its just a coil right?

[jim.hoggarth]

This was very helpful and some really good tips i might take apart my g750 again and look at the mag head again.

Is it possible to buzz out the mag head with like a multi meter to see if it working as its just a coil right?

The coil has a DC resistance of 3.6 ohms if I remember correctly, but take it from me the coil is not the problem. The flexible connector that feeds the head has cracked. It is a common problem on certain models, mostly the N1, R700 and G750, but the N505/707 are also susceptible and a few others. If you remove the upper casing (four screws, two each side) it should be immediately obvious to you. Needs to be replaced, or some say it is possible to wire across with flexible wire such as headphone cable core. Personally I replace, as I feel there may be problems down the line with earphone cables.

Jim

[macbob]

HI-MD RECORDING PROBLEMS

Hello Everyone!

For a start a big shout to Pureangs for finding the solution to recording issues on MD's, you are a Genius! If people follow all the steps it really works ! Thanks, you've helped me to bring my N710 back to life again!!

However I can't figure out how to fix my HI-MD NH600.

In step 7 when it comes to "detach the metal arm that carries the magnetic head from the rest of the MD by

removing the single screw that secures it" I don't see the screw, it's rather a fitted bold and it's glued down as well.

I attached pictures so you guys can see. And after inspecting ribbon cable with x20 magnifying glass I couldn't find anything broken, so I assume that my recording head is just dead .

I have a question if this solution apply to the HI-MD models and have another question about my 1GB disks, which I was using before I lost recording ability. If my broken NH600 can't read them, whether itself or under software (HIMD Renderer, SonicStage), will they be readable under another HIMD, or I lost data forever?

Thank you!

[jim.hoggarth]

Hi macbob. It is highly unlikely to be the write head or its cable at fault. In my experience faults such as this are caused by the optical pickup assembly on Hi-MD recorders. And replacement is a very delicate job. The disc may or may not play back on another unit - it depends on the nature of the problem. But it is certainly worth trying before reformatting it.

Jim

[sfbp]

To prove Jim correct, try PLAYING a regular MD (SP, or MDLP) only. If it works then your surmise may be correct, but if not then he is right and the laser head is busted. Correct Jim? I'm talking about a disk you make with some other unit which you know works, of course.

The problem is that for HiMD because of the excessive encryption used, that Sony has to WRITE to the disk just to upload music data from HiMD to PC. Which is ridiculous, IMHO. Sure, I grok the technical reasons, but that just shows the whole architecture is a bit unreliable. Once you've messed up a HiMD disk there's generally no way to recover the data at all, because (essentially, if not exactly) the encryption key includes stuff specific to each file. Sony themselves have a back door of sorts but it's not yet clear if we can use it.

[macbob]

Thanks Jim for a reply.

I though so it's gonna be something else.Well I just need to be patient ,and get hold of another HIMD in the future. For the time being i just bought another md recorder: Sharp MT99 +10 pre-recorded disks in Depford flea market, all for only fiver! It works superb and I absolutely love it !!

Hello sfbp

I tried to play ordinary discs on it and it reads, however if I try record something and put mark on the track it erases whole discs. Im unsing my old good NETmd and Sharp at the moment. Hi-md disk was a good idea to come with, but without having a backup of it, is just too risky and fragile way of storing your data.

Thank you guys for a quick replies

[sfbp]

I guess you and I won the bet.... but Jim really is the expert. If it needs an over write head, I think he has them and is the only person I know with the skill to fit it. I've got one unit with no over write head that I need fixing, too.

[jim.hoggarth]

Yes, it works fine if a good job is made of it, as you appear to have.

But be aware that with the intermittent movement of the sled (and thus the write head too), the enamel coating of the wires may become worn and allow short circuits to the metal chassis and to each other! But then, you can just fit replacement cables again.

Jim

[xf1ref]

Hello all, I hope I posted in the right place

This week I bought my first md player sony mz-n505 second-hand and I encountered some problems.

I can't transfer music from pc->md because I get the beautiful "nv err" and md make a click and shut-down.

Recording from line-in is working, the player work very well and it reads all track,

I tried all the solutions: reinstall sonicstage(win 7 64 bits), reinstal drivers, reintialize parameters from service mode....but nothing.

When I try to transfer a file I get "Unable to transfer the track or tracks"

When I try to reinitialize the disk I get "Initialization of the media failed" (error code: 0000662e)

Any advice willl be helpfull.

Thanks in advance!

[SileEeles]

Might sound silly, but have you tried a new USB cable?

[brainsmartman]

Hello everyone.
My name is Cristian and I am new to this forum, which actually chasing him for a long time "outside" ..
First, I apologize for my poor English.
Secondly, please help me with a problem:
I got a Sony MDS-303 with magnetic write head broken. Can someone help me with this? Or a reference to a user store or something that sells? Or a full mechanics for Sale?
Thank you!
Cristian

[PhilippeC]

Hello everyone.

My name is Cristian and I am new to this forum, which actually chasing him for a long time "outside" ..

First, I apologize for my poor English.

Secondly, please help me with a problem:

I got a Sony MDS-303 with magnetic write head broken. Can someone help me with this? Or a reference to a user store or something that sells? Or a full mechanics for Sale?

Thank you!

Cristian

Personaly I have here in Vietnam the solution as I have my favourite MD deck seller & repair engineer friend Pham Cu (phamcu in this forum). Pham Cu has a stock of lens, hacked from some units.

His is right now proposing to give (not sell) a little stock of "Sony Optical Pick-up KMS-260B/E and KMS-262" here,

but not fitted for your MDS-303 as your can check here,

http://jonathan.dupre.free.fr/repair/audio/sony/minidisc/minidisc_devices_opu.txt

I suppose that he can eventually find for you the right lens, so please fell free to contact him directly (Sony Insider PM).

[pat_elm]

hello,

this my first post on this forum, please, excuse my english.

I write here just to say that I discover (maybe everybodies know it) that a player with blankdisc problem is the "TrProtect" answer.

We know that a MD created with SonicStage (netmd) can not be erased without SonicStage if it is protected. Some say it is possible with old decks (non MDLP).

What I discover is that if I record fews seconds at the end on a "TrProtected" MD with a broken recorder/player that has the blankdisc problem, saving TOC etc, after ejecting and re-inserting it, the MD is blank. It's because no TOC and data was saved, because the recorder can not do it anymore and erase the entire md.

So, if you have some TrProtect MDs and a recorder with the blankdisc problem, first erase your old MDs before repair the recorder. (if like me, you do not or can't use software for your md)

[SilverGreen93]

Hi guys,

As I can read there are very interesting findings in recording issues with minidisc walkmans.

I have a problem myself. I just bought an used MZ-R700 and it works great for playback, editing song names. But when recording it seems that it is recording properly, but when played back it usually plays 10-15 seconds and then it tries to read the disc and stalles, if I go fast forward  10-20 secs more it starts playing again, but later drops again after a more couple of seconds of playback.

I think this might be a similar issue with the record head here? I disaasembled the unit, cleaned the heads, inspected the record ribbon and it seems intact, no cracks or snaps. Could it be an internal crack that i cannot see or the solder joints?

What should I do next without rendering the device totally unusable?

Thanks.

[sfbp]

Do you *always* get a blank disk no matter what you do? In which case the Overwrite Head (OWH) is shot.

[kgallen]

Please try a different disc first and a new one if you have one. Also confirm you’re using a new battery or it’s powered from the mains with a wall-wart.

If you have a disc already recorded on another machine, confirm that plays back across the whole disc ok. 

Another idea if this machine has been idle for a long time, is to step backwards and forwards through a full disc to ensure the laser sled can move across the whole disc smoothly and is not sticking. 
 

Kevin

[SilverGreen93]

2 hours ago, sfbp said:

Do you *always* get a blank disk no matter what you do? In which case the Overwrite Head (OWH) is shot.

No, the blank disc idenfication works perfect. If I erase a disk it says BLANKDISC, if I record something it shows as recorded and I can see the track numbers, edit the track titles, save TOC, all works perfect. Only the records have drops and the MD stalls when trying to access the recording for playback on certain points.

1 hour ago, kgallen said:

Please try a different disc first and a new one if you have one. Also confirm you’re using a new battery or it’s powered from the mains with a wall-wart.

If you have a disc already recorded on another machine, confirm that plays back across the whole disc ok. 

Another idea if this machine has been idle for a long time, is to step backwards and forwards through a full disc to ensure the laser sled can move across the whole disc smoothly and is not sticking. 
 

Kevin

I tried 2 different maxell color 74 MDs, they are not new, but almost like new.

All my older minidiscs play just fine though all the audio, no drops, no skips, not even a slight interruption if I move/rotate the MD player around. Seems rock solid in this regard.

Yes, the machine certainly has been sitting unused for a long time, but as I said, playing works fine.

I tried recording on fresh NI-MH batteries and on plugpack, the result is the same. I would try to grease all the axels and gears, but I don't think it's worth it as playback is perfect.

On every recording I made, the sound skips though. In most cases can reproduce exactly after 10-15 seconds of recording it stalles (no sound) and if I FF more 10-15 seconds it plays again, but never plays back the missing part, so looks like a recording issue. On the other hand, I have just managed to make a 1:30 recording with no interruption that sounds perfect, so it is quite an intermittent issue, but the recordings mostly miss parts and skip. I really can't understand.

Edit: I have just got my first DISK ERROR after erasing a disk, tried the disk several times, and now works again.

[sfbp]

Sounds like an adjust and/or lube job to me. The less resistance, the less battery used, too - as I found out with my E909. Of all my gumstick-driven units, it's the one that seems to have the most play time - seems to me that I might have cleaned up its extremely delicate mechanism as a prerequisite to reviving it. The ones which grind a lot probably do need the old lube job and/or disassembly and much fiddling to minimise mechanical resistance.

All said and done, unless this only happens when on battery, you've likely got a little bit of electrical adjusting to do. My experience is that the first couple of power adjustments are the ones which really matter. Getting more juice (volts) to the circuit affects everything including whether knobs respond correctly (changing resistance on knob-press) and whether the laser ultimately gets enough power. However,,,,, once the rails are up to the voltage they should be (and running off the wall should allow you to eliminate that problem) if there are still dropouts then the laser needs a re-adjustment. For non-HiMD it's not that complicated. Basically stick in a blank disk and it does its thing. You'll need 1 prerecorded MD (CD) though.

[kgallen]

14 hours ago, SilverGreen93 said:

Only the records have drops and the MD stalls when trying to access the recording for playback on certain points.

I'm working from home with the current situation and in the background dubbing a lot of CDs to MD for when we return to the office (I have my MZ-R700 there). I'm having similar issues occasionally happen with my Tascam MD-CD1. Some discs are dropping out at least once per track, some not at all. If I re-record I can get the drop-outs but at a different position. I've tried brand new discs (old stock) discs from Sony, TDK, Maxell etc plus erased/previously recorded of same. The skip position moves. (The CD I'm dubbing from is not scratched/skipping at that point). I've yet to track this down to a definitive reason. I've been using SP and LP2 and SP is the most common but it does happen on occasion on LP2. I thought at one point the Type-R encoder might have a fault - I don't believe LP2 is Type-R - although this might only be with 2x/4x dub? Also I have it with both real-time dub and high speed (2x, 4x dub) - again at one point I thought it was a high speed dub issue.

Anyway, all to say, I think I have a similar issue on a totally unrelated machine (although the MD-CD1 is based on the Sony CXD2662 chipset). Interestingly, MZ-R700 I think is of a similar generation (MDLP but not Type-S) - not the "fullsize" CXD2662 but the walkman version thereof...

Kevin

[sfbp]

sounds mechanical to me. nothing to do with type r which is mainly for real recordings ie doesn't come into play with high speed dubs. the drops are probably when there's extreme movement laterally of the head (sled). could be laser power, but i have seen this most often on netmd transfers with borderline battery for power. Doesn't happen on netmd when unit's HiMD

with your observational skills you can probably correlate the drops with head movement.. requires cover off the mdm7 disk drive

 

[kgallen]

23 minutes ago, sfbp said:

sounds mechanical to me

I'm sure you're right. It's done a lot of work recently - and the past week I've not found this happening. It's not an MDM7, it's a Tascam drive, but based on the Sony chipset. It might be in need of a very tiny amount of lubrication (Molykote EM-30L) as you say.

[SilverGreen93]

On 5/10/2020 at 11:15 PM, sfbp said:

Sounds like an adjust and/or lube job to me. The less resistance, the less battery used, too - as I found out with my E909. Of all my gumstick-driven units, it's the one that seems to have the most play time - seems to me that I might have cleaned up its extremely delicate mechanism as a prerequisite to reviving it. The ones which grind a lot probably do need the old lube job and/or disassembly and much fiddling to minimise mechanical resistance.

All said and done, unless this only happens when on battery, you've likely got a little bit of electrical adjusting to do. My experience is that the first couple of power adjustments are the ones which really matter. Getting more juice (volts) to the circuit affects everything including whether knobs respond correctly (changing resistance on knob-press) and whether the laser ultimately gets enough power. However,,,,, once the rails are up to the voltage they should be (and running off the wall should allow you to eliminate that problem) if there are still dropouts then the laser needs a re-adjustment. For non-HiMD it's not that complicated. Basically stick in a blank disk and it does its thing. You'll need 1 prerecorded MD (CD) though.

I disassembled today my R700 and cleaned it all thoroughly, lubed the shafts of the laser assembly, cleaned the laser and write head with IPA.

I inspected and measured the ribbon of the write head and it is is all intact.

After putting it all together, the same issue can be seen. Plays perfectly, but records only fragments of the sound...

What adjustments should I try to make? I have the service manual, I tried increasing the tracking gain by a little and the power of the laser on write mode but there is no difference.

Toc edit still works fine...

Can you point me some important adjustments that i need to look into? I think it can be fixed.

Edit: Can be a write head misalignment issue with the laser? Although I believe not, as I do not see how it can get misaligned

[sfbp]

Ok well done with that - certainly can't hurt. My own experience with the featherweight E909 was that I had to fiddle with it several times to get it back together perfectly, but when I did, the (resulting?) lack of mechanical resistance means that the battery lasts forever, as it should with that model.

I think maybe time to do some adjustment. You'll mainly need a regulated powersupply capable of sourcing exactly 1.2 volts (the minimum acceptable voltage for gumsticks).Once you have all the electrical checks done, then you can try the self-alignment routine, if that didn't make the difference.