Hot Sega CD & cracking CD sounds

[WhiteFalcon]

Hot Sega CD & cracking CD sounds

I have just increased the power going to the laser, had to turn the adjusting screw about 40 degrees to make it read RWs reliably, but there are now two problems:

1) the protruding piece of metal (heatsink?) in the SCD left from the cd tray gets very hot very quickly, I didnt notice that before, is it normal or does it need some way to cool it?

2) as before all CDrs and CDRWs tend to make strange cracking noises (physical) when being read from, causing the system to halt. Most often it happens when accessing audio tracks which sometimes results in a game playing correctly but without music. I use only Verbatim media, burn CDRs at 8x and RWs at 4x, no way to burn slower on that burner. I also cleared the lens with alcohol and water twice. It now reads data nicely but audio tracks still make these mentioned strange cracking and grinding sounds. Any idea how to solve that?

 

[Mask of Destiny]

Hot Sega CD & cracking CD sounds

The only thing with a heatsync on the Sega CD is probably the voltage regulator, these do tend to get rather hot in normal operation, though I don't know how hot they run in a Sega CD (I have a model 2 so it's kind of hard to run with the case off)

As for the noises, the Sega CD has a somewhat noisy drive. It will make a grinding noise of sorts whenever it does a seek. I'm not sure what you mean when you say a cracking noise.

 

[WhiteFalcon]

Hot Sega CD & cracking CD sounds

Thanks for your reply!

I have a model 2 too and it would be rather dangerous to run it with the cover off, as the cd would have nothing to hold it. But the heatsing (if it is a heatsink, it is a thick piece of metal) is very hot even when I turn the Sega CD off, remove the case and touch it, unable to hold my finger on it.

The noise I mentioned doesnt bother me as much as the fact that it precedes a cd-read problem, usually preventing the music from being played and sometimes making the whole system to hang. After scrutinizing the entrails of the Sega CD again, I found out that one of the plastic cogs that moves the lenses is battered, one "tooth" almost missing and that probably makes the noise and also is the cause of the reading problem. I have searched the local "electric parts" shops but they dont sell plastic cogs, do you have any idea in what sort of shop that could be bought?

 

[Mask of Destiny]

Hot Sega CD & cracking CD sounds

Next time I use my Sega CD for a while I'll take the cover off and let you know whether anything is particularly hot.

As for the cog, you might try a hobby store that sells parts for RC cars. I'd imagine they would have gears, though I'm not sure if they'd have any that would make an appropriate replacement.

 

[WhiteFalcon]

Hot Sega CD & cracking CD sounds

OK, I will try that 🙂