[Kirosia]

Hi, I bought a used D-211 a week or two ago and it's been acting very weird. At first, the player would start up, try to read the disc, and then shut down. I would have to turn it on once or twice to get it to play. It continued to get worse. Now, it would take approx 10 tries, on and off, for it to work and play the disc. It actually takes time to warm up the motor and lens I think, since after the inital 10 tries or so it would play the next few discs pretty easily (startup-wize). If I let it sit for a while without use (a few minutes), I would have to repeat the annoying startup process all over again. Can anyone help me?

 

[Cor]

Try hitting the track advance button while it's spinning up so it starts playing at a later track. If it manages to play then, but still has problems on earlier tracks then you probably have a tracking problem. You'll probably have to crack the sucker open and adjust the pots.

 

[Kirosia]

Going to a later track deosn't change it. How would I adjust the pots?

 

[Cor]

Well, it may or may not be the pots that are giving you grief, but it's worth a shot. Check out this link to find out how to adjust pots. In the D-211 the pots will be labelled RV501 through RV505.

Good luck!

 

[Duncan]

Have you tried cleaning the lens?

Just a thought... oh, and is this with original CDs, or CDRs that you have the problem?

Cheers!

 

[Kirosia]

Duncan, I've tried cleaning the lens, but it only helps temporarily. I have the problem with both cds and cd-rs. Thanks Cor for the link. To be honest though, I'm afraid of opening up the player. Where exactly are the pots? What do they look like? How (literally) do I adjust them? Do I need some kind of tool?

 

[Notorious P.I.G.]

I have a 211 that behaves similarly.

The only way I can get mine to play is to run it off a 6 volt wall wart.

If you don't know what you're doing, I'm not sure if you ought screw with the pots.

 

[Cor]

There's a good question to ask... Are you using the rechargeable battery pack that came with the D-211? If so, try using normal batteries or the wall adaptor. (The rechargeable battery probable ceased to hold a charge years ago)

Opening up the player isn't really that big of a deal. You just have to remove some screws and take the top of the case off. No further disassembly should be required. If you have to unplug or unscrew anything other than the outer shell you've screwed up. After you get the top shell off You should then be looking at a green circuit board with the lense assembly perched on top of it. To the lower left (if you have the lcd display facing you) on the green board there will be some silver things that look a bit like screws. Next to them, on the board, will be printed labels like RV501, etc.. Those are the pots. If memory serves, and it may well not, there are 5 pots in total arragned in two rows of 3 and 2. All you need to adjust them is a screwdriver. The only trick is to be careful to follow the instructions on that link I posted above. If you adjust the wrong pot and forget where it was set originally you may have difficulties getting it set correctly again. Some of the pots can only be set properly using an oscilloscope, but you shouldn't have to touch those.

I'd open my D-211 up and take a picture for you and circle the pots, but unfortunately I don't have a digital camera at the moment.

However, if you do open the sucker up and have problems finding the pots, post a picture and I'll circle them for you.

P.S. Does anybody know if there's a way to lower the minimum volume on the head-phone jack in the D-211? Currently the sucker is so loud I can't use my E3's with it at all. I'll probably fiddle with it sometime later when I have time, but I'm afraid I'll need some sort of attenuator.

 

[Kirosia]

Thanks Cor for the in-depth. I'll try adjusting the pots once I build up enough courage. I don't have a digital cam either, so if I get lost, I'm screwed.

 

[musicbug]

My D211 has the same problem on it.

If I use rechargeable battery , it works good.
But use the wall adaptor , the case is like what Kirosia's says.

I feel very depressed. Anybody can help me?

 

[galileo_c]

I just got a D311 with similar problems: The seller told me it will try to read the disc for 2 to 3s, and then the LCD display disappear and it stops spinning.

Is that I faced the same tracking problem?

 

[warubozu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by galileo_c I just got a D311 with similar problems: The seller told me it will try to read the disc for 2 to 3s, and then the LCD display disappear and it stops spinning. Is that I faced the same tracking problem?

Before you go and start to play with the pots to adjust focus on the D-211, try using a laser lens cleaner like what kirosia had done at first. If that doesn't help solve the reading problem then it could be that you might need to adjust the pots

 

[galileo_c]

Okie, cleaning doesn't works.

I guess i will send it to repair, since my and my friend's D321 also got some problems: His similpy can't play any CD, mine has abnormal fluctuation of volume, espcially when ESP is on, and noisy background noise (most likely caused by AVLS/Oxidized volumer switch)

 

[Duncan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cor P.S. Does anybody know if there's a way to lower the minimum volume on the head-phone jack in the D-211? Currently the sucker is so loud I can't use my E3's with it at all. I'll probably fiddle with it sometime later when I have time, but I'm afraid I'll need some sort of attenuator.

Wow... you must listen very quietly...

At minimum volume I can only just hear the thing...

As to all the player fatalities... i'm not really sure that everyone should be mucking around with the tracking pots... the only one that would probably help is the signal strength pot... then again, if you over-compensate, bang - dead laser...

 

[Cor]

Quote:

At minimum volume I can only just hear the thing...

If you're using E3's, then your D-211 and mine are somehow very different. It's painfully loud for me. (as in rip the buds from my ears it hurts so much loud) However, when I was adjusting the pots I poked at the volume control a bit and seem to remember something turning... The volume knob really is just another pot. Maybe I changed the position of the knob relative to the pot so that min is now somewhere towards max... I'll muck with it some more at some point. To be honest my D-211 mostly just sits on a shelf. It's not really portable enough for when I'm on-the-go and I don't listen to cans at home.