[jimbobuk]

I brought the a new D-211 discman off of ebay from the seller who'd gotten some new stock kept in storage since 1992. Anyways it came in pristine condition, boxed and everything.

Had it for 6 months or so, its become my work cd player that gets use when cds need spinning or my jukebox3 is out of juice. Its been stationary on my desk, plugged in but powered off for all that time.. no shocks, always lid closed so minimal dust exposure.

Today was using it and it started to have problems.. at first jumping into a track midway through the CD wasn't working.. later play stopped in the middle of another track.. and now it just wont manage to play anything. At first i thought it was cause i was playing a CDR that it didn't like or was scratched.. on inspection its not scratched or dirty.. i've tried a collection of discs now including a brought CD.. none of them play.

It spins up, track number displayed as 00, you can feel it vibrating, you can hear the lens trying to focus, with a click its dropping back down again.. after a while it gives up and powers off.

I'm hoping its a dirty lens, though i can't see anything obvious.. not got a cd cleaner disc to hand, not sure whats the best thing to try... a small paint brush brushed on it?

Anyone else had any problems like this? or know any possible solutions? Gutted as its such a good sounding player, and there ain't going to be any warranty potential

Cheers

Jim

 

[pramod]

no dont ever use a paint brush for cleaning the lens!!!!.I probably think could be condensation on the lens my sony pcdp gives the same problem when ever condensation occurs or i go overboard cleaning the lens with water(syringe with bent needle)

-seriously. Then again dont mess with the lens could just be a trivial problem simple suggestion just open the lid for some time and then try playing ,it might work.

 

[jimbobuk]

I meant a soft paint brush, really small.. not a paint your house kind of thing

I've left it and it appears to be working again a bit.. left it playing at the moment.. it started a disc which was a start.. froze though at 15 secs in.. left it.. waited.. turned off and on again.. and then its played through.. on track 3 now.. really hope it survives.. its in an air conditioned environment so it's done well to get condensation.

What is the way to clean the lens then!? using water sounds crazy.. and syringe with bent needle doesn't totally make sense to me

where does all the excess water go, do you have to leave the thing to dry for days to be sure its all out of it?

*fingers crossed* it'll stay good... classic hardware.. perhaps the one downfall of it.. i hope my denon dcp-100 stays functional

 

[insomniac]

Jim, I'm sorry to hear of your troubles. It almost sounds like there is something wrong with the motor. Possibly dried up lubrication? I'll leave the diagnosing to the experts here. But I can't say I'm surprised. I've recently come to learn that the D-211's seem to fail a lot. First off, they aren't built very well compared to some of the other vintage units. Completely plastic, but you know that. But I've heard a lot of stories of them breaking down. I was lucky enough to own one that never gave me trouble but I bought a second one later that died almost immediately after I got it.

It's not they were poorly built per se. It's just those units are quite old and they weren't built quite as well as some others and nobody anticipated these would be used over 10 years after release. I'm sure there are a lot of them out there that are still working fine, but if I had one, I'd be careful with it.

 

[jimbobuk]

Thanks Insomniac, I am being extremely careful with it.. hopefully it'll keep on going, will test some more tomorrow.

It's in theory only had about 6 months use though, and thats light use at that.. probably no more than 20 hours.. Yes its over 10 years old but those 10 years were spent sealed in its box.. that's gotta help..

We'll just have to wait and see i guess.. a shame as its a nice sounding player.

 

[pramod]

sorry that your pcdp is still not working.what i usually use for cleaning is a wet cotton swab soaked in water(lens are not damaged with water) and clean the lens very very slowly but i do this once every year.
I still suspect condensation to be the problem try leaving the unit open in a warm place for an hour or so and then try playing it ,if it doesnt work then the problem could be somethng else
soft paint brush- no never use it or the cd lens cleaner usually sold in the market. word of caution though never clean your lens unless there is a specific problem since pcdp lens are easily accessible we tend to overdo things and damage the lens.

 

[waltchan]

The Sony D-211s are not supposed to fail very fast. They are Made in Japan. Don't tell me that a $10 Durabrand portable CD player from Wal-Mart will last longer than a Sony D-211.