Hi all! New here, but found this forum while Googling solutions for a problem with my Pioneer LD-S1 player.

I have owned this player forever, but for the past several years it sat in a closet while we built a new house. I recently hooked it up again, but can't get it to play anything. It will open for me to load the disc, then it closes, the disc set light comes on and the standard play light starts flashing, but right when I would expect the whirring to start up, instead I hear a very faint grinding sound, and a few seconds later it ejects the disc. I removed the top cover/bonnet, and the disc definitely is not spinning prior to ejecting again.

However, if I shut off the player after loading the disc, and then turn it on with the disc already in it, it DOES initially start to spin, but there is a faint scratching sound, like the disc is brushing on something, and then the disc slowly stops rotating. I imagine that this is some sort of safety mechanism-- that the spindle will stop turning if it senses any friction-- but I am not sure why it does this only when powered up with the disc already loaded, but won't even try to rotate the disc in the other loading scenario.

Do these sound like the same problem, or two separate problems? Does it sound more like an issue with the spindle, or the disc tray? It occurred to me that maybe the alignment is off or something with the disc tray, such that when I load it from the outside and shut it, the player senses that and won't even try to spin, but when I turn it on already loaded, it initially starts to spin until it feels the disc rub, and then stops. But that is just speculation on my part.

I downloaded the service manual from manuals.com, but I have to admit, it is a bit too technical for me and there is no troubleshooting section. My husband is the mechanical one in the family and will happily apply whatever skills he has to the job, but I need to give him a diagnosis first.

Any help appreciated!

Hello and welcome to LDDb forum!

When that happens, do you get an error code on the LCD display? (like P0 or P5)

It sounds like your clamping surface is dirty or dried up and is not able to hold the disc hard enough to start spinning.
One easy way to check that would be to play a CD... but the LD-S1 does LD only.

If you managed to remove the cover, did you try to clean up the part that clamps the disc?

Julien

Thank you! Can I do that just by removing the screw in the top clamper and removing the upper and lower parts? Is there anything on the underside of the clamper that I should be worried about touching? In other words, there is no lens component on the underside of the clamper, right? (Sorry if these are silly questions, new to this)

FYI, when I manually rotate the upper clamper with a disc already loaded and the machine turned off, it spins freely as fast as I go, with no brushing or grinding sounds.

When turn the machine on and manually rotate it (after it initially starts and then stops), as soon as I start going a decent speed it ejects the disc.

Not sure if that sheds any light on whether it is a clamper issue or not.

Oops, and no error code on the display in any of the scenarios.

Update: I removed the upper clamping mechanism and underneath it is just plastic, with a magnet in the center. Appeared very clean. The lower clamper has textured rubber, which also seems very clean. Put the upper clamper back together after cleaning everything and it's still having the same issues, unfortunately.

The S1 is a special machine with a special spindle made with silicon so any noise should be the tracking from the laser???
Also this is a very quite player, when mine spins up there is no noise or very little.

I would try to clean that black rubber again with a qtip or rag.
The laser would read the disc from the bottom.

Careful with taking too much apart, i've heard you need to do some adjustments with the player out of the case on its side??
Also i would try to play with the top off, do you see it try to spin up at all???
If so i would try again and use your hand to spin it to give it a little push in a way.

Keep us posted, these players are like tanks and really don't go bad at all.

Thank you for the responses so far.

I am beginning to suspect that it has something to do with the laser, and not the clamper or tray. All of the following was observed with the top cover removed:

When I load a disc from the outside with the machine already on, the tray closes and the laser apperatus lifts and slides into place, but then there is a faint mechanical sound (like gears trying to turn but can't) and the disc never even starts spinning. A few seconds later the disc ejects and the laser apperatus recedes. I think this happens because when the laser moves into place, something is catching on the disc preventing it from spinning, and so the machine rejects the disc.

There is a different result when I load the disc, allow the laser to slide into place, and then immediately turn off the machine. When I power the machine back up, the disc does immediately start to spin, but that's when the faint scratching noise happens, and it stops spinning again. I think this happens because the laser apperatus is still in place to read the disc from when I powered the machine off, but it has no "digital memory" of a problem. So when I power it on the machine finds itself in ready to play position and assumes the disc was properly loaded, so the spindle starts, but then the disc catches somehow on the laser apperatus and so the machine stops itself.

This player IS a tank, and appears pretty clean inside, but it was subjected to a bit of jostling during the move and setup in the new house, so perhaps something shifted inside.

Does this theory make any sense, or am I hypothesizing too much?

Quite possible that something got shifted inside.

The only thing i can say is since the player is more complicated than others you will need to contact Kurtis or Duane.
Only real issue is that if its not something that is stuck, dirty or needs an adjustment you are pretty SOL as there are no spare parts for this player.
I do hope someone can chime in that has experience with this player to help out.

When i received my player in the mail, i plugged it in and opened the tray, put a disc and it wouldn't close.
Very lucky to give it a nudge and it went back in as i would have never been able to mail the player with the tray out if it was really broken.

Your issue sounds like something is dirty or stuck, don't use any chemicals to clean the laser and good luck.

These older players do not commonly have the belt load issues of the newer players as they have more belts for specific purposes where the newer machine have one belt for all functions. But you may have a belt issue during load from your original description. When you first load the disc the mechanical assembly will clamp the disc, if the sensors detect the disc is in clamped position then the laser will move to detect the presence of a disc. If it detects a disc the spindle motor will start spinning and the laser starts to read the Table Of Contents (TOC) for the disc details.

Sounds like your first scenario is the disc not being fully clamped so it re-opens. The second scenario could be the motor or power supply or just a dirty laser lens.

Don't worry about the clamp ring on these older models. It is a different clamp from the one of the newer players and will last years. If you see the motor spinning and slipping on the disc then worry about that, your not there from what I read. I would carefully clean the laser lens and try again. I'm trying to remember the S1 guts as I've only worked on one but the older players including the LD-S2 drop the tray down verses lifting the mechanical assembly up. But there still could be a belt issue with drawing all the way in and then dropping the tray it if works like the other older machines. The LD-S2 has one motor with belt to extend and pull back in the track and another motor with belt to lower the tray. A lot of other older models do this also.

A short video would be nice!!

Okay, so I was finally able to take some videos and figure out how to upload them to YouTube (tried uploading on here directly but was never successful).

Here is the video of the scenario when the player is powered on with the disc already loaded: https://youtu.be/rnNBONhMnaM

Unfortunately, this video is not exactly reflective of the problem as it existed when I originally posted. When I originally posted, it would start rotating at almost full speed, there would be a slight brushing or scratching sound, and then the disc would slowly stop and eject. In this video, it appears to start rotating several times, not quite getting up to speed before starting again, and then eventually ejecting. There is a noise associated with that, but it is not the original brushing/scratching. I think this new situation may be because I removed the top screw on the clamper to look at it, but it was hard to put back together, and maybe now that I messed with it the clamper is not getting a good grip.

At any rate, here is the video of the scenario when the player is powered on, and then the disc is loaded: https://youtu.be/8gcl1QxKyNE

Any thoughts welcome!

Did you ever figure out and fix the problem? I just picked up an LD-S1 with the same exact issue.

I also have this issue but I was watching a disc when it started. The screen suddenly went blank then it ejected the disc and it's done this since..it's my only player and is in perfect condition so I'd like to get it fixed.

Almost looks like the disc is slipping.
I would try to clean the rubber mat.

I think it's not reading the disc properly, it only spins a bit when you first turn it on. I covered the disc sensor and it tried to read the "disc" but it wouldn't spin anything and since it does the same thing when a disc is in it, I figure it just can't read it for some reason. What shocked me is it was working perfectly in the middle of a movie (death ring) then just stopped and ejected..

I think I've figured out what happened, there's a worm gear twords the back of the playing mechanism that seems to raise and lower the entire laser assembly. After a very close inspection there is a hairline crack through half the plastic worm gear. And after moving it by hand and seeing how it reacted when powered back on, it seems to be slipping on the metal shaft of the motor. This may be the reason why the laser appears to not find proper focus. I have attached a picture below..

From the picture it looks like the tilt mechanism and if the player cannot get the correct tilt you can get extreme noise in the picture to not being able to lock on the desired track.

Well I managed to fix it but apparently it wasn't my problem. For some reason the player still won't play the discs. I did clean the clamps and it's definitely getting good bite, so if anyone has any suggestions it'd be much appreciated..

Did you try?
Thats my only guess.
Good luck.

Yep it's definitely not slipping, I found there's a plug inside and if you unplug it then the disc will spin up..it spun up perfectly with no slippage. Thanks, from the looks of it I'm gonna need all the luck I can get

I would start by checking voltages.

Yep, I'm thinking it's something electrical instead of mechanical. But I don't have the service manual and can't find one on the internet that I don't have to pay for. If someone happens to have a copy and could upload it that'd be amazing. If I have to I am pretty handy with a soldering iron but was hoping it was something simple. Not like a VCR if ya know what I mean