So a few weeks ago I won a CLD-97 off eBay. It finally came in today, double boxed, but with no foam, bubble wrap, etc. so the bottom panel snapped off, but other than that it looks pretty good. Unfortunately when I press OPEN it won't open up, it will say OPEN on the screen and make a quiet whiring noise for a while, but won't actually open. The seller said he was including a copy of Scream, and since I didn't find it in the box, I'm assuming he put it in the player and that smashed part of the clamp, since someone did that to a Marrantz I bought once. I've taken off the 8 side screws and all the top back screws (are they copper?), but can't seem to take off the top panel to see inside. Am I missing something or do I just need to pull harder?

Also, the seller showed pictures of the tray open, so it seems like this probably happened in transit.

Shipping an LD player with a disc in it...

I guess that probably happens all the time but it seems super stupid to me, or to anyone who's ever read an owners manual...to any product ever.

It's probably fine if you can just remove the (terrible) movie from the works.

Good luck!

Thanks signofzeta.

Anyways, I tried removing the metal plates on the side of the front panel and it seems like the front panel sort of bends in behind the front panel. I hope this doesn't mean you have to remove the front panel to remove the top panel?



EDIT: For anyone who's curious, Duncan told me that the problem was that the mounting system had broken. (I'm probably not going to say anything to the seller since even a broken CLD-97 at $200 after shipping is a steal.)

To get the top off you removed the 8 screws holding the side panels, The copper ones on the back and then the 5 allen screws on the top. Didn't see you mention the ones on the top. I agree with Duncan. Many times these get banged hard and the three points that hold the gear assembly for load/unload functions break and then you have issues as you mentioned.

BTW: Pioneer does not have the plastic hinges for the bottom door last time I checked.

Correct, the hinge that usually breaks is no longer available though I've had pretty good luck making one from scratch