Help. Help!

Digging my old discs out for my God children's curiosities "them big cd things" and my own enjoyment. The old CLD 31 started right up after years of vacation in its original box. However it has an issue playing cd's, even after following recommended lens cleaning here. Same laser as 1070.

The symptoms:

Plays LDs perfect....adjusting the newer Samsung as suggested here, picture rivals my 38a dvd.
Loads
Laser assembly travels to inner diameter of cd.
Display displays CD
Motor spins CD to speed
Display displays Play
Motor continues spinning Cd at speed.
Display continues displaying Play.
Motor shuts down cd stops spinning.
Laser assembly moves to home position and locks down.
Displays CD 0.00

Experimentation (right or wrong):

Lifting up on the rear of laser assembly where the one screw limit bracket is, allows the player to play all cd's regardless of condition including ones that skip. ( they skip as well on the 31)

Without lifting up on the rear of the laser assembly:

10 clicks cw to Max cw "focus gain" pot allows player to play cds in good condition. However on cold startup the player may not read and play disc on the first try.

Returning "focus gain" to original position (magnifying glass & eye ball):

And turning 20 clicks cw "tracking gain" pot allows player to play nearly all Cds regardless of condition. Turning additional cw to max has no more benefits than 20 clicks cw. Returned to 20 clicks cw of original "tracking gain" pot position.

CLD 31 performance for about a week has been without issue. LD playback picture and sound is excellent. CD playback has been reliable and excellent. However on one occasion it seemed to be slow to play an old 1980 Alpine Reference CD disc on 1st startup.

My Query: What's the rightway? What's the wrong way?

I've read here about laser centering problems affecting cd playback, and shimming the laser assembly. I don't see no centering adjustment, though I don't know what it would look like if it wasn't a mechanical one.

I do have other equipment that can provide cd playback. Its just more of the old 31 used to be able to. 31's History : The laser assembly was factory replaced under warranty for this same issue. Performed perfect since and was placed in in-house storage in 07. Laser assembly looks to be still available.

All advice and direction would be greatly appreciated
Tracksnblades17

http://www.manualscenter.com/manuals/pi ... rH5ItBMHqD

There's a service manual here. Might be of some use if you're technically inclined. I would check RF level if it's having issues with CDs and not LDs. How is LD digital audio?

edit: To check the LD digital audio use the optical out. If you hear any clicks, or dropouts that's another sign of falling RF level. I'm pretty sure I was once told that if there are too many digital audio dropouts, some players will fall back to analog output on the RCA jacks, so they aren't the most reliable output to test.

Thanks GumbyandPals,

I tryed an old Eagles laserdisc that I believe has no digital signal. During playback selecting the selectable audio choice from analogue to digital yields static (similar to pink noise).

I will purchase the manual you provided the link to. What is the minimum requirements in oscilloscopes. I have a very old one but haven't found the right box yet.

Switching between the selectable analogue and digital when playing newer discs results only in excellent audio in either selection.

I have yet to try the digital out as you recommend, but plan to asap.

Thanks
Tracksnblades17