Hello everyone,
This is my first post.
Sometime back I got a very cheap DVL-909 from a scrap dealer. Didn't get the remote. All the controls worked except that it would not read any CD or DVD. I didn't have any LD then.
Recently I got my first ever lot of 40 LDs.
I tried one and it played. Good picture and sound. It has the famous looping problem which starts after about 2min of playback, then I have to skip to next chapter - same thing. When its stuck, it makes a rattling sound which I am not able to pinpoint and the lens is continuously moving sideways. Its not the slider gear because it works smoothly when the laser assembly is moving back and forth on the rails. Side B picture quality is bad and same looping issue.
Still no CD/DVD playback. It would spin the CD/DVD once, quit, change to DVD lens, spin, quit, again CD lens then finally eject.
I haven't done anything to it except changing the front panel tactile switches and the fuse, which was conveniently soldered with a wire (someone had fun)
Please help.

CD’s use the same laser as laserdisc, DVD’s use the other laser. Most likely spindle centering which effects both lasers.

Thank you krbahr for your quick reply.
I will try to adjust the spindle centering.

The adjustment screw wont budge. Maybe because of Loctite. I didn't apply too much pressure as it may break.
Do I have to loosen another screw, which releases the adjustment mechanism ?
As per the service manual, the player should be in test mode with the test CD spinning and then observing the output on a CRO. But, how can one carry out this test when the CD isn't being read at all. All the tests in the manual are done with the CD being read. Nothing is given about reading failures

Also, all of a sudden the player has started spinning CDs at a very high speed with the cd lens constantly focusing up and down, then it quits after sometime and in comes the DVD lens, quits, then again CD lens. This time the spin is brief and normal and then eject.

I'm sorry nobody else posted, I think its too close to Christmas here and others aren't on the site as much during this time.

Hope someone can help you a little more soon.
Good luck, since you are in India can you get stuff cheap from Yahoo Japan???
You might be best off keeping this player as a parts player.

I've seen some 909 and other late players which are not too expensive directly.

Also I would never use this player for DVD playback, not worth the risk.

If you have an oscilloscope, try putting the player into test mode (you can use a Harmony remote or an Android phone with an IR emitter programmed with one of the Pioneer GGF service remote models, I believe the service manual shows some other methods) then attempt some of the adjustments shown in the service manual (available on this site) using a bright screen on a CAV disc (I don't think it necessarily has to be a Pioneer test disc for most measurements, but I could be wrong).

I've had good luck getting LD playback working just by adjusting the centering and tangential measurements on my 919 using a cheap analog oscilloscope.

There is nothing to loosen. You just have to break it free. You can get it close without an oscilloscope. Don’t turn past the marks. Remember where you started in case this is not the issue.

Then it must be the locktite that's holding the screw. I will try to break it free and adjust it without a CRO.
I have an oscilloscope and the service remote is on my phone app (using IR blaster). But no service disc.

I am getting this pattern on the CRO no matter where I probe the player, with the ground clip disconnected, be it the metal body or anywhere in the circuit. It disappears when I connect the ground clip.
Is this some sort of mains AC leakage ? I can feel the current when I touch any metal part of the player.
It is present even on the audio and video jacks because my amplifier was making a hum sound and there was no video/audio. But, when I flipped the power plug, the hum was gone and there was audio and video.

Adjusting the spindle screw did nothing to the skipping problem.
What really helped was a bit of packing under the plastic rail. The rail was not sitting flat with the base. It is designed in such a way so as to not sit flat on the base. I cut a cardboard strip and slid it under it, and the skipping problem at the beginning of the disk was gone. I believe that due to unevenness of the rail, the sled gear was having difficulty in making small movements to adjust the lens.
It started skipping again after about 10 mins, instead of 1 min before.
Another thing I noticed that the picture quality was bad. Lot of ghosting and squiggly lines. I turned all the pots a little, but nothing happened. When I did a substantial turn on the tilt pot, the tilt mechanism moved and the picture was clear for a brief moment. Then I lifted the mechanism by hand and the picture was clear by holding it at a particular point.

Hey!!! It's playing CDs
I turned the tangential screw all the way in, then slacked a little bit and it started playing CDs.
I observed that this is a plastic screw which tilts the whole laser assembly up/down on one side.
Now we have an eye pattern.

The tangential setting cured the skipping and ghosting problem too. Now the LDs play perfectly, except at the edge due to some wobble.

Sorry I don't know why I didn't notice this post earlier.
Someone did post