Hi everyone,

I have a Pioneer DVL-90 that I recently tried out after many years of sitting unused. It seems to be fully functional except for one thing: it generally won't switch sides. Occasionally it works, but mostly it doesn't.

After reading many threads here, I opened up the case and observed what happens when it tries to switch to side B. Here's what happens if insert a disc and then press the Side B button (as soon the unit is ready):

1. Generally the disc starts to spin one way, and before it gets up to speed it stops spinning and then starts to spin the other way. It will then start playing side A.

2. Sometimes the disc will spin up, the laser will flip and insert to the upper track, and it will seeming start to play side B - but will then it will stop, reverse the process and start to play side A.

3. Rarely, everything works right and it'll stat playing side B.

I'm so happy to have found this forum. I've already learned a lot about laser disc players by poking around here. But I don't know what else to check or do next.

I'm hoping a few of you might have so thoughts on what's wrong with my player, and how to fix it. So, any ideas?

Try cleaning the grip ring on top of the spindle motor and then see how it operates.

Sorry to take so long to resume my thread.

krbahr, thanks for the advice. I tried cleaning the grip ring (which was quite clean to begin with), and nothing changed. It still won't change sides most of the time.

Any other ideas?

Try cleaning and lubricating the track the laser assembly rides on. It could be having trouble moving on top of the disc due to being gummed-up.

Does it play CD's OK. Starting to wonder if you have a spindle centering issue.

Long overdue update:

My player switches sides just fine - it just didn't like that particular disc.

After inspecting and cleaning various parts as suggested, and making sure that everything else did indeed work (like playing cds), I still couldn't get it to flip sides regularly on my test disc (a widescreen version of Harold and Maude). Because I couldn't seem to solve the problem, I gave up for a while.

About a week ago I decided to watch another laser disc, and it automatically flipped fine. Then I tried it with yet another disc, and it worked fine. In fact, it works fine with every other disc I've tried.

I don't know what it is about that particular disc that gives it trouble flipping, but I am now certain that the player generally works as it should. Perhaps I never really had a problem in the first place.

Anyhow, I just wanted to say again how much I appreciate all the great information in this forum. Thanks again for the help.