Hi all, I am trying to repair a CLD-95. When I got it, it wouldn't play discs, the laser wouldn't light or attempt to read discs. The laser also smelled like the magic smoke escaped(it did). I am pretty sure this was due to a bad white flex cable forcing the laser coil adjustment to one end. I replaced the flex cable and soldered in a replacement laser from another player.

Now, the replacement laser lights up and moves trying to detect a disc. But it doesn't seem to detect an LD or CD. I feel that I am so close to fixing the player. What else could be wrong?

Thanks!

You may have to run through all the laser adjustments for the player. Do you have a service manual? It's much easier and more reliable to replace the whole pickup assembly of you can rather than specific parts on it.

Try putting it in test mode by pulling the front door flap out slightly while turning the player on. Then see if it will spin up a disc.

I believe you need a test disc and scope.
All lasers will need alignments from those players.
These aren't just CD or DVD players that you can just drop in a new laser, even if you do just drop one in.

Also not all lasers are compatible, where did you get the donor laser?

Thanks guys. I don't have a service manual. I tried putting it in test mode but it still doesn't play discs. Is there anywhere I can buy a replacement pickup?

The laser itself was from a CLD-V820. The PN of the lasers themselves was the same, VNP-1070.

You could try krbahr or grasshopper here on the forums, they may have spare parts to sell. Otherwise, the pickup assembly is part number vwy1019 (pickup) or vwt1054 (whole assembly) and is also used in the CLD-3080, CLD-2080 ,CLD-95, and CLD-97 which may help you in finding a donor player. A 2080 donor would probably be your best bet for getting one cheap.

You will still need to align the laser and adjust the focus etc.
I'm no tech, I do know you can not do this by "eye" and you need to have a test disc, scope and possibly other equipment.
But I highly doubt you have one of the two parts that you really need to adjust this.

Again this is not just a drop in part, and I don't know if that laser is compatible with the CLD-95
Someone else will have to chime in about the laser being the right part.

^This. You may get lucky and it will "work" but it won't be optimal by any means. At a minimum you'll need the service manual, a scope, and a test disc. The manual is on this site and last I checked you could still order the test disc from Pioneer. There's a fairly steep learning curve though.

Totally agree, just what Duane has told me personally when I was inquiring about picking up a player and had a test remote at one time.
LD is a great format but not always for the tinkerer.

This may be one of the real reasons why LD will die faster than other older video formats.

Was this the one that recently sold on eBay?

Which part number for the pickup is correct I see the OP posted on then a different one was pointed out.

Yes, I bought this one on eBay. I also decided to buy a CLD-2080 and swap the whole assembly over. I'll let you know how it goes when I do it.

From the cost of the V820 and the 2080 along with your time
would you have been better off sending your 95 off to get fixed correctly the first time from the costs

Yes, however I already had the V820 with a broken tray mechanism.

Also, are there any repair places that exist ?

Thats about it.

Well, I swapped in a working CLD-2080 laser carriage and adjustment board. I did not swap the spindle motor.

Now it detects the discs correctly, spins up, and tries to play but it just hangs on the blue screen and times out after a minute and stops spinning the disc.

Did I forget something?

Since it spins the electronics is getting a signal reflection back off the disc. The chance you would get one not needing adjust did not happen, the player now needs to be adjusted to the new pickup. Gathering you tested it good in its original machine before removing it.

I've reviewed the service manual, and luckily they outline the calibration procedure after replacing the carriage.

I may try to borrow a scope and attempt the alignment. Only caveat is I don't have a test disc.

Make sure you use a CAV recorded disc and search for the same frames in the manual. Only issue is that the test disc has good patterns to adjust for tilt and tangential alignments - crosstalk.