Okay. First off, I'm in WAY over my head here, I've never fixed a damn thing in my life, at least not something like this. Everything about this is aggravating my anxiety. The tray on my Pioneer CLD-D704 is not ejecting. There is no mechanical movement WHATSOEVER, everything reliant on circuitry is still working however. I've had someone on Facebook helping me a lot, and I was finally able to get the disc out with a little force. He says the issue is that the laser is stuck on side B. He says that now that I've gotten the disc out I need to reset the laser to its origin. He says when it starts up it checks the position of the laser to focus on a disc if there is one, and this is making it error on startup and not even TRY anything else (I guess this is why nothing is going on mechanically with my player).

Unfortunately he says he can't help me anymore with this, so that's why I'm here. I've been told that a certain LDFan on this site is very knowledgeable, but anyone who can help, please do. If any PAR-TIC-U-LAR-LY saintly soul is willing to message me on Facebook and guide me through this step by step, I'd be super grateful, that's what this guy did and I honestly don't know where I'd be without him, probably tearing my hair out in clumps I reckon. Just PM me and we'll get in touch. I just thought I'd ask, I'm on the autism spectrum so I get overloaded/overwhelmed pretty easily, on top of that I don't trust any of my instincts or intuitions and get anxious over every step which paralyzes me, so when someone sits down and helps me step by step it really makes a difference for me.

I got the disc out, so that's something at least.

This has been a trip. Good lord. But for the hour and a half or so that my player was working when I got it, oh, what laserdisc bliss! Alas for dreams short-lived.

Hey dude, sorry I couldn't get you all they way back to LD bliss. I'm hoping someone else here can get you back up and spinning.

Just to help describe the situation: With the top off and powered on the laser assembly is not in the starting position for side 1(see attached photo). It seems to be stuck in between a flip going to side 2. When powered up the entire mechanism is locked up (clamped) since the laser isn't in its start position and doesn't finish the start up operations.

Is there any way to manually flip the laser back to its origin?

I’m not particularly knowledgeable on these issues as my players have never given me any problems like this (although I have a 702 with a stuck mechanism that I plan to use as a guinea pig to get some experience).

Kurtis is actually the person to ask so I would wait and see if he can answer your question.

If I had to take a guess of the issue, I would think a switch is not working properly to tell the circuitry where the pick up is located (maybe some where on the flip mechanism). But I have no real idea.

Looks like the laser is back in the turn mechanism. You'll have have the unit unplugged and then to put your finger in the turn mechanism finding the laser pickup movement gear and turn the movement gear and you can get it out. Now for the problem, it could be the side A/B position switch or it could be the micro switch on the laser assembly. Once you use your finger to get it back on side A and close the the spindle motor plug the unit in and turn it on and let us know what happens. If it just slowly moves back into the turn mechanism then the micro switch on the pickup would be the first thing I'd look to replace.

I can't find the laser pickup movement gear. I can't see anything because of the tray in the way. I'm afraid of damaging something but also try as I might I don't feel anything like the teeth of a gear when I stick my finger under the tray.

Under the right side of the tray, there is a plastic wheel with a belt around it. You'll have to take the AUDB board out of the player to get to it. If you spin the wheel one way, the player assembly will lift up. The other way it will go down and the LD drawer will open.

The way the pickup is geared in this player, you can just pull it along back toward the spindle. Be careful though because with the assembly lowered for tray removal, there is a 'catch' that will come up from the bottom of the player and block the pickup from moving.

The main drive gear on the pickup engages not only the track along the rail, but when it is reversing sides will drive along a curved gear that will rotate the assembly upside down. If that curved tooth track is broken or missing, that would explain why you can't get the player to engage in side B. But that is just a guess from this single picture.

If you remove the four screws holding the top plate for the side B playback then you could get better access to the pickup to turn the movement gear. once on the bottom you can move it toward the spindle motor and then back a little and then try to power it on. Don't do anything to play side B until you put the top plate back on.

Lots of great tips and advice. Keep at it man I know you're super frustrated and likely close to giving up. You have nothing to loose at this point however and everything to gain.

You have some of the best techs here to help you (certainly not counting me in that group).

You...Can...Do...It!

Can you show me in pictures what you are referring to as the top plate for Side B playback and its four screws?

I really feel this is beyond your level of repair and must figure out to contact and get it repaired by others.
Good luck with all.

This is probably what Kurtis is talking about.....



And as he stated about not playing anything on side B, that makes sense since this is the track for side B that you would be removing so if you accidentally played a disc the pick-up would basically plop down on to your spinning disc.

Also, I would be careful to make sure that when you do re-attach the top plate, don't over tighten the screws as I recall this metal as being a bit soft and you can damage the threading.