I've had mine since 95 and even though it still works with a bit of tinkering, it was never reliable and very fragile. The cd laser head and drive mechanism were the least of it's problems. It's biggest problem was it would overheat after 60-90min and eventually stop, then wouldn't work again until it cooled off. The little button used to open the lid is actually a switch that activates the unit. Unfortunately there's a cheap little plastic tab on this switch that breaks off. Once this happens, the unit becomes inoperable because you can't close the lid to activate the switch.
99% of the problems with the CD players is it needs cleaning. Learn to clean the contacts in the cartridge slot. Learn to take it apart. Its butt simple. Not complicated. Pay attention to which way it goes in and remove the daughterboard from the CD player motherboard. Clean it and clean the slot it goes into. Use rubbing alcohol with half water and wrap a credit card around an old clean t shirt or pillow case strip. etc. Most of the problems people have are cleared up very simply this way. Only about 1% of the time is the actual motor bad or laser burnt out and needs replacing. And when that happens the mechanisms are only like a couple dollars. And simple to replace.
Sounds good dude, I will check out Atari Age forums, I have been on their site b4. Also I may not have worded it completely right. The cart port works on the jag cd it really just takes a decent amount of fiddling with it to get the game to come up. Mostly it wants to default to the disk, even if there is nothing in the tray. I hope to find a catbox addon someday for mine.
Hey wassup dude, Have a jag cd as well. Have a few questions about your jag cd experience compared to mine. Do you ever have problems getting cartridges to work in yours. Mine likes to start the disc mechanism up even if there is nothing in the tray at times. Can take a few tries to get it to work. Also do you have to press the eject button as you are closing the tray. On mine, if I don't, If feels like I am forcing it down with too much pressure.
