Junk PC Engine CD-ROM² Repair (Discs not spinning) 

Fixed mine the other day too - once i replaced that middle gear all it needed was an IPA clean up of the laser, and some generous lithium grease applied to the gear train

Thanks for making this. I've had one of these for years and it's finally given out, so I'm thinking about trying to do the gear replacement. Really valuable to watch this. I think the replacement gears in Japan actually come with a slightly larger washer replacement as well so maybe even an idiot with no experience at this kind of thing can do it.

Great video, easy to follow; thanks for taking the time to do it! I just got one of these, and thanks to your video; I was able to open the CD unit, clean it, grease it and now it works like a charm...

Thanks a lot for share this video and the tutorial. Now I believe that is possible I can fix my console too.

Mine's got a different problem. The center spindle is simply refusing to spin altogether. Totally stationary, so of course the attempt to read it fails immediately. This only happened after I opened the thing up and closed it again without any mods, so I must have done something wrong but I can't see any dislodged cables that came loose from their solder joints.

Thanks for sharing. I replaced the gear and was doing great until I dropped the rubber washer into the console for about the tenth time and couldn't find it. I've looked everywhere but can't find it. Nightmare.

a custom 3d clear case would be nice

Ordered a “junk” CD-ROM^2 from Japan myself to pair with a TG16 CD dock. Considering a paint job too if I can get it working.

Oooh, I hope my duo-R still works, I haven't played it for 8years :(

Hi! I've a cdrom2 too and my issue is that when i try to turn on the 0 appears but then turns off and after many tries i get it reads some discs and then again fails. Some idea of what could be? When it reads a disc sounds well and spins

Where do you get the replacement gear?

thank you so much!

3d print the gears

darkthrone \^^/ good stuff! nice console too :)

Well, I've since got a lot more familiar with these and it's interesting to re-watch this, knowing what I know now. :) I now have three Japanese drives, an NEC CDR-35D drive, and a Turbo-CD drive. The NEC CDR-35D is a beige PC version of the Turbo-CD drive and actually works with PCE/TGCD if you swap IC108 (NEC microcontroller with custom internal ROM that differs on the CDR-35D). Most recently the Turbo-CD drive was sold to me as "working" but the laser was stuck on the outside, just like yours. I used the spindle hub from a Japanese drive to trick it into spinning discs by manually homing the laser with the lid sensor rigged, just like yours (have to back it off the limit switch then drop on the disc/hub). After a few times the laser just started homing and playing, just like yours, but went right back to "stuck" the next day, just like yours later did. When it was working on day 1 it seemed reliable and did not make any funny noises so I knew the POM gear was likely intact. No amount of of external fiddling on day 2 would get the laser to move on its own but it wasn't making a noise so I knew the POM gear was probably still OK. I had to take it apart and turn the gear manually to free it up on day 2. Sure enough, it was yellow and swollen but not cracked or missing teeth. The manual turning got it to load games and play audio again but it would freeze or glitch or skip where it worked fine before. You couldn't even listen to an audio CD on day 2. Sure enough, it was frozen up again on day 3. It was pretty hot on day 1 (from the package being left out in the sun) so I think the lubricant would solidify and seize everything up when it idled/cooled. Though I know how to clean/lubricate these things and have even done a Discman laser swap before, I didn't want to go any further without contacting the seller who old it as "guaranteed to work." Still waiting on word. Seeing that you had almost identical behavior that was attributable to lubrication makes me more confident in my assessment that heat was changing the lube viscosity. I'm considering a diagnostics flow-chart for these things. :)

Ric's guide to metal while fixing consoles! Love it mate...

Bought this unit for my IFU-30 Interface Unit. It powers on but doesn't read discs and the laser does not move. What to do? =( The gear is ok.

Love your video. I also bookmarked it as I'll probably need it. I already have my PC Engine and Interface Unit, just waiting for my "Junk" CD-ROM2 to arrive from Japan. I'm also waiting for my System Card 3.0 and a brand new gear i also ordered.