Strange TurboDuo Issue

[captcapcom]

I recently had my Caps replaced in my US TurboDuo System to fix the sound issues. Card based games work fine and dandy now with no crackle or missing sound, but the CD games are another story. The music will play for a small bit and then completely cut out. For example, Fighting Street will play the music and game sound for the first few seconds of the match, then all I hear is the game sound. Double Dragon 2 doesn't have in game sound and the music cuts out after a short time.

 

I was wondering if this is my cable? One AV connection I used offered no sound at all on CD games, I changed connections and got the sound, but it's cutting out as described before. Both connections work with other consoles.

Im not sure if it is my cable, or do I need to simply clean the CD laser?

[CatPix]

It sounds (ha! ha!) like your CD cannot read the music (Red Book standard) on the CD.

 

Data reading is tolerant to unprecise reading speed, but standard music isn't. the player use a Table Of Content to "know" where he is; unlike a tape player or a LP, the laser doesn't just follow the track; it's the reason why after bumping a CD player it remember where he was; it's because he check the TOC and compare if he is in the right place.

If the reading speed is too slow or too fast, soon enough, the player is going to be reading the next sound "frame" before it's meant to be. Therefore the player will try to correct it and so, "skip" it, until it decide that the music can't be read and give up.

 

 

There are some infos here :

http://console5.com/wiki/Turbo_Grafx_CD-ROM_Drive

 

It require some electronics skills tho.

Edited August 16, 2015 by CatPix

[captcapcom]

hmm... Sounds like I'm taking a trip to the game repair center. Hopefully they can fix it and its not a major issue like the caps were.

[A Black Falcon]

Sound cutting out? Could be the CD adjustment pots, I presume the Duo has them like the regular Turbo CD. After getting my Turbo CD laser replaced they were messed up, it took a long time to find settings where the audio didn't keep failing... kind of frustrating, but I did finally manage it (with advice from the guy [from PC Engine FX] who had replaced the laser).

[7800fan]

Can it play any random music CD just fine or does it cut out? If it plays just fine, there could be an issue somewhere that is screwing up the timing between game code and sound playback. If the music still cuts out, the CD drive needs to be checked. Usually a simple adjustment is all it needs.

 

Oh yeah are you playing genuine game CD or a CD-R of burned games? Some burned games don't play well unfortunately.

[Austin]

I had the same issue but it was the caps. HuCards were fine but CD audio would fade in and out. I'm not sure what the solution would be if you have already replaced your caps.

[7800fan]

If you haven't tried yet, go to pcenginefx forum and post the detail there. There are people on that forum who could probably make a sick Duo run like new with hair pin and gumball

[captcapcom]

Can it play any random music CD just fine or does it cut out? If it plays just fine, there could be an issue somewhere that is screwing up the timing between game code and sound playback. If the music still cuts out, the CD drive needs to be checked. Usually a simple adjustment is all it needs.

 

Oh yeah are you playing genuine game CD or a CD-R of burned games? Some burned games don't play well unfortunately.

I will try a Music CD. Didn't think of that!!!

[captcapcom]

Finally have an update.

I just tried a Music CD and it starts playing fine on Track 1... then will sound choppy for a moment as it automatically skips to Track 3. I am not touching the system when this happens. Seems to skip to a random track if I select a higher one, but sooner or later, it will get choppy for a brief second before it skips.

 

The CD I used its clean, and free of scratches ... so I guess I have to fix the VCO? (if I am reading that right)

 

Also I never used Burned CD's on this system, only real ones. I had choppy audio before the caps were replaced, but never a skipping problem on the CD. Could the Drive of been misaligned when it was being fixed? Maybe the repair person did not put it back in right? I don't know.

[CatPix]

It could be... or it's just the new caps have tighter tolerance than the old ones.

It's a know fact for people repairing vintage (we're talking 1950 or before vintage) that replacing old paper caps with new ones can disalign a perfectly tuned radio set, as old caps would typically have tolerance being -20% and +50% of the labeleld value. Technologies advances allow today to replace small electrochemical caps by solid caps that won't fail over time, but have much tighter tolerance range (less that 5%, or even 1% for high quality ones)

This simple fact alone might have changed the values, if chemical caps are involved in this part of the drive.

[Tempest]

I had similar problems when I had my caps replaced and when I replaced my laser. I had to adjust one of the pots to get the cd part working right again. I had to do further adjustments to make it read CDRs as well.

[captcapcom]

Theres a repair center in town that supposedly repairs anything video game related ... Im gonna take it to them because opening this thing up scares me more than anything....