FZ-10 only booting intermittently

[shess427]

I recently acquired an FZ-10 that has some booting issues. Sometimes it powers up to just a black screen. Other times I will get the 3do logo but it will be in black and white and slightly off-center. I've also tried the composite, RF port, and s-video, but nothing makes a difference. A couple times it has booted up to the proper logo and then gone into the memory manager screen where it functions normally. I should preface all this by saying I've only gotten these different screens to pop up if I disconnect the laser assembly. So far I get no picture when the laser attached. Once when it was in the working state in the memory manager, I pressed down on various parts of the board to see if anything happened and when I pressed on the 1-chip microprocessor (IC660) near the laser assembly area, the bouncing icons froze. This kind of leads me to a bad solder joint somewhere.

 

With the laser assembly attached and the lid switch closed, the sled will move and the laser will try to focus. If I put a disc in, it will spin at a constant rate, but nothing happens on the screen.

 

I've done a full cap kit with no change in behavior, but the old caps looked perfectly fine with no leaking so I don't think any traces were corroded.

 

Any suggestions?

[Taijigamer]

Have u replaced all electrolytic caps on the psu? Maybe the laser is faulty and causing a short. Try a new laser. If u still get issues, maybe another component on the psu (5V, 9V regulator?). Check the board for any oxidisation between pins, dry joints.

[shess427]

I have replaced all the caps on the PSU and I'm trying to test the system without the laser installed. I figure that if the system is having intermittent problems without the laser installed, then the laser isn't the primary cause. I'll check for dry solder joints and poke around with my multimeter. Thanks.

[shess427]

Well the good news is that I managed to find a single lifted pin on the CLIO ADD (IC140) that caused the issues with not booting. I resoldered the pin and now it boots up correctly. But now I'm trying to test the laser and my backup discs don't work but a regular audio CD does. The backups work in my FZ-1 however. Unfortunately I don't have any original games to test in it. I'm a bit nervous about swapping the laser from my FZ-1, so I should just get some original games to test with.

[Lendorien]

I would be so terribly sad if something like this happened to mine.

[Taijigamer]

Sounds like the laser is getting weak. Consider replacing it. Sanyo 92.5f lasers used in German car stereos are apparently suitable replacements. U want the short lead ones. The long lead ones are incompatible apparently. The other option is to tweak the laser pot.

[shess427]

I would be so terribly sad if something like this happened to mine.

 

I was fortunate that it booted up properly a couple times. If it never booted up, I probably wouldn't have tried as hard.

 

Sounds like the laser is getting weak. Consider replacing it. Sanyo 92.5f lasers used in German car stereos are apparently suitable replacements. U want the short lead ones. The long lead ones are incompatible apparently. The other option is to tweak the laser pot.

 

 

I found 2 versions, one with a 4 + 12 pin ribbon cable and then one with a 4 + 11 pin cable. I made sure to get the 11 pin version. Hopefully this one is compatible. Otherwise I'd have to pull it out of a panasonic/creative labs cd-rom drive and those are pricey I think. It might have to become a nice conversation piece.