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3DO Backup Discs work for about 5min, then stop


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I can run just about any backup disc if I turn the 3DO on after it has been sitting for some time, but after 5min no matter what game I try it will begin stuttering and eventually lock up. I then need to wait some time to try again as otherwise if I power it down or eject the disc and try again it will always kick it back out and won't start like it does the first time. HOWEVER, I can always put in a music CD and it will play perfectly fine right after.

 

I've tried two kinds of media and I'm burning them at 1x speed, the highly rated Taiyo Yuden kind and a Memorex. Only the Taiyo Yuden will actually work.

 

Is this a sign that the laser mechanism is being over stressed by the CDRs? Or what might the diagnosis be?

 

I'm an original 3DO system owner from 1994 and have purchased many boxed games legitimately from the stores during that time period. I'm just looking to play games off of CDRs right now.

 

Thanks for your input.

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On 7/20/2021 at 10:32 PM, actionarcade said:

Is this a sign that the laser mechanism is being over stressed by the CDRs? Or what might the diagnosis be?

I'm not a 3D0 user or expert. But I have seen this problem with regular burned audio CDs on some older players. And on older 2x-4x drives from the early 1990's.

 

Problem appears to be the laser mechanism turning up the brightness to read media that doesn't have enough reflectivity/contrast. Generating more heat. And shutting down, not in a thermally protected way either. It just gets too hot to work. I can't imagine this is good for the player.

 

New mechanisms may be able to handle it for a while. But an aged laser? Who knows..

 

 

Edited by Keatah
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On 7/21/2021 at 4:32 AM, actionarcade said:

I can run just about any backup disc if I turn the 3DO on after it has been sitting for some time, but after 5min no matter what game I try it will begin stuttering and eventually lock up. I then need to wait some time to try again as otherwise if I power it down or eject the disc and try again it will always kick it back out and won't start like it does the first time. HOWEVER, I can always put in a music CD and it will play perfectly fine right after.

 

My FZ-1 does this, my FZ-10 doesn't. My thinking is that the characteristics of the pickup change very slightly as the system warms up, but change enough to make reading CD-Rs unreliable. Perhaps some of the pickups were right on the edge specs wise. I'm sceptical about it being due to the laser overheating due to increased power output because I can't seem to find evidence that the power output can even be dynamically changed. The output of writing lasers can be calibrated to produce optimal quality burns, but I can't seem to find documentation that the power output of reading lasers can be outside of manually adjusting pots. I'd be grateful if someone could point me in the direction of some if I'm mistaken.

 

Try burning at different speeds, and maybe even on different drives, to see if that helps. I'm of the opinion that the whole "it's best to burn at 1x" thing is an old wives tale with little scientific basis, and what likely matters is how accurately the writer lays down the track. Slower isn't automatically better. If your problem's the same as mine, speed won't make a difference here though.

 

What drive you burn with might make a difference. For example, my Mega-CD always struggled with discs produced with one particular Lite-On drive I had in the past. Speed, burn type, etc, were all irrelevant; it would always struggle to seek to the audio tracks. The discs worked fine in various PC drives. What happened with the same media but written in a different drive? Worked perfectly.

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Thanks, I'll try burning using a different writer here to see if that makes a difference.

 

Other: On the FZ-1 model, one of my favorite things is the CD music visualizer. Whenever I think of playing CDs and want to play CD music, I want to play it on an FZ-1.

Edited by actionarcade
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5 hours ago, Silanda said:

I'm sceptical about it being due to the laser overheating due to increased power output because I can't seem to find evidence that the power output can even be dynamically changed. The output of writing lasers can be calibrated to produce optimal quality burns, but I can't seem to find documentation that the power output of reading lasers can be outside of manually adjusting pots. I'd be grateful if someone could point me in the direction of some if I'm mistaken.

If you care to look up the specifications of the laser mechanism used in the 3D0 console and the overall schematics we can go from there. But in the meantime..

 

There may or may not be adjustments. It could simply fall out of spec because it's aged over the decades. Early laser diodes have a lifespan of 5,000 hours give or take a couple hundred.

 

There's either a fixed-setting for power going into the diode, or constant current, or a feedback controlled power setting based on what the photodetector sees.

 

In the fixed-setting arrangement, there is one setting, technician adjustable or factory-fixed. The light output simply degrades over time. As the supply and diode age. Eventually the laser will dim over time and eventually not be able to read out-of-spec and improperly burned discs. Normal operating temperature swings can and do cause dimming.

 

In the constant-current setup, the regulation and light output is better. But the current draw increases for an aged diode, and of course the light output dims, but not as much as as the fixed-setting configuration.

 

In the feedback-controlled configuration, the power supply to the diode does whatever is needed to maintain a specific light output or reflection back from the disc. It will do this right up to end-of-life. Then fail rather quickly over a period of days or a several weeks.

 

The concept of the laser dimming is no more hard to understand than an OLED display developing burn in.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 7/22/2021 at 6:50 AM, Keatah said:

Problem appears to be the laser mechanism turning up the brightness to read media that doesn't have enough reflectivity/contrast. Generating more heat. And shutting down, not in a thermally protected way either. It just gets too hot to work. I can't imagine this is good for the player.

That's not how any laser mechanism work. BIAS and GAIN are factory-set and limit the maximum brightness (i.e. voltage) of the laser diode. It can not get too hot, unless someone already messed with these controls or there's a fault in the control circuit.

 

What he describes is actually one of the issues also found in early models of the PlayStation: cheap plasic parts on the assembly that wear to a point where a slight increase in overall temperature make it soft enough for the laser to lose the ability to track.

Edited by derSammler
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  • 2 weeks later...

Some of your caps are likely going. Possibly your motor as well. My FZ-1 was experiencing the same issue and recapping fixed the problem.. until my motor started crapping out. Now that needs to be replaced.

 

Note: Quality of discs will matter too. But ultimately your caps are probably going to need to be replaced. It's normal.

Edited by Austin
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