I have a Plextor 1210A CD-RW drive which is currently giving the blink code that the Plextor site says means “Pickup SLED Failed”, “Pickup failed to move properly”.
Plextor will fix this for me for more than the cost of a new drive, so that’s not going to happen.
I was wondering if anyone knew more about what this problem is and if there is any way I could possibly fix it - long shots included. Otherwise, the drive is pretty much useless.
If the consensus answer to those questions seems to be "No after a few days, change the question to “What fun stuff can be done with a dead CD drive, if any?” and consider this thread moved to MPSIMS.
Assuming you can get the drive case open (usually it’s a top and bottom cover you either pry off or slide-back-and-release after removing the bezel), you can gently try moving the pickup sled and see if it’s physically hung up somehow. If it feels tight, like its not sliding easily, try a thin bead of silicon grease along each of the rails it slides on. Unlikely to work, but with basically nothing to lose, give it a shot. Also look for any loose or disconnected wire headers. These often take the form of flat ribbon cables with printed-circuit tracings on them instead of actual wires. If I think of anything else, I’ll post again.
I’d just replace it. Check out www.techbargains.com; you can find new ones for around $20 after rebate. At that price, I can’t imagine it would be worth the effort to even make the attempt.
Love the name, and thanks for the pricing. I live in Britain and local suppliers seem to do them for around £25. Shipping costs from the US probably bring $20 up to more than that. And, to complete the currency confusion, the quote for repair from Plextor Europe was €72.60.
The joys of living on a small island not quite in Europe.
It might be a real good idea to read what Sam Goldwasser has to say on CD drive repair. (Very similar tech.)
I strongly urge to not:
Try to push the sled around. (It might be on gears or groove tracks.)
Put any grease on the tracks unless it is clearly needed and then on the right type of lube and only tiny amounts.
That document is extraordinarily useful. However, it does itself recommend pushing the sled to check for problems. Grease does seem ill-advised though.
Thanks a lot
I’ll read it in more detail before trying to fix the drive.
The section on extended length discs applies to my CD drive. I have a Kenwood that stopped working gradually, then it died completely. I opened it up and found that the sled gear was stripped in the outermost position, and the optical head was past the edge of the CD. I put it back into position and it works normally now.
Come on, astro. You mean to tell me you don’t like tearing a malfunctioning piece of electronics open, rooting around in the guts and burning yourself with a soldering iron? Especially when there’s nothing to lose, this is the sort of project that makes my weekend.
Oh I used to do that, but when my record for reviving dead CDR and CDRWs got to around 0 for 7 and CDRWs got down to around $ 50 or less each, I decided to give it a rest.
I had to take the drive apart twice because I couldn’t see the sled gears first time and moving the sled manually didn’t help. But after removing a few more bits of plastic I found them, moved them a bit and the sled itself started moving smoothly.
I also answered the alternative question: you can use a dead CD drive to magnetize the tips of screwdrivers.
Perhaps if I’d read a little more background I would have expected this, but I found the sled itself had quite a powerful magnet on it. Once I moved a normal jeweller’s screwdriver nearby and it got pulled quite forcefully onto the sled. Now it’ll pick screws better than most of the full-sized ready-magnetized-tipped screwdrivers that I’ve used. Having tried to magnetize screwdrivers with various magnets I had lying around, this seems to be far more effective
I’ve run various writes and verifications and all seems fine.
