CDS 1 ERR message resolved
Posted by: Fraser Hadden on 03 November 2002
Hidden away in a recent thread is a hint which may be critical to CDS 1 users who come across frequent ERR messages when attempting to load a CD.
I have always attributed the ERR messages to problems with the puck and have, as suggested in various threads, forced the rubber rings back to their original circular cross-section and tried again to load the offending CD. This has worked sometimes.
A more reliable technique though, discovered while in a fury at receiving repeated ERR messages, was applying a sharp lateral tap to the CDS as it spun. I was not that keen on this technique as it reminded me of Basil Fawlty giving his car 'a damned good flogging'. Further, I had noted that once the CDS could be induced to read a CD, it would work faultlessly for the rest of the current listening session, before playing up again at the start of the next, so there had to be more going on than just puck problems.
All is now revealed. As the CDS 1 ages, the laser swing arm develops a tendency to stick at the inner part of its travel. Thus, a CD's contents cannot be read into memory, resulting in the ERR message. Just (gently) moving the arm away from the centre frees it and, in my experience, allows CDs to load - to date, irrespective of the cross-section of the rings on the puck.
I have always attributed the ERR messages to problems with the puck and have, as suggested in various threads, forced the rubber rings back to their original circular cross-section and tried again to load the offending CD. This has worked sometimes.
A more reliable technique though, discovered while in a fury at receiving repeated ERR messages, was applying a sharp lateral tap to the CDS as it spun. I was not that keen on this technique as it reminded me of Basil Fawlty giving his car 'a damned good flogging'. Further, I had noted that once the CDS could be induced to read a CD, it would work faultlessly for the rest of the current listening session, before playing up again at the start of the next, so there had to be more going on than just puck problems.
All is now revealed. As the CDS 1 ages, the laser swing arm develops a tendency to stick at the inner part of its travel. Thus, a CD's contents cannot be read into memory, resulting in the ERR message. Just (gently) moving the arm away from the centre frees it and, in my experience, allows CDs to load - to date, irrespective of the cross-section of the rings on the puck.