Rotel RCD971 reading problem - assistance/advice needed

[fixilator]

Hey all... was hoping someone could recommend a place to have my Rotel RCD-971 CD player repaired. It's stopped reading CDs consistently. Driving me crazy!

Or better yet, maybe some DIY-advice for how to fix the problem. Has anyone had this problem before?

But barring fixing it myself, would like to avoid going to some place where there's a $100 bench fee and then an outrageous quote for what it'll be to actually get it working again.

Any and all info / advice would be greatly appreciated. I've never poked around inside a CD player, let alone fixed one, so feel free to be idiot-level explicit if you have advice on a part to clean or adjust, etc.

[Rodmunch]

I'm going to guess that the laser mechanism is going bad.

You could take the cover off and try to clean the laser and maybe the tracks it rides on (if it has tracks, I'm not too familiar with it). These are relatively easy things to do. Just don't knock the laser around too much!

You might find a reasonably cheap transport mechanism that includes the laser on ebay. A quick search brought this up, but I won't guarantee that this is the right mechanism.

http://cgi.ebay.com.my/ws/eBayISAPI....m=250289616031

Also found this...just the laser.

http://cgi.ebay.com/SONY-replacement...3286.m20.l1116

[fixilator]

Thanks for the info Rodmunch. Could you give me some pointers on how to clean the laser? I opened it up, see the laser lens... just dab it with a q-tip and alcohol? The lens seemed to be sitting in there kind of loose. Is that normal?

From what I can see, don't think I'll be attempting to replace the laser. If a cleaning doesn't do it, guess I'll just send it to Rotel who I've heard are fast and fairly reasonable.

[fixilator]

Update:

Tried warming up first and what do you know -- my player reads now. It was on for about 30 minutes prior to trying. I *might* be able to live with this.

But, if anyone knows what it would take to fix, please let me know.

[Rodmunch]

Yeah, clean it with a q-tip and alcohol.
But lightly brush it, don't push on it too hard.
The laser assembly shouldn't be loose, but the laser lense itself might appear to be because it moves up and down to focus on the cd.

If it works better warmed up, just leave it on all day.

[Ruach]

You can change the entire laser assembly. It should cost less than 5 euro.

It is very easy to change the assembly. You just need a screwdriver and 30 minutes of your time.