JVC boombox CD player issues

[brian748894]

Hello everyone,

I have a JVC PC-X55 CD boombox that I'm having issues with. A little background: I bought it used, in great condition, and at that time the CD player didn't work due to a loose interlock (door open) switch. I fixed that, and it worked great for a year or so. Then, while playing a CD, it just stopped suddenly. The optical pickup didn't return to its home position until I opened the lid and closed it again. After that, it wouldn't read discs-in fact, it wouldn't even spin the disc at all. I put it away for more than a year and recently tried it again. This time, it played as if nothing was ever wrong...for all of about 15 minutes. Then it stopped again. The interlock switch is fine. The lens tries to focus, but the player just won't spin the disc at all. I've tried cleaning the lens and checking connections of wires and ribbon cables to no avail. I've noticed that if the interlock switch is turned on and off by almost latching the lid and letting up repeatedly, the optical pickup flakes out-it tries to reset in further than the home postion, goes out to its maximum travel an tries to go beyond, etc., whether or not a disc is in place. Sorry this is so long, but I wanted to include as many details as possible. Any ideas?

[Mooly]

Just some general thoughts... the fact that it worked/failed/worked again etc suggests something physical, poor connection, dry joints perhaps in the power supply etc.
If you wind the pickup out a little from the home position and then operate the door switch it should return to the home position and then do a focus search routine (lens up/down) The disc motor doesn't turn in 99% of machines until focus is found (disc in place) as it's much easier to focus on a stationary object.
I would make certain that switch is working 100% too.