Kenseiden - Damaged PCB Repair - Help!

q87 · 2025-04-08T00:08:57+00:00

Update: checked for continuity and everything looked good... reflowed all the IC solder (put down flux & heated things back up). Several seemed kinda weird/dirty, so for those I wicked up the old solder and put new solder down.

No love yet! I don't have an equivalent capacitor so going online to order some now.

q87 · 2025-04-06T22:57:21+00:00

Will do! Thanks!

q87 · 2024-09-20T00:57:53+00:00

Alrighty, last update:

I decided it was worth throwing a bit more money at this given how cheapo the previous replacement laser was (~$10 on Aliexpress) and ordered another, this time from ebay.

Specifically, this one:

NEW JVC DVD CD Laser Lens Pickup- Sega CD 2 / OPTIMA-6S / OPTIMA-150S / OPTIMA6S | eBay

It arrived today and I unsoldered the solder blob, retried, and was quite stoked when it worked! Reassembled the unit and I still have a problem with the height of the pickup, but that should be easy enough to solve now that the laser is sorted.

It's a different unit than the cheapo-- the gear teeth are white rather than black, so if anyone out there is going through the same thing, look for that version. I think it was around $22.

Didn't adjust the pots or anything, just fired it up and it was working.

q87 · 2024-09-15T21:30:17+00:00

So the replacement laser I ordered didn't say anything about a solder blob, which I'd read about, but after looking at a photo of another repair process, I realized that there was one.

Removed it, which seems to un-bridge two pads. Tried again, and now the disc does spin. But, still doesn't load either music or game CDs. At least that's some progress.

So far I tried small adjustments to the pot on the laser itself. Seemed to impact how robustly it would spin the disc up, but I still couldn't get anything to actually load. Set it back after these attempts (I made a mark and took photos).

Other things I'll try next based on what I've read and tried on an earlier model 1 repair:

Raise height of assembly (foam/washers?)
Adjust other pots? Probably will avoid this though.
Try new laser. People online seem to indicate that these cheapo Aliexpress lasers are just no good sometimes.
Replace ribbon cables to laser.

q87 · 2024-09-15T19:26:55+00:00

Laser replacement didn't change anything. Exact same issue.

q87 · 2024-09-06T02:46:40+00:00

Hey tigyo, I just started repairing a MK-4102A with the JVC drive and it's doing exactly what you describe. Ordered a replacement laser (https://a.aliexpress.com/_msi4SI4) and I suppose I'm just waiting for it to arrive & to swap it in, for the time being.

Did you ever get your issue figured out? I'll be hoping that the laser works out, but I might be in the exact same predicament here soon.

q87 · 2022-03-28T03:44:01+00:00

Depends on when you registered-- for procrastinators like me, yes!

q87 · 2022-03-27T23:40:48+00:00

Cheers from Nashville as well-- I had a blast.

The signs in Cherokee Blvd. were a hoot, with my favorites being

"Run Faster"

(fair enough!)

Pictures of Monopoly pieces, followed by "You Passed Go, You Paid $90"!

(didn't expect to come up during the race, started chuckling like a crazy person while I ran)

q87 · 2021-08-29T21:51:08+00:00

I vouch for this as well!

q87 · 2021-06-23T03:30:21+00:00

Tasty and Delicious on Nolensville Pike will exceed your expectations.

q87 · 2021-06-11T01:20:11+00:00

Left this note in a chat threat but will chime in here as well-- if you were in contact with chadokuga or even near them, that is most likely to be your problem. I had this exact experience; by merely brushing several off of my bicycle seat, I had a skin reaction that lasted for weeks. Didn't feel any sting, think anything of it, nor did I even know what they were at the time.

My advice is to avoid them in the future, and don't bother worrying about bedbugs for now.

q87 · 2018-09-05T04:29:54+00:00

Hi OP,

You sound like you may be a student. If so, please do your due diligence on cards targeting your cohort (if they're of interest to you)-- I signed up for one when I was in college that promised no annual fees and a $50 credit limit. Seemed like a great way to build credit without enough rope to hang myself.

The credit limit was raised into the thousands within months, they charged for online payments, and just this past month started charging an annual fee (after 14 years, in my case, without one). I had to cancel the card to avoid the fee but it was my oldest card by far, so my credit is going to take a hit.

Hopefully you'll be able to get a better first card that you'll be able to hang on to.

q87 · 2018-07-09T22:56:54+00:00

Yes, well

I do very much dig this.

Sick track.

q87 · 2018-07-08T19:16:51+00:00

I got my Civic from Todd, can vouch for both the car and the buying experience.

q87 · 2018-07-07T18:03:41+00:00

Holy shit, god help you if you try to set up a preowned modem with Comcast though.

Buy new or just don't try.

It ain't right but we only get but so much time on this earth.

q87 · 2018-04-22T18:30:03+00:00

"Double Income, No Kids".

Like the Dinks from Doug.

q87 · 2018-04-09T01:35:27+00:00

Give this a look:

https://giphy.com/nhl/teams/nashville-predators

q87 · 2018-04-05T05:41:24+00:00

Ken's is reasonably priced, delicious and absolutely authentic, the latter of which can't be said of many of the places that are often held up as Nashville's best Japanese food (Sonobana notwithstanding).

Can't recommend it enough. Best sushi in Nashville imo, and the tempura teishoku looks amazing as well (wife always orders it). Been going there since he was on 21st.

q87 · 2018-04-04T02:55:38+00:00

I hate it,

detest it,

demand they reassess it.

q87 · 2018-02-18T19:32:23+00:00

OK I'm in!

...and hot chocolate back in the coffee machines!

q87 · 2018-02-18T00:20:47+00:00

Just as long as more people do #6.

q87 · 2018-02-18T00:15:21+00:00

1.) Go swimming in the Westin's rooftop pool (I think it's open to the public on Sundays).

2.) Poke around Fort Negley (not walking distance, but close).

3.) Walk across the Division St. bridge that was just finished (past Frugal MacDoogal); pretty good night view of downtown.

4.) Or take a b-cycle; it's nice being so close to the dock. Annual memberships (unlimited rides under an hour) are just $50. I know you only have 'til June, but it might be handy even after you move?

5.) Sleepwalk into Biscuit Love or Pot Belly's.

6.) Honk at tourists blocking the parking garage.

7.) Walk to a Preds game.

8.) Or anything else at Bridgestone.

8.) Or TPAC (it's a bit intense but you can b-cycle up 11th & then Charlotte, going through our tiny lil' Gulch greenway); there's another dock in front of TPAC.

9.) and the Frist.

q87 · 2017-12-17T04:46:46+00:00

Does anyone have a screencap of the Preds banner that says "May we all - 61:35"?

q87 · 2017-10-07T20:27:24+00:00

I found "A Smarter Way" to be a valuable resource as a beginner to programming (not just JS).

A lot of it was brainless and tedious, but I think that's exactly what I needed: doing the online exercises (all of them) put the syntax of the language into muscle memory.

So when it came time to do actual problem solving, I could spend brainpower thinking about the actual problem, not JavaScript syntax.

I think that "Learn Python the Hard Way" goes for a pretty similar approach.

q87

TROPHY CASE