Hey There,
I was wondering if anyone would be so kind to share some knowledge and assist me with repairing my Pioneer CDJ-800MK2.
Unfortunately, I do not have the budget to have the player professionally repaired, nor can I afford another deck. I do, however, have a tonne of electronics experience, so replacing any parts is no problem here - I just need assistance with what to replace!
Diagnosis: The CDJ will refuse to read CD's (any type) for at least 15-20 minutes when initially turning the unit on. A year ago, it started at just a minute or 2 before it would start correctly loading and reading CD's, but the issue has worsened over time. When you put a CD in, it will try to spool before ejecting the CD again. I know that it can see the CD there because when inserting a clear placeholder CD, the deck rejects it without trying to spool, but with a real CD, I guess it fails to read the Lead In of the disk properly so it just rejects it. After a few attempts, it will eventually stop rejecting the CD, instead just choosing to freeze up until the disk is ejected. (showing just 0 Tracks, saying NO TRACKS, or showing an E error - [cant remember the error number])
After 20 minutes of so, it will begin to read CD's, and weirdly, it will continue to read any CD I put in thereafter, with no errors, skipping - just works as it should!
Now I have to turn the unit on, go away for 20 minutes, and come back before being able to use it.
I thought that this was a laser issue, so I bought a replacement laser from a licensed Pioneer distributor, and replaced the laser inside (was quite a task!). The unit still shows the same problems, waiting for 20 minutes before reading CD's.
I'm now out of ideas - could this be a power supply problem? Something wrong with the main logic board, an IC or a blown capacitor? If anyone could advise me, steer me in the right direction, on what to do next, it would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks in advance :)
-Mark