need advice about Amiga CD32

[Xanxi]

Hi.

I got my hands on a second hand CD32, which seems to have passed the last 10 years in some attic or cellar.

It is in good cosmetic shape.
The console does boot to the CD32 welcome screen.

Then it spins with a disc but doesn't load the game, except that 1 of 10 times it can load up to the menu of the CD32 demo disk.

Also i don't hear any sound or music from the console.

I don't have any experience with this one because i didn't like it in 1993 and never bothered afterwards, so i don't even know if there is any sound or music to be heard on the CD32 splash screen.

I don't have right now a working controller and need to test an audio CD as soon as i can find one.

So, i would like an advice about what are the common faults on this console, appart as one may guess the caps.

Thanks.

 

[Templar]

Hi, I guess there might be a misalignment. First of all it's a good idea to clean the laser lens and try again, and check in boot mode, that the laser lens is moving back and forth. When you boot up the CD32 without a CD-ROM for example, there is an animation including sound of course. As you said, your best bet is to find an audio CD and check through the built-in player if you hear any sound. You don't actually need a specific controller, an ordinary joystick will work for some games to test.

Try to burn this into a spare CD-R if you have the possibility, to boot into the Workbench and from there you can check more parameters, like mouse, sound etc.

Attachment Snipped

 

[Xanxi]

Thanks @Templar
Will try audio CD then this WB CD.
Correcting a misalingnement does not seems like an easy job.

 

[Xanxi]

So i have tried an audio CD. It has ran fine on several attempts and can play audio, but sound is weak and not clear. By similarity to the A1200, i think this is typical caps problem (i have not yet opened the console to check).
I still have to burn the WB CD but need to fin a CDR somewhere.

 

[Templar]

Yes, so capacitors it seems for the sound.

So I guess that the CD mechanism is working now, or it's still a hit and miss situation?

 

[JHanna]

All capacitors will need to be replaced. They do affect more than just the sound.

 

[Synapse70]

Hi !
Just to confirm the caps option.
Been working on 5-6 CD32, and all got bad caps.
Leading to bad/no sound and/or bad colors and/or bad/no CD reading and/or heratic behavior.

Full recap (so many caps on that small board...) fixed everything each time.

 

[Xanxi]

Thanks. Yes it seems to be fine with audioCD read after several attempts apart from the lousy audio output.

No problem, i know i can count on a vast communauty!

 

[smaug]

Hi,
Every CD32 Ive worked on had leaking capacitor C303 just beside the little chip U15A.
The leaking dielectric compound flows under the U15A and starts to corrode the chip pins
and then there starts "signal bridge passage" between the pins.
Not direct shortcut but signal distortion/noice the lowers the output audio level significantly.

As recomended before, exchange all SMD and electrolytic caps and clean the PCB before soldering in the new ones.

If youre interested in a NOS CD32 cd-drive Ive got a couple left.

regards,
Mikael

 

[Xanxi]

Hi.
Thanks for the advice.
In the meantime, Hese has fixed this CD32 totally, including new laser.
Now i'm going to install inside my old Indivison AGA MK1 which my A4000 had 15 years ago.