Philips CDi - Couple of questions

[dougal]

Today I was happy to pick up a Philips CDI from the local car boot sale. I had never seen one before in real life, so you can imagine how happy I was when I saw it there and bought it for next to nothing.

It's a CDi 450 and it came with the original power brick and nothing else. It does have the MPEG expansion card with it too.

I plugged it in and connected it to the TV and powered it up. Powers on fine and shows a display.

I put a burnt CD into it and closed the lid but all it does is make a slight sound from the disc drive for 1 second and nothing else. It says "DISC" on the screen and if i open the lid it says "OPEN" but I cannot hear it actually spinning up or anything.

I cannot test further as I have no controller.

SO my question is, is the cd drive meant to spin when a cd is inserted or do you have to select something ?

Also, is there anything i can use as a controller alternative till i find one ? Would a PC Engine controller work ?

 

[fitzsteve]

It won't do anything without a controller.

 

[dougal]

It won't do anything without a controller.

Not even spin the cd at any point whatsoever ?

 

[Sardine]

im probably wrong but they dont spin like a 52x cdrom, probable 2x or 4x and wont make a noise, the electronics "brake" stop the disk when you open the lid, anyway you can press it so it thinks the door is closed to see if it spins ?

its also probably looking for a VCD not to be confused with iso mpeg, i real philips VCD cannot be read in a pc drive (it appears empty) so it might be looking for the header and stopping. ive never had a cdi but it seems probably to me.

 

[scrappysphinx]

on the 210 model i had the disc would spin at first and then stop once it had been recognised. It would then spin again when i pressed the button to start the disc (think it said CDi on the button)

 

[dougal]

I've put the CD in and tried switching on whilst pressing the lid button (to simulate a closed lid) and no spin-up
I also switched it on with no cd, inserted a cd and pressed the button (of lid) and no spin-up

The lid button is fine as with the lid open it says "OPEN" at the bottom and with the lid shut it says "DISC"

 

[dougal]

Ok did more tests:

With or without a CD in the drive, when i close the lid it says "DISC" on the screen.

If i simulate closing the lid (pressing the button that activates when the lid is shut) with or without a cd in the drive, the lens/laser focuses and lights red but no spinning

 

[johnim]

Vyothric

darren on here has Almost finished the first (possibly of many) Mega Drive to CD-i controller adapter



https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10152992361492189&set=gm.10152756164598280&type=1

 

[dougal]

Vyothric

darren on here has Almost finished the first (possibly of many) Mega Drive to CD-i controller adapter



https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10152992361492189&set=gm.10152756164598280&type=1

That would be nice

 

[dougal]

The manual states that when a CD is inserted the LED should flash and then become solid once the disc is ready, but when I put a CD in and close the lid it doesn't flash, just remains solid.

 

[wmsteele]

If you turn the unit on with no CD you should hear the lens move very briefly. When you close the lid on the 450 with a CD in the unit the led should flash and the CD will start to spin (should be easily audible), turning solid again after an attempt has been made to read the CD. If you have 'auto play' activated and the format of the disk is recognised (CDi game or VCD) it will start or show a "Play CDi" icon, using an audio CD will load the CD player.

- - - Updated - - -

Vyothric

darren on here has Almost finished the first (possibly of many) Mega Drive to CD-i controller adapter



https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10152992361492189&set=gm.10152756164598280&type=1

Very cool, do you know if these will make it out into the wild?

 

[dougal]

The lens moves, i'm guessing to focus and it makes a sound. It also lights red (the laser) but no spinning whatsoever and the led remains solid. No flashing.

Is the motor/spindle damaged ? Is it because I need the remote ?

 

[wmsteele]

I've never had the led go red its always green here, guessing its not good...

 

[dougal]

I've never had the led go red its always green here, guessing its not good...

I didn't say the LED went red. Its always green but solid green. Does not flash when I insert the cd.

What goes red is the lens.. thats normal the red laser.

 

[wmsteele]

Have a look here... http://lifein16bit.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/cdi-450-repair-laser-replacement.html

 

[dougal]

I cleaned the lens. It's loading stuff now but sometimes skipping and getting stuck. May need more cleaning.

- - - Updated - - -

Its skipping too much.What else can I try to clean it ?

So far i used a q-tip to clean the lens using isoclene

- - - Updated - - -

A copy of Link Faces of Evil which i downloaded and burned at 52X to test works but sometimes skips or judders... maybe cause its a copy @ 52X ?

A CD Lens cleaning disc (audio) worked but had some skipping in the music

Now i'm trying an original Audio CD... I cannot skip tracks as i have no controller. 1st track had no skipping. Second track is very slightly skipping like every minute or so so and very slight.

Gonna try burning a game at the slowest speed my cdwriter can handle which is 8X i think and test.

What do you guys think ?

 

[dougal]

It seems more use is making it work better. Must have been unused for many many years.

Tried (Without controller) the following:

Hotel Mario - Loads fine and plays intro perfectly and then title screen and demo mode - All perfect
Maddog McRee - Loads fine and plays all FMV perfectly (Burned @ 52X)
Zelda's Adventure - Loaded intro and FMV and demo mode - All perfect
Link Faces of Evil - This is I burned at 52X... Mostly works, sometimes can give a cd error. I will burn it again at 8X
Lemmings - Intro worked perfect (damn its long ) and got to title screen. - Cannot test further without a controller
Pac Panic - Working fine, title screen and demo mode
Burn Cycle - Got to title screen, no further testing as no pad.

Seems everything is working perfectly now... JOY! Just need a damn pad or controller or something.




EDIT: After being turned off for a few hours it is having trouble reading discs again and getting lots of read errors..... So far i'm guessing the CD-I needs to be switched on and used for a while till it warms up to work right. Is this a sign of a faulty component ?

 

[Phipscube]

Sounds like you need to replace all the electrolytic capacitors...

 

[dougal]

Sounds like you need to replace all the electrolytic capacitors...

Could it be possible that it's the power brick not putting out enough power until it warms up or is it more likely as you said the caps ?

 

[Phipscube]

It could be an electrolytic in the psu, but most likely its one around the CD drive. Best bet is to replace all of them. It will do it a world of good anyway. I swear by this as the first thing to do when you get a machine around 20+ years old.