Bargains on ebay?

[MikeMusic]

You are forgetting the black sheep of the family Martin:

which led me to
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...v=piE-VEubGr4#!
Hilarious

[synsei]

Beat ya to it...

[MikeMusic]

Beat ya to it...

Which led to alternative Darth Vader and Snatch Wars and ...
I'm supposed to be working !

[synsei]

Okay Mike, I'll leave you alone now...

[nat8808]

Nope, a laser can lose power and still work with optimum discs. The Pioneer drive in my Ayre SACD player started doing this, playing some discs and skipping on others. It was diagnosed as a failing laser and the entire drive was replaced.

All CD mechanisms (possibly with the exception of a CDM3? Can't remember seeing what's on the board) carry with them components prior to the laser which constitute part of the power supply.

Very often it is a failed capacitor on the mech that causes a lack of power to the laser.

Your average and even your not-so-average repair man, even back at the manufacturer (probably especially back at the factory!) will class a failing of any part of the mech as a 'failed laser'. The actual laser itself may be absolutely fine but the power isn't getting to it properly. It mostly takes a real geek to actually bother to trace and solve the real problem as for anyone else it's just easier to buy a new mech and charge it to the customer or tell them it's not repairable and have they seen their latest range?

Here's a random sample of geeks talking about this:

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/digit...cdm-1-mk2.html

THE FIRST THING you need to do is replace that blue electrolytic capacitor, the one with 2103 beside it, with a new Nichicon(axial or radial matters not), then re-install the OLD CDM unit to see if the resistor still overheats. No doubt, AT ALL, the blue cap is the reason your old cdm stopped working. I've never, ever seen a CDM1-mkII have any problem other than this one cap failing. If the resistor stops burning with the old mech, then there is a fault in the new one.

I suspect that a shocking number of CDM's have been tossed in the trash due to ignorance of this cap. Since I have been working on, e.g., Revox A77's since the ate 70's, I knew of the poor durability of German brands of electrolytic caps(forgive this generalisation, but I doubt anyone can argue this point that has long experience), so I had little troube identifying the fault the first time I had read problems with a player thus equipped. The voltage rating of that cap need not be increased. If you use a Nichicon or at least a Nippon Chemicon, even a 16V cap will last forever.

[nat8808]

These old Stable Platter transports have a propensity for the glue holding the laser lens to deteriorate and the laser focusing goes to pot because the lens is askew in it's holder. It's not uncommon either for the lens to jump clean out of it's carriage altogether during shipment It can be glued back into place but you need to be very sparing with the glue and have a steady hand too.

I've had that happen to me..

Unfortunately it caused a massive eBay problem for me, a guy who bought the PD-77 that was fully working when I shipped it just wouldn't believe me. He was a technician too but refused to even look to see if there was anything loose. Forced my hand into having to pay full return shipping from France. I got it back and the lense was rattling around in the bottom of the chassis.

[DaveK]

Apologies to all if this is not the right place so mods feel free to move it to where it should be but I thought haste might be better than accuracy.
A few weeks ago I was contacted by a Debt Collection Agency called the Lewis Group with an office in Cleckheaton. They were demanding that I paid an outstanding debt of £33.65 to PayPal. After much site searching I was able to e-mail PayPal (I always prefer to get things in writing ) and ask for details of the debt concerned. Within 48 hours they responded with an assurance that my account was in good order and no such debt was owed. Armed with this assurance I assumed it was a 'try-it-on' scam and ignored it.
Today, while I was out, a representative of the same Group's Belfast office called at our house and worried my 68 year old wife with a written Final Notice for the same debt - so much for PayPal's assurance that no debt was owed.
I have again e-mailed PayPal and told them to withdraw their dogs or face the consequences (but very politely ) and I thought I'd post the details here to warn any others or see if anyone else had had the same experience.
Dave.

[Puffin]

Apologies to all if this is not the right place so mods feel free to move it to where it should be but I thought haste might be better than accuracy.
A few weeks ago I was contacted by a Debt Collection Agency called the Lewis Group with an office in Cleckheaton. They were demanding that I paid an outstanding debt of £33.65 to PayPal. After much site searching I was able to e-mail PayPal (I always prefer to get things in writing ) and ask for details of the debt concerned. Within 48 hours they responded with an assurance that my account was in good order and no such debt was owed. Armed with this assurance I assumed it was a 'try-it-on' scam and ignored it.
Today, while I was out, a representative of the same Group's Belfast office called at our house and worried my 68 year old wife with a written Final Notice for the same debt - so much for PayPal's assurance that no debt was owed.
I have again e-mailed PayPal and told them to withdraw their dogs or face the consequences (but very politely ) and I thought I'd post the details here to warn any others or see if anyone else had had the same experience.
Dave.

So what was the debt said to be in respect of?

[DaveK]

Rob,
Nothing was stated, just a debt to PayPal - I still suspect some form of scam or PayPal's left hanf doesn't not know what it's right hand is doing and their records are totally insecure and/or scrambled.

[Puffin]

Bit extreme to actually send "the boys" round. I am interested only in as much as recently I had a letter from solicitors acting on behalf of HM Rev & Customs for a late filing penalty fee. The letter didn't say which year it related to, only that if I did not pay in 7 days they would either send the boys in or take me to court.....for £100

All sorted now, but only after a lot of phone calls later did I get the info as to which years return was said to be missing.