How to replace the laser in a Sega MegaCD model 1

In this video we show you How to replace the laser in a Sega MegaCD model 1
Lasers available here - stores.ebay.com...

[@overnightdelivery]

I want to personally thank you for this video. I had bought a Sega CD Model 1 and one game was running almost perfectly. But everything else I tried including burned discs, official discs and audio CDs would not play more than once or twice without having issues. The CD drive pot was reading 1100 Ohms by default and it was expoxyed. Had to scrape off some epoxy to get the pot to move just enough to change it. Set it to 750 Ohms like your video and my burned copy of Sonic CD booted up and for the first time and played flawlessly. Anything else I tried worked as well. Very odd it was set so high. Everything looked factory like it hadn't been touched. But so happy it's running great now. 😁

[@overnightdelivery]

A very delayed update... not long after I had lowered the Ohms for the laser pot, the original laser literally died.. or so I thought. The drive itself was not reading CDs at all. I ended up shelving it for a couple years. Then recently I picked up another used Sega CD and swapped that drive with my the problematic one and also installed the newer laser from bad drive. This time the newish laser is reading perfectly and I'm able to use it at 1000Ohms with no issues even with burned CDs now. 700 Ohms is way stronger then needed for a new laser and will burn it out for no reason. So you will be fine with the right pot set to 1000 Ohms.

[@hadesmcc]

Yet again, thanks a bunch man, I bought a Mega-CD the early Japanese model and it wasn't powering up when I got it, to be fair it was listed as junk. I got it to power up after cleaning, it had a cd inside but it wouldn't read it. I recapped it. I had to fiddle with the limit switches more than twice, at some point they picked up corrosion, I can't even understand why. The last thing I noticed after all of that was that when I had it run all disassembled, the laser wasn't emitting any light so I bought a replacement but I wasn't very sure on how to proceed to replace it. I got the replacement part, found your video and it made my job a million times easier. My Mega-CD is now working! I'm happy, thank a bunch, keep up with your work, your content is great man.

[@MarchandendYves]

Just changed the lens on my dead Mega-CD using your video. It worked like a charm. Many thanks !

[@jameslatiker2326]

Thanks so much for making this video I just changed my laser and belt now working perfectly

[@byrosonline5876]

Thanks for the insight, managed to mostly fix my SEGACD, turns out my CD drive was slightly misaligned with the plastic piece that raises & lowers it, that prevented the lens from reading any CD at all, after realigning that plastic piece and lubricating it, now all games and CDs work fine even backups. The only thing left to fix is a grinding noise when the system powers up.

[@asiereurasiatik]

Hello! Thanks for the explanatory video! I changed the lens yesterday following your instructions. I have the same model, but the 3 "pins" are distributed differently, kind of like a traingle, instead of a singles line. I mean the thing you use to adjust the resistence. How can I found which wnat to fickle? I am having trouble reading backup copies.

[@segasonic9117]

But nice video! So nice to see someone doing a full video and not a bunch of "here's one I made earlier!" style cuts after the work is done. I think the only thing more annoying that fixing the MCD drive is the 6 Twin Famicom systems I have that I fixed. Fixing the belt on the disk drive is bad enough, the callibration is a nightmare!

[@GlobalGarageAus]

A Shaw I'm going to replace the belts on a few twin famicom in upcoming videos. I've got the parts but have been procrastinating as I've heard it's a royal pain in the ass

[@segasonic9117]

Ohhhhh boy, it is one huge pain in the arse. Getting the melted belt bits off the motor is bad enough, it is getting the basted thing calibrated that is the problem. There is a really good video on you tube about fixing disc systems, it has a good calibration method. It never worked first time for me as it does in tge video, but that could be my fault. The most important part is to have a good variety of games to test. I think Palutena no Kagami was the game that I used to judge the calibration. It was the one game that needs it to PERFECT to work. I can link the video to you if you like. I just need to find it! I am always happy to help fellow console revivers. Even better when they are in this country because it is so rare! :D

[@GlobalGarageAus]

If you could paste a link to that video I would appreciate it. I'm sure it will save me a lot of trial and error. thanks

[@neilmclean1527]

I have a JP MCD (Sony disc drive) and when it’s been on a while it will fail during loading. Chatted to a guy in a Facebook group about this and he said he has several JP model 1s that all stop working after about an hour of use. Do you think an aftermarket laser replacement like this is the next step for me? Drive belt and lens clean done but this problem still persists. The JVC drives found in some US and EU models seem to be better survivors.

[@segasonic9117]

I will just add about the TY CDRs, they also work fantastically in my other systems such as the Saturn, DUO-RX (as well as my SUPER CD-ROM2 and suitcase PCE systems) and PS1. I cannot wait for the day I have ODEs for all of them. Still trying to get a PS-IO and SS/DC sd reader.

[@vasilyordanov8710]

Hello, nice video, very helpful! I have problem with my MCD1 - the white gearwheel that you remove in the video is missing one teeth on mine. Do you know from where I can find the same gearwheel or what is the model of the whole CD Mechanism? Thank you!

[@Ash-fl4hf]

Towards the end when you are trying to play the burned disc you hear a grinding noise and then say that you know what you did wrong, what did you do wrong? Im having the same grinding noise.

[@Lampiono69]

Hi! Same problem for me. I need to solve this grinding noise also. Besides, my new laser purchased from China also gets 0 ohm in the center and right adjustment pins… The setup is far to being optimal.

[@Konstantinosmo]

Hello. I own a sega mega cd 1 (Pal) with laser jvc optima-5. It plays music cds but does not play game cds. I mesure the potentiometer -it shows 5.6kΩhms. What is the proper indication i have to take?

[@dallase1]

What happened to the metal RF Shield? I have the American Sega CD and it has a big metal RF Shield.

[@jonathandogey5747]

I take a picture of the screws and draw lines on the photo pointing to where the screws were so I can’t forget

[@tuxmask75]

Heya I bought 3 lens units from liberty electronics and all 3 are reading back at 0 ohms on the 3ed tweak pot on right no mater how much I turn it. this isn’t normal is it?!?! My multimeter works on the original sega cd lens power pot and works on the other 2 pots on the liberty units. So my multimeter isn’t busted.

[@GlobalGarageAus]

You need to remove the anti static solder blob.

[@tuxmask75]

Global Garage hello ! Thanks for the quick reply , where exactly is the blob located?

[@touche112]

My replacement laser assemblies also don't read on the third pot. The KSS-240A models don't have an anti-static blob so I'm not sure what's up.

[@Lt-Kippo]

Same issue. I read 0 ohm on the potentiometer, the KSS240 does not have a solder short, yet It works with original discs, but not CDRs. No adjustments can be made, or at least that I can read from the circuit. The original laser had a reading.

[@tuxmask75]

Lt.Kippo hope we can get ahold of some replacements that are adjustable . None of the units worked even on official games here, the old original laser kinda works for the first track on music cds. I tried tweaking the power pot to squeeze a bit extra life out of it , but yeah, it’s gone...

[@casaborg]

Hi buddy need your help where are the switches that tells cd tray is close, my sega cd wont close its open and open..

[@Jrocker023]

Thank you very much for the video. Would there be an issue changing the value of the laser like you did and it causing any issues with my non backup CD's? I changed the pot from 1150 to 726 because I though the laser was the issue reading discs. It turned out I had to adjust the spindle but I left the laser at 726, will this be ok or should I adjust back you 1150. Thank you

[@TitoCarl0]

Do you fix the issue?

[@Alexfloch]

Hello. I have a problem ... I insert the CD. The engine turns for 3 seconds and stops ... what could it be? lens? thank you so much

[@dallase1]

What does it mean when the CD Tray keeps sliding out when there is a Cartridge in the Genesis and the lights on the Sega CD Don't light up?

[@brandonkick]

Just take the cartridge out entirely. The SegaCD / MegaCD will not function with a cart inserted. It shouldn't power on, or eject the tray. With no cartridge in the genesis, if you turn on the console and the SegaCD just ejects the tray (and continues to eject, even if you just push the tray back in and do not do anything else) then your drive belt is likely bad. They are normally all stretched out and deformed after all these years, and the laser assembly can't fully engage back to regular height (it drops down when you eject the disk) because the belt doesn't have enough tension to pull the drive up high enough. You can get the belts for like $3-$4. Start there. Any time you have a model 1 SegaCD / MegaCD, replace the belt.

[@ryandavis7011]

What's that little PCB board near the battery? - my SegaCD looks a bit different

[@jaekoff5050]

yeah so does mine

[@jonathandogey5747]

My Sega cd model 1 (u.s. model) works almost perfect but the game audio for cd games always has this washy shhrrrreerrrrerrrr sounds going on over the gameplay. Or during Starblade the sound and voices are playing perfectly but above that, there’s this skipping rapid woosh woosh woosh sound going on all the time. Multiple Genesis tested with this Sega cd, and also there were some caps inside that had leaked and were replaced and they hadn’t leaked enough to do any damage. Even the Genesis was completely recapped to rule that out. But Sega cd still has these sound issues. I’m wondering if i should try replacing the laser or if it has something to do with the knobs you adjusted on the laser

[@timberwolves100]

I had weird audio feedback during audio before my original laser went completely bad. Recently put in a new one that is not making any strange audio noises. But it won't read any CDs either. You cannot adjust the strength of the laser on all the new lasers off Ebay as far as I can tell. It just reads .01 Ohms on the two right pots. They don't seem to do anything. Only the left one does anything but adjusting it just makes the laser not read the discs. So hoping to find a laser that actually lets you make adjustments.

[@Trident22]

Any suggestions for a frozen start screen? All capacitors have been changed & Still frozen on start up.

[@nassekova]

I had the same problem. Some of the "go through" holes which are supposed to be full of tin were inside corroded by acid. Drilled those open and but new tin on them, and got mine working

[@timberwolves100]

Froze start screen usually means a ribbon cable is either not properly connected or damaged.

[@attilathehun0]

I wish it was like old school PC where you just disconnect the disk drive and reconnect the new one.

[@segasonic9117]

You could save yourself a lot of hassle by using Taiyo Yuden CDRs. I have about 25 JP MCD1 systems that I bought to slowly fix and bring back to life. The ones that work will not read any CDRs other than TY. I have a ton of Japanese doubles for my beloved MCD games, but for games I own like SNATCHER, Lords of Thunder, Space Adventure Cobra etc that I will never own a double of (paying AUD $119.95 for the game back in October 1994 doesn't seem so bad now!), I can only use CDR.