C13 Read error

[Ricardo]

My son has a JE 480 Minidisc deck which suddenly refuses to read any disk. It
accepts the disk, there's a long delay, then the unit displays a C13 Read
Error and ejects the disks. I Googled the error message and it sounds like
his unit is toast. (it's only 2 and 1/2 years old, BTW.)

Does anyone have any experience with Minidisc head cleaners? For $20 it could
be worth a shot, unless those things are a total sham.

FWIW, four members of my family have various minidisc equipment and this is
the first failure we've seen. I would've guessed the first failure would be a
portable unit, and not a deck, but whatever....

I'm curious to know whether anyone's had any success with those head cleaners.
Thanks in advance. -- rich

[Gerardus]

Ricardo said...

Post by Ricardo
My son has a JE 480 Minidisc deck which suddenly refuses to read any disk. It
accepts the disk, there's a long delay, then the unit displays a C13 Read
Error and ejects the disks. I Googled the error message and it sounds like
his unit is toast. (it's only 2 and 1/2 years old, BTW.)
Does anyone have any experience with Minidisc head cleaners? For $20 it could
be worth a shot, unless those things are a total sham.
FWIW, four members of my family have various minidisc equipment and this is
the first failure we've seen. I would've guessed the first failure would be a
portable unit, and not a deck, but whatever....
I'm curious to know whether anyone's had any success with those head cleaners.
Thanks in advance. -- rich

I had it once with a coffee glued MD I.e. not turning...
I never saw improvement with cleaning discs !
In my car, most 80 MDs show this type of error,
opening it to clean with alcohol is so difficult :-( !

If it is toasted, you could go to "Service mode" to look for more information...


Gerardus

[Jeff Findley]

Post by Ricardo
My son has a JE 480 Minidisc deck which suddenly refuses to read any disk.
It
accepts the disk, there's a long delay, then the unit displays a C13 Read
Error and ejects the disks. I Googled the error message and it sounds like
his unit is toast. (it's only 2 and 1/2 years old, BTW.)
Does anyone have any experience with Minidisc head cleaners? For $20 it could
be worth a shot, unless those things are a total sham.
FWIW, four members of my family have various minidisc equipment and this is
the first failure we've seen. I would've guessed the first failure would be a
portable unit, and not a deck, but whatever....
I'm curious to know whether anyone's had any success with those head cleaners.
Thanks in advance. -- rich

I don't see a service manual on www.minidisc.org for this model. You could
try downloading a service manual for another "late model" MD deck and try
the self test procedures in there. The manual for my MDS-JE440 lists this
procedure and it may help pin down the root cause.

Jeff

[Snidely]

Post by Ricardo
FWIW, four members of my family have various minidisc equipment and this is
the first failure we've seen. I would've guessed the first failure would be a
portable unit, and not a deck, but whatever....

My experience is that the portables tend to become unreliable after
the 23rd bounce.

/dps

[Julian]

Post by Ricardo
My son has a JE 480 Minidisc deck which suddenly refuses to read any disk. It
accepts the disk, there's a long delay, then the unit displays a C13 Read
Error and ejects the disks.

I am not optimistic about fixing it yourself or finding a local repair
center who can fix it. If cleaning is all that is required, those
units are easy enough to open up and see if there is any dust lodged
in the works.

There could be numerous reasons why a machine would suddenly stop
reading discs.

I know 2 folks who sent their portables in to Sony and for $100 they
sent them back working like new. I suspect they just replace the
entire laser system. I've had trouble getting certain models
serviced, but the 480 is still being sold so it should be eligible for
Sony servicing.

Julian

[Ricardo]

Post by Julian

Post by Ricardo
My son has a JE 480 Minidisc deck which suddenly refuses to read any disk. It
accepts the disk, there's a long delay, then the unit displays a C13 Read
Error and ejects the disks.

I am not optimistic about fixing it yourself or finding a local repair
center who can fix it. If cleaning is all that is required, those
units are easy enough to open up and see if there is any dust lodged
in the works.
There could be numerous reasons why a machine would suddenly stop
reading discs.
I know 2 folks who sent their portables in to Sony and for $100 they
sent them back working like new. I suspect they just replace the
entire laser system. I've had trouble getting certain models
serviced, but the 480 is still being sold so it should be eligible for
Sony servicing.
Julian

Thanks Julian, and others who responded. I'm surprised the thing croaked
already, he bought it new about 2 years ago. Not sure whether he'll
bother to repair or replace it, I know he uses his portable more often.

[Julian]

Post by Ricardo
Thanks Julian, and others who responded. I'm surprised the thing croaked
already, he bought it new about 2 years ago. Not sure whether he'll
bother to repair or replace it, I know he uses his portable more often.

At least open it up and see if there is a big glob of dust in there

:-)

[Ricardo]

Post by Julian

Post by Ricardo
Thanks Julian, and others who responded. I'm surprised the thing croaked
already, he bought it new about 2 years ago. Not sure whether he'll
bother to repair or replace it, I know he uses his portable more often.

At least open it up and see if there is a big glob of dust in there
:-)

Thanks for the tip Julian, I tried blowing air into the slot, but no luck. No
matter, I checked Craigslist and found someone nearby selling an MXD-D400
CD/Minidisc combo for $50.00. Nice unit, clean, records directly from CD to
MD, will even copy CD Text info if it's present on the CD. I'll probably hold
on to his old unit for a while, maybe take it apart and before I toss it.

[Julian]

Post by Ricardo
I checked Craigslist and found someone nearby selling an MXD-D400
CD/Minidisc combo for $50.00. Nice unit, clean, records directly from CD to
MD, will even copy CD Text info if it's present on the CD. I'll probably hold
on to his old unit for a while, maybe take it apart and before I toss it.

Let's hope it lasts forever :-)

Julian

[Jeff Findley]

Post by Ricardo
Thanks for the tip Julian, I tried blowing air into the slot, but no luck.
No
matter, I checked Craigslist and found someone nearby selling an MXD-D400
CD/Minidisc combo for $50.00. Nice unit, clean, records directly from CD to
MD, will even copy CD Text info if it's present on the CD. I'll probably hold
on to his old unit for a while, maybe take it apart and before I toss it.

$50 for a MXD-D400 is an absolute steal! Grab it while you can!

Jeff

[Ricardo]

Post by Jeff Findley
$50 for a MXD-D400 is an absolute steal! Grab it while you can!
Jeff

Jeff, I did grab it and it's in great shape. A geeky young lady who also had
the manual, remote & disks. Not my first piece of MD gear from Craigslist, so
far I've bought a Denon DMD-1000 and Sony JE520 for myself, and the MXD-D400
for my son (he uses the MD LP functionality, I can live without it). Today I
see there's an MZ-R700 but they want $100 which is too much IMHO.

My sig other (who is a non techy and thinks I'm nuts for buying these
things) wondered out loud why the sellers bought them and then obviously never
used them very much. The JE520 I picked up has a service mode opton which
tallies record and playback hours, I forget the exact numbers but they were
both in the single digits. "Record" was in the very low single digits. Go
figure.

[Jeff Findley]

Post by Ricardo
The JE520 I picked up has a service mode opton which
tallies record and playback hours, I forget the exact numbers but they were
both in the single digits. "Record" was in the very low single digits.
Go
figure.

I've seen a lot of MD hardware for sale where the sellers have claimed they
didn't use it much. It's good to know that on some models you can check the
usage in Service Mode. I never would have thought of that.

Jeff

[Ricardo]

Post by Jeff Findley
I've seen a lot of MD hardware for sale where the sellers have claimed they
didn't use it much. It's good to know that on some models you can check the
usage in Service Mode. I never would have thought of that.
Jeff

I would't have known about the usage "odometers" either, I saw it mentioned on
the JE520 page at minidisc.org. Weird sequence of powering up and button
pushes to get to the counters though, makes ctrl-alt-delete look like kids'
stuff. :-)

[Julian]

Post by Ricardo

Post by Jeff Findley
I've seen a lot of MD hardware for sale where the sellers have claimed they
didn't use it much. It's good to know that on some models you can check the
usage in Service Mode. I never would have thought of that.
Jeff

I would't have known about the usage "odometers" either, I saw it mentioned on
the JE520 page at minidisc.org. Weird sequence of powering up and button
pushes to get to the counters though, makes ctrl-alt-delete look like kids'
stuff. :-)

Thanks for the tip! I found the service manual for my JB920. I tells
me how to get the total record and play hours as well. The guy I
bought it from didn't make a big deal low use but his story sounded
like very low use. Soon I will know.

Julian

[John in detroit]

Post by Ricardo
Thanks Julian, and others who responded. I'm surprised the thing croaked
already, he bought it new about 2 years ago. Not sure whether he'll
bother to repair or replace it, I know he uses his portable more often.

It could be worse... It could be worse.

News report last night on one of those fancy new MP3 players, The
Microsoft ZOOM.

Seems a local mother purchased one for her darling son, Well, he
tripped, the screen became cracked and she tried to get it fixed.

Microsoft says they do not even carry spare parts for it, NO chance of
repair, toss it and get a new one And no, they won't do a discounted
exchange or even let her pay for repair, they do not have spare parts.

150 for the box, I think not having spare parts violates a law somewhere
but what do I know.

I know I'll never buy one, that's for sure

In other news it appears Sony has learned from past mistakes. In the war
between Sony's Blue-Ray and the competitor Hi-DVD. Blue Ray is winning,
And the deciding factor is the number of movie houses (IE: MGM) that
have decided to throw all their support (Release all their titles) on
Blue Ray and not HI-DVD

This is good

[Ricardo]

Post by John in detroit
It could be worse... It could be worse.
News report last night on one of those fancy new MP3 players, The
Microsoft ZOOM.
Seems a local mother purchased one for her darling son, Well, he
tripped, the screen became cracked and she tried to get it fixed.
Microsoft says they do not even carry spare parts for it, NO chance of
repair, toss it and get a new one And no, they won't do a discounted
exchange or even let her pay for repair, they do not have spare parts.
150 for the box, I think not having spare parts violates a law somewhere
but what do I know.
I know I'll never buy one, that's for sure

That's a bummer, maybe she has some kind of protection if she bought it with a
credit card, I think Amex at least covers that kind of thing for 90 days.

[b***@gmail.com]

nation.
595. Mahomet was without authority. His reasons, then, should have been very
strong, having only their own force. What does he say, then, that we must
believe him?
596. The Psalms are chanted throughout the whole world.
Who renders testimony to Mahomet? Himself. Jesus Christ desires His own
testimony to be as nothing.
The quality of witnesses necessitates their existence always and everywhere;
and he, miserable creature, is alone.
597. Against Mahomet.--The Koran is not more of Mahomet than the Gospel is
of Saint Matthew, for it is cited by many authors from age to age. Even its
very enemies, Celsus and Porphyry, never denied it.
The Koran says Saint Matthew was an honest man. Therefore Mahomet was a
false prophet for calling honest men wicked, or for not agreeing with what
they have said of Jesus Christ.
598. It is not by that which is obscure in Mahomet, and which may be
interpreted in a mysterious sense, that I would have him judged, but by what
is clear, as his paradise and the rest. In that he is ridiculous. And since
what is clear is ridiculous, it is not right to take his obscurities for
mysteries.
It is not the same with the Scripture. I agree that there are in it
obscurities as strange as those of Mahomet; but there are admirably clear
passages, and the prophecies are manifestly fulfilled. The cases are,
therefore, not on a par. We must not confound and put on one level things
which only resemble each other in their obscurity, and not in the clearness,
which requires us to reverence the obscurities.
599. The difference between Jesus Christ and Mahomet.--Mahomet was not
foretold; Jesus Christ was foretold.
Mahomet slew; Jesus Christ caused His own to be slain.
Mahomet forbade reading; the Apostles ordered reading.
In fact, the two are so opposed that, if Mahomet took the way to succeed
from a worl

Pack it in your ass.