KSM-440BAM PSOne CD reader scratching

[Xavi92]

Hi everyone,

From one day to another, my SCPH-102 decided not to work anymore. The console features a one-year-old Chinese-manufactured KSM-440BAM CD reader. There seem to be two problems here:

1. I dissassembled the unit and I saw that the disk is not spinning freely since the two tiny screws below the spindle hub are colliding with the spindle. Once I power up the console, the disk cannot reach full speed, so game will not start.

2. The CD spins while moving up and down (watch the videos to get what I mean), hence scratching against the CD reader surface. It looks like something related to the spindle hub, probably it needs to be glued against the reader? Right now, the hub can be popped off the unit easily.

https://youtu.be/2wOrA27qCrk
https://youtu.be/o9we0AJe6C4

I have tried to reassemble the CD reader unit with no luck. Do you have any clues about how to proceed so as to avoid buying yet another new KSM-440BAM unit? Those units are getting more scarce and expensive every day...

Thanks a lot.

[Administrator]

Replace the spindle assembly.

[rama3]

Yep, spindle and/or spindle hub are gone. You can use the complete motor + spindle + spindle hub from a different assembly or just replace the entire thing with a new one.

[Xavi92]

Today I have received my new KSM-440BAM, but my SCPH-102 unit still cannot read any CD-ROMs. You can see the CD does not touch the CD reader surface, so what could it be causing the problem?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0R4Msje3LSM[/youtube]

[Administrator]

The spindle is bad. You can see it going up and down.
Did you swap it or is this just an entire new deck you put in and didn't touch it?
Also, as a stupid idea, make sure the CD is actually good (IE: make sure it's not melted and warped).

[Xavi92]

The unit came as a complete deck. I only had to unplug the cables, place in the new unit and connect the cables again. It's also failing to work using other CD-ROMs.

[Administrator]

Well those decks aren't new. They're refurbished units (albeit poorly). Looks like they've glued the spindle on wrong.
I'd just replace that spindle with another. Shame you had the same problem twice now, even with a replaced drive.

[Orion_]

those "brand new" unit are Chinese made and very poor quality, I ordered one once and the spindle was too much pressed, it was rubbing very badly making a noise like on your video.
I just asked for a refund.
I finally bought a second hand psone and used the optical unit as a replacement.

[Xavi92]

Finally, the problem was the spindle was too much pressed into the motor axis, making it hard for the CD-ROM to spin, but since the spindle was not properly fixed it could also be easily removed. The solution was to remove the spindle, put some glue on the axis and put the spindle again. That definitely solved the issue without spending a single cent.

[rama3]

The spindle hight has to be very precise. Well, normally.
Turns out the PSX drive gets away with a bit more wiggle room.

For the future, I recommend you just get some more PSOne consoles from flea markets.
Most of the time, their drives are still good.
The stuff you can buy "new" on Ebay on the other hand is usually badly refurbished.