When good Duo's get bad...(also a fixed arcade stick)

[alexsduo]

Hello good people!  I have an issue maybe y'all can help.  I am a long time turbo fan, I remember buying all kinds of turbo stuff from babbages, it was like heaven.  I unfortunately lend an ex-friend of mine my bonk and other games, but bought a turbo-duo off him for $20.  He then pawned my games so he could buy drugs; I can only wonder where he is now.  Anyway just recently I found a turbo-duo on craigslist, with about 10 or so games.  I went to the guy's house, the duo was in immaculate condition, it was in the box with all inserts, and he turned it on and I played ninja-something.  I also got a r-type on cd and gates of thunder, and y's book.  I then got home and the cd portion of the duo will not work at all.  I emailed him back and hes like "um, sometimes you gotta turn it on and off a few times."  I'm like you are a douchbag and I hope you choke on something.  Anyway, I am trying to get it working again.  The laser is all the way to the right, and does not seem to have any kind of light .  When I put a disc in (audio or game) it does not seem to spin at all or do anything other than load.  I tried to move the laser a little but nothing.  I recently purchased the game bits for nes/turbo systems and the games.  I actually opened an older n64 and fixed the stuck reset button really easily.  I also opened up my turbo stick because it would not go up, which was ok for galaga and some other games.  The small rubber pad fell right out when I opened it up, I replace it, and it workes like a charm.  So I was thinking of buying a new laser, but I am not sure that the laser is the problem.  I was hoping someone could help me out a little bit.  Maybe we can start a wikipedia for troubleshooting with pictures and instructions for various common problems?  If anyone needs help with a stick, i got pics and can help a little.  Please get my duo working again! Take care

alex, alexinwunderland at gmail dot com, thanks

[ceti alpha]

http://www.teamfremont.com/features/TurboDuoRepair.shtml

That link might be of use to you. 

[SignOfZeta]

If the laser is all the way to the right, that's probably your problem right there. Manually wind it to the start of its travel (should be the left) and see if this brings it back to life. The thing gets stuck out there sometimes from playing CD-Rs.

You need to open the system up to do this, btw.

[Turbo D]

I didn't open mine up, I just stuck my finger in there and moved the fu#$er, lol. But this should be done only if you are in an angry rage and do not wish to buy expensive and time consuming opening tools and f@#$ with your mint system. If that doesn't work, you'll have to open her up anyways to throw in a new laser. Sometimes that doesn't even work.

[SignOfZeta]

If the laser is all the way to the right, it doesn't matter if its perfect, or totally shot because it can't move once it gets too far to the right.

Also, a game bit costs like...$3 or something. Hardly expensive.

[Turbo D]

I say drink a beer and move that bastard with your finger 

[nat]

I say drink a beer and move that bastard with your finger 

does beer transform you into a super hero or something?

[Turbo D]

yes 

[ceti alpha]

yes  Smile

You too?!! 

[chaoticjelly]

Try leaving the system powered on for 10-15 minutes then attempt to load a CD.

If it works then, you need to replace a lot of the surface mount capacitors inside the Duo..

[alexsduo]

Dammit, I deleted the first post.  Anyway version 2.0, My duo would not play cds so i took it apart. My Duo played hu-cards fine, but the cd rom did not spin, nor did I see any kind of light, the laser was also all the way to the right.  I opened her up and it seemed as the motor cog and wheel was stuck.  I was too scared to pry the laser back to the other side, so I used a flat head screwdriver and turned the cog in a clockwise motion.  It moved the lens about a half-millimeter each spin.  Eventually it went all the way to the left, and I noticed that when it did, there was a small black button that was depressed when it was to the left.  I put it back together and turned it on, and for the first time (since I owned it) it started right up.  I was shocked and amazed and thought I was tripping when Japanese people were talking and shit.  It was R-type (original) and i played it and it rocked.  Then I tried a cdr of gates of thunder and it worked but was slightly choppy, and then froze.  I noticed that the lens was all the way to the right again.  I (in a angrily manner) did the entire process again, but when I moved the lens to the left, I did not depress the little switch this time.  I put in a cdr of dracula x, and I was amazed again.  It worked great, the audio was in German (du beis shiess kopf!) but the writing was in Japanese.  I played it for a bit and it really is as bad ass as they say it is.  I turned it off and the lens looks like it is more on the right again, but I just put it away.  I have an exam tomorrow (saterday) at 9 am, and I need to study.  Check out the pics, hopefully they work, and let me know if this works for you, or if you know a permanent solution to keep it to the left. Peace

Alex

http://picasaweb.google.com/alexinwunderland/TurboGrafxStuff

[nat]

The laser on my Duo is almost always to the right when I turn it off. This is normal. The problem lies when the laser goes so far to the right that it gets stuck at the end of the cog.

Did you actually try to play a game when it was like this the second and third time before dismantling? My guess is that it was only REALLY stuck the first time.

[SignOfZeta]

The permanent solution to keeping the laser on the left is to not play CD-Rs in it.

[Necromancer]

The permanent solution to keeping the laser on the left is to not play CD-Rs in it.

Word.  My Duo pulls the same little trick if I offend it with CD-Rs (no Meteor Blaster DX for me  ).

Alexsduo: if you want to keep playing copies, then it sounds like you need to replace the laser assembly or switch to playing on an emulator.

[nat]

Yeah, Meteor Blaster DX straight up refuses to boot on my Duo. It's the only game I have problems with, ironically. The two other CD-R games I own run fine. I have to play Meteor Blaster on the SuperGrafx with the oldschool CD-ROM^2.