Panasonic FZ-1 sollutions for most Common Technical Faults

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clive
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Panasonic FZ-1 sollutions for most Common Technical Faults

Post by clive » Fri Feb 13, 2009 3:33 am

Hello just had to register to these forums to tell you guys
what I have found out when I was fixing my 3do FZ-1 machine.

Bought one Fz-1 machine from ebay, had numerous problems
and I will list them here and the following sollutions for those problems

Notice!

I made a little webpage for these repair instructions
where I describe the whole process in more detail
with pictures.

http://www.datacentra.net/other/3do/index.html



Problem #1

Disc wont spin and the laser will not initialize

found out that in my 3do the laser's pickup motors
plastic gear was broken, due to design fault the gear will over
time wear out and snap. that causes the motor to jamm and the
laser will not move to it's starting position and the system will not initialize.

replaced the worn gear and presto! problem #1 solved.

The laser's wormrail "pickup rail" motor is located at the back of the
cd drive, it is held down by 2 screws. it is the motor with the orange and brown wires.



NOTICE

Also if you have a broken disc spindle motor you can replace it
with standard 5.9v dc cd spindle motor, these can found in playstation 1
laser assembly. My 3DO works just fine with this motor.


Problem #2


Disc keeps grinding on the disc plate, hence the disc wont
spin up right causing it to vibrate and reflect distorted image back to the
laser.

sollution:

cut out 4 small pices of electrical tape and place them on the disc plate.
this causes the discplate to have more friction thus stopping the disc from slipping and grinding.

problem # 3

laser unit is worn out need to be replaced but cannot find the
correct laser unit.

the panasonic 3DO FZ-1 uses SANYO SF-92.5 laser pickup with 11 / 4 pin connectors with dual short cables!!.

looks like this

Image

*UPDATE*

It seems that the regular OEM Sanyo SF-92.5 4/11 pins laser
design has been changed from the original Sanyo specs
so it wont fit 3do fz-1, but the good news is that they are still
making the old version wich is called Sanyo SF-92.5 4/11 pins "dual short cable"

I have sent numerous emails to every source I found that have once
sold this item for inquiry.

-Clive
Last edited by clive on Sat Feb 21, 2009 1:49 pm, edited 11 times in total.

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Post by Qcombus » Fri Feb 13, 2009 4:11 am

Wow, that is probably one of the best posts of the year (I know it just started but still...) Thanks a lot!

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Post by BryWI » Fri Feb 13, 2009 9:07 am

question, when im looking for that part for the laser, most of them that show up are 11pin and you said it needs a 12 pin. The once site i saw that said there was a 12 pin was just listing it and not selling it. Did you see a site that specificly sells the correct part and is located or ships to usa? Also, how difficult is it to install?

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Post by clive » Fri Feb 13, 2009 11:19 am

sorry my bad, just checked the laser ribbon cable and it is
11 / 4 pin one in the panasonic FZ-1

so the laser you need for 3DO FZ-1 is Sanyo 92.5 11 / 4-pin

you can get it from http://www.donberg.ie/descript/s/sf_92.5_12.htm

for 18.99 € euro

*UPDATE*

The laser needs to be the one with the Dual short ribbon cables
and 3.5mm quiderail holes, the newer SF92.5 model has
longer ribbon cables and only 3.0mm guiderail holes so the
NEW model will not FIT!!

-Clive
Last edited by clive on Sat Feb 21, 2009 1:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Post by 3DOKid » Fri Feb 13, 2009 1:52 pm

This awesome and the thread is sticky.

And I have just ordered a new laser for one of my aged Japanese FZ1s.

(YEAH!)

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Post by 3DOKid » Fri Feb 13, 2009 3:42 pm

...and they are out of stock.

Looks like the race is on.

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Post by 3DOKid » Fri Feb 13, 2009 3:46 pm

If anyone can find these online to buy, tell me, and I will buy a load and keep them safe for forum members. :)

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Post by BryWI » Fri Feb 13, 2009 5:05 pm

You get a hold of some and I will definitely buy one.

bitrate, can you give us a verification on that part from the tech docs?

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Post by clive » Fri Feb 13, 2009 9:04 pm

I will try to ask around for this laser, it was pretty common laser used
back in the 90's it was on many car cd players and even widely used on home cd player decks.

it might be that to get one I have to order 10pcs but it wont be problem
because I would say that they will sell on ebay pretty fast.

I will post here any additional Info I can find.

on a side note you could ask your local Panasonic service place
if they had any and know where to get one.

-Clive

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Post by clive » Fri Feb 13, 2009 9:11 pm

found one place that sells them

http://www.electronicservice.pl/?item=3602

15€ euro

*UPDATE*

This laser unit will not fit in 3DO FZ-1
you need the one with the Dual Short cables..
look for the first post for more details..
Last edited by clive on Sat Feb 21, 2009 1:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Post by 3DOKid » Fri Feb 13, 2009 11:06 pm

Right so

The Irish company http://www.donberg.ie/

who sent me a mail, saying we don't have any in stock, I replied saying I needed around 20 (I originally said I needed 1) by some miracle found 20 of the CD lens so i guess the one I wanted was lost underneath the 20?

Either way i am delighted we found another source.

From which I just ordered 1.

I'll wait for it to be delivered, fit it, see if it works, create an FAQ and then get a bunch more.

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Post by clive » Sat Feb 14, 2009 12:27 am

Yes! Just fixed my 3DO!!

the laser unit was so badly covered with tar residue, due to smoking previous owner. I just cleaned the laser unit over and over
again with rubbing alcohol and gave it a good blow of air trough the small holes in the laser and that did the trick.

It now reads audio cd's pretty well but if there's any scratches on the discs they will cause bad jitter errors..

Game cd's work ok FMV plays without skipping and so on.

I don't have any original game discs so I cant test how those would
work, but as the system reads burned copies ok it should work
better with originals.

Anyways if you are having reading problems just clean the laser unit
with rubbing alcohol and airduster..

a new laser would make this system New like, but let's just see how well it works now that I've cleaned the old laser properly..

I just love fixing stuff, the feeling when you get something what's completely lifeless back to life is really good :D

-Clive

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Post by clive » Sat Feb 14, 2009 2:37 am

3DOKid wrote:Right so

The Irish company http://www.donberg.ie/

who sent me a mail, saying we don't have any in stock, I replied saying I needed around 20 (I originally said I needed 1) by some miracle found 20 of the CD lens so i guess the one I wanted was lost underneath the 20?

Either way i am delighted we found another source.

From which I just ordered 1.

I'll wait for it to be delivered, fit it, see if it works, create an FAQ and then get a bunch more.
BTW not sure if you are familiar with new laser installs but
be sure to remove the ESD protection before installing it to the console.
it is 2 pads joint together in the flex cable, and they need to be desoldered


Image

if the laser comes with the longer flex cable, then just look for similiar pad on the cable, all new lasers have ESD protection.


-Clive

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Post by 3DO Experience » Sat Feb 14, 2009 3:27 am

Wow Clive, you really know how to rock with the first post!
"Wait. You don't have a bag of charcoal in your gaming room???"

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Post by clive » Sat Feb 14, 2009 6:05 am

3DO Experience wrote:Wow Clive, you really know how to rock with the first post!
Thank you.

just made a little website for these repair instructions, where
I describe the repair process in more detail and pictures

http://www.datacentra.net/other/3do/index.html

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Post by 3DOKid » Sat Feb 21, 2009 1:17 pm

This one:

http://www.electronicservice.pl/?item=3602

Doesn't fit. The laser is right, but the housing is all different. Plus the wiring is different and plugs are different. :(

I'll try another one :)

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Post by clive » Sat Feb 21, 2009 1:36 pm

Yes, noticed the same yesterday when received mine..
it seems that some engineer decided to change the specs of
the original sanyo design.. anyways I have 5 other places wich
I sent email for requesting the old model with the 2 short ribbon cables and 3.5mm holes for the guiderail.

btw I think you can return the unit and get a full refund.
I cant because I tried to modify mine by changin the ribbon cables
wich ended in disaster :(

anyways everything is not yet lost
I will be waiting response from those companies I sent the
emails..

The laser that should fit 3do is called
Sanyo SF-92.5 4/11 "dual short cable"


One thing you could try but you gonna have to be mac gyver for this one.. is to change only the 4pin ribbon cable
wich I did not try before I broke my laser, gently desolder
the old lasers 4pin ribbon cable, cut the new lasers 4pin ribbon
and just solder the old lasers 4pin ribbon on top of the new lasers 4pin ribbon cable that you just cut.

DO NOT try to desolder the new lasers 4pin ribbon because
it will deadjust the new lasers magnetic focussing coils that are
soldered on that 4pin ribbon..

and yes the hard part is to drill the 3.0mm guiderail holes to
3.5mm, it is aluminum so it wont need much force


hope I made it clear enough :D

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Post by clive » Sat Feb 21, 2009 4:28 pm

Ok, got first responce to one of my emails..

it says that they still have a line for that laser unit and it can
be produced to my specs, the matter is that how many will I order
and that will determine the price for one unit.

I said that I want one sample unit before orderring anything
so if it happens that this laser works for the 3do then I can order
many as needed and sell them forward..

but well see what the other companies have to say before making any
deals and so on..

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Post by 3DOKid » Sat Feb 21, 2009 4:32 pm

Brilliant.

I'm not adept in the arts of soldering iron so I'll wait and see what happens and get one that fits :)

:)

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Post by BryWI » Sun Feb 22, 2009 4:04 pm

sounds like a lot of work. If i could get something I could just swap out easily id buy one. My FZ-1's laser is pretty shotty.

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Post by clive » Sun Feb 22, 2009 10:21 pm

Got reply to my email regarding about the item price..

they are willing to provide me one unit for free to test
and the minimum order qty is 50 units..
the price is pretty low thou, only 5,8 USD per unit.

so it would be 290 USD for the whole batch..

could make nice profit by selling em at 20 usd per unit ;)

I will wait for the other companies to reply if someone can
supply smaller qty batch, because I really dont need 50pcs of panasonic 3do FZ-1 laser units :D

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Post by clive » Fri Feb 27, 2009 4:29 pm

Ok, I will order one sample unit from the company who is willing to send only 50 units at a time,
so if it works I will let you guys know, and then
you can safely order the batch, because I dont have time and money
to order 50 units and sell them over ebay etc.. so it's up to you

price for 50 units was 50x $5,8 USD

so if you want you can order them from the factory via
contact I have made, and then re-sell the units at good profit.

anyways I will let you know how it will turn out in few weeks
the laser should be the same make and model with same ribbon cables
as the 3do so it should work 100% fine.

well just have to wait and see

-Clive

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Post by 3DOKid » Fri Feb 27, 2009 4:54 pm

PM me the details mate. :) thank you.

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Post by 3DO Experience » Thu Mar 05, 2009 12:49 am

I'm gonna have to keep an eye open on this. Never had a laser problem yet, but nothing lasts forever.
"Wait. You don't have a bag of charcoal in your gaming room???"

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Post by 3DOKid » Thu Apr 23, 2009 9:51 pm

Apparently, 50 Lens are heading my way. Wish me luck

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Post by BryWI » Thu Apr 23, 2009 11:17 pm

Were you able to find out if they were the right ones before hand?

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Post by 3DOKid » Fri Apr 24, 2009 7:43 am

BryWI wrote:Were you able to find out if they were the right ones before hand?
I was assured.

There is a wee bit of gambling on my part taking place.

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Post by BryWI » Fri Apr 24, 2009 2:36 pm

Good luck! I hope they are the right ones.

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Post by PowerPie5000 » Fri Apr 24, 2009 9:37 pm

Thats a great guide for fixing up a Panasonic :wink: But is it the same for a Goldstar? I'm not sure if they use the same parts for the CD drive mechanism? And are there any Goldstar repair guides out there??

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Post by clive » Sat May 02, 2009 8:43 pm

3DOKid wrote:Apparently, 50 Lens are heading my way. Wish me luck
Great I do hope that they sent you the correct units, :D

anyways about the Goldstar 3DO unit repair.
if someone wants a guide or some repair info on goldstar
I would be happy to help, only if someone could send me a broken unit :D

I was thinking about to create an ultimate PDF file providing repair info
for all consoles and distribute it out for free.

I know Playstation 2, Xbox 360, Wii, and pretty much all old retro consoles.

but yes, if some one would like to donate a broken 3DO goldstar unit..
then I would be happy to provide some info about the faults and if possible then also info on how to repair.

-Clive

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