Hi Derek, Long time no see! Have you replaced the blue cap?

Hi Jacques: The famous "blue" cap is on the servo board of the CD mechanism. The fault in my system is in the controller / DA decoder board. Derek

You have the repair manual? The motor only needs 4 pins. +9V, -9V, ground and a DC control voltage for the rotation speed. That's all ... easy to check. The motor itself is a 4-coil stepper motor.

Hi Die: I have the schematics for the servo and decoder board  from the BC9500 service manual. It’s the decoder board at fault. (Picture attached). The cd mechanism works fine. CD mechanism plays fine on another 9500 chassis. Just when the decoder board was failing, it would spin the CD slowly in reverse. Derek Login to view image

Hmmm, where is the blue Philips...??? Or, more precise: Are they all gone on vacation? Or all dead...? Login to view image   It will not work without these blue Philips or Vishay/BC.

And apparently, some ICs were replaced as well. I may be able to find a working module in the dungeons if needed. Martin

Well that's actually my working decoder board. I know there is some controversy over the Philips/Visay axial blue caps having gone through the archived posts on whether they are specifically required. Since I have very limited experience with the Philips CDM series transports, I won't challenge anyone who knows a lot more about these things than I do. All I can say is someone replaced them years ago and the board has been playing fine on my working 9500 unit. I also noticed that on the early Beocenter 2500, also a Philips CDM4  transport, there are no blue Philips capacitor inside. The decoder board on the non-working 9500 that has now gone bad is stock original. I really don't like shotgun replacing all capacitors. Are the blue caps suspect? All voltage rails are present and at the right levels.   Derek

IF i remember right, I did have to change some transistor times ago... Maybe worth to check them?

Thanks Orava: There is one transistor, BC 818 that regulates the -9V rail that is prone to fail and I know to check it. Its really strange that all of the other power supplies are on the big heat sink or implemented with higher current transistors. The BC 818 is a surface mount under the PCB. On this occasion its not that one. Right now the laser will seek, but the motor won't spin. I may move a few degrees but won't spin up. Derek