To add to the above:

I have also noticed that the direction of the turntable is opposite of what it should be (spins counter-clockwise).

Also, I thought I should add that this is a mk3

Hi,

I would not stick to testmode 65 or 66. I would run testmode 75 and 73 and look what an error message you get, If it is error 2 it means focusing problem so you should clean laser lens with alkohol plus make sure that the disc is clean - so clean it with a detergent or liquid sop and wipe. Then run testmode 73 on that particular disc. If it helped nothing the laser should be replaced. Please do know, from my experience that only laser pickup marked 1VC0573 is working in mk3. Others may work or may not

Thanks for your response!

Yes, as stated above, I am getting error 2. I also have replaced the laser pickup already (although I will check the marking on it to see if it is a 1VC0573 when I get into the shop). Laser has been cleaned.

A noticeable difference is that it actually tries to spin the disc on normal play (which indicates that the laser was able to briefly achieve focus?). With the original laser it wouldn't spin up at all and would go directly into pause mode.

The reason I had ran the testmodes for testing turntable, lightpen movement, etc. was to inspect the electro-mechanical operation the module. And it did come up with somewhat interesting results. Since my first post, I have reinspected the laser assembly and have ruled out it being a mechanical issue, the laser can travel totally unimpeded if I manually power the motor.

Can anyone confirm that the laser not moving all the way out when running the TM65/66 commands is normal. If it is not, could a bad laser cause this?

Also, can anyone confirm that the turntable rotating counter-clockwise is normal behavior when a non-working laser is installed. If it only did this while trying to read a disc, I would perhaps assume it was related to the laser. However, this happens in test mode when independently telling the turntable to spin.

Hi,

When I ran TM 65 the laser goes "halfway" out meaning that to reach it and clean I have to disassembly the transparent semi circle ( and of course the silver circle and silver cover).

As to turning counter clockwise - it sometimes happens to me but I don't know if with eg. TM 73 as I do not run that testmode very often.
But general rule is: fresh cleaned laser lens +fresh cleaned disc+TM73. It should solve your problem or give you a message what is still wrong.