Could it be something as simple as you not loading the CD correctly? If you get the CD to slip down in the holder then you will get the same symptoms of the question mark that you are describing. One of the quirks of the CDX is the loading tray and its ability to sometimes let go of a CD. As you can get it to work sometimes then I have a suspicion that if you double check the CD is sited properly each time the problem will be solved.

Hi, Thanks for your message I have had a go with what you suggested and its still the same now its trying to spin like 1 whole turn of the disc then it stops with the ? sign on the screen. Not quite sure whats going on could it be possible the lock in screws have something to do with the problem ?

Thanks,

Lewis

The way you describe it, it is probably some electronics problem. Those models had some issues with bad solderings. Or maybe it's some worn out components. It IS rather old - so no wonder if some components need to be replaced.

Sorry to have to tell you those are the symptoms of the classic soldered joint problems but they can also indicate bigger troubles. My CDX had soldered joints repaired which fixed this problem but when it emerged again the service engineer said it needed a new laser board. It was pretty old by then and he said parts were not easy to locate so I sold it to him for spares and bought a Beocenter. 

Probably worth dropping it in to a B&O engineer just in case its the soldering problem but I think most will have already had this fixed.

The lasers are bullet proof - the solder joints anything but! Common problem and fixable - worth it as well as this is a very sweet CD player - I compared it with some £1000 new ones a couple of years ago and preferred the CDX.

I acquired a month ago a beogram cd x that was only powering up: only a question mark, no spinning at all of the cd... Dillen, on this forum, gave me a good direction to look at... then I found a schematic somewhere that Peter gave on a earlier post... I also found this french page on the philip cd 104 (the problems, and pcbs are identical to the cd x..)

http://www.audiovintage.fr/?p=894

and here's the old post:

/forum/general-discussion-and-questions/beolab-5-best-cd-source#post-2094316

Today I bought a soldering Iron, I've studied carefully for weeks the service manual... I NEVER touched a soldering iron before....

This image is taken from the said french site. It's the servo PCB (no 4) of the philip 104: I only desoldered and resoldered (with a wire passing through the pcb) the two griplets shown with a red arrow. I reassembled all the machine (I did not want to touch to the griplets on the other pcbs... I was sure that, anyways, that would't work and I didn't want to break anything since i'm not experienced at all in soldering...Guess what??? that CD player is like new! I've enjoyed the sound of it all the evening!  I can't see any problem with that machine whatsoever...and it what made in 1986! (Ok I was disapointed since I thought that my machine was trimmed with rosewood... I just found out that it was only a vulgar plastic laminate imitating the said wood (I wonder when B&O stopped doing their real wood trimming...)

Anyway it's worth repairing.. If I can do it, anybody can do it... thanks to Peter, Dillen and Kikook! (Now I'll have to tackle that beomaster 8000)

Great job Lewis!

Exactly what my own CDX needed too, almost three years ago!  It's been working fine ever since.

Now that you've done that you will irresistibly feel like buying and fixing other B&O stuff... Beware, there is no turning back! 😁

hamacbleu wrote:

(Ok I was disapointed since I thought that my machine was trimmed with rosewood... I just found out that it was only a vulgar plastic laminate imitating the said wood (I wonder when B&O stopped doing their real wood trimming...)

Are you talking about the CD X? Wood trim??? I've never seen that on a CD X 😂

Could you post a picture of your CD X ?

Simili "rosewood" plastic trim. This could peeled off like scotch tape. This is when the eighties went cheap. Altough it does fit with the rest of my equipment...