Weird ass sony walkman problem

[devinemi83]

I am having the most odd damn issue with this cd player. A couple days ago the volume button began acting odd. First the + button works both ways now. Sometimes when I hit it it goes up(like it should) but others it goes down!. And the volume down button is now doing the same damn thing! The player is kinda old in cd player years. It was bought in Aug 2002. I got this one because it has a button volume interfeace because 3 previous players all died when their volume roller went bad and it sounded like tuning a radio LOL. Is my cd player on its way out?

I tried to open it and see if something was gumming up the buttons but sweet sony makes it nearly impossible to get inside it.

[curryman]

Is my cd player on its way out?

afraid so my friend

[jeex]

its a good excuse to get an ipod

[devinemi83]

LOL I like the new ipod mini but my wallet doesnt.


I just forced my way into the underbelly of the player and its buttons are so tightly integrated into the circuit its impossible to fix them short of ripping the heart of the player out. This isnt worth it for a 50.00 player. Oh well, guess I just wait until it becomes a true pain in the ass and upgrade to a newer walkman. Every single player I have owned has died in about 1 and a half years. And this one is 1 yr and 8 months old so its right about on schedule LOL


Thanks guys

[Roundabout]

Yeah, we threw those away at the service center instead of fixing them - smashed them with a hammer, literally. Then they'd give the customer a new one (assuming it was in warranty). They aren't worth repairing (they aren't worth the powder to blow them to hell, either).

Hell, we smashed $4,000.00 projection TV's, for God's sake! If you could have seen how much product was "destroyed" (of course, some wound up in manager's homes, but we don't talk about that) you could have cried. But they would rather destroy it than sell it at a loss.

Had a big issue with bad switches in Car Stereo's for a while. Seems that they didn't last more than a couple of hundred clicks before they'd stick and cause the unit to lock up or change volume/stations on it's own. More than likely, you have a similar problem.

Do the switches still have a "click" that seems good when compared to other switches on the unit? If not, you may have this problem. Obviously, the volume control switches get the most use, along with the play button. Every time you press them they are wearing out. I would recommend NEVER buying a unit with switches to control volume, just for this reason. Besides the defect factor, it's harder to control the volume in increments, you have to press repeatedly in order to get the level you want, wearing them out faster.

It's not impossible to replace the switches if you have a low-wattage soldering iron and a little skill. You can order the switches from Sony WRPC in Kansas City and they'll ship them to you. Call 1-800-222-SONY to reach them. Just tell them the model # and what parts you need, they'll look up the numbers and send the correct ones (usually ). Shouldn't cost more than a couple of dollars, I'd guess.

If you need further help, let me know.

[devinemi83]

No the button dont "click" the way they used to. The down does a little bit, but the up just doesnt seem to move period but if you even slightly touch it, it rockets the volume from 1 to 9 in like 3 secs. Thats pretty disturbing when you have full surround headphones. LOL Its like having a rock concert suddenly sneak up and eat you LOL.



I generally like sony stuff. This player is the best I have ever had, it beats the audiophase and coby ones I have used in the past few years. I like its base boosting system the most Is 1.5-2 years the "normal" life of a portable cd player?

EDIT: I should have known the player was gonna go bad. My headphones went out a couple weeks ago and my players and headphones ALWAYS go out together. Its like they miss eat other and die of a broken heart or something. 32.00 for the new Aiwa HPX223's. And now likely 30-50 for a new walkman. Lovely. LOL Well atleast I alway get better performance out of new units.

[jeex]

if you do get a new cd player, maybe you should pick up one that can handle mp3's too. i dont think they are much more than a standard (good quality) cd player..

[Roundabout]

No doubt you have the dreaded "no-click" disease

Both of the switches need to be replaced, which, like I said shouldn't cost more than a couple of dollars for the parts. If you know how to solder or have a friend that does, you can easily do it yourself. It'd be a shame to throw it away because $2.00 worth of parts are bad, especially if you like the unit and it's no longer available. If this model is still available, you could buy another and return this one in the box, customers used to do that all the time. The store returns it to Sony, we'd just scrap it and the store gets credit - Sony loses for making such a crappy product. :P

If it's not available anymore, just get the parts and DIY. I wouldn't pay anyone to do it, but if you can do it you'll be ahead of the game.

As for age, many of these kind of units fail within the warranty period, are replaced and life goes on. The ones that last longer are used till they die and thrown away usually by disgusted consumers (like yourself) that find out what it costs to fix it and instead just chuck it.

They can last quite a while if taken care of (assuming you didn't get a lemon). But things like switches that are mechanical and under constant use don't tend to last. Of course, Sony isn't breaking their back to find parts that'll last, either. They know the average lifespan of all the products they make, believe me. If they can build a unit that'll last till just past the warranty period, they've found the holy grail of electronics.

I'd say you were lucky that it lasted this long, but really, it could go on much longer if you replace the bad parts. I have some older CD Walkmans that are over 15 years old that still play like new. More recently, they got cheaper and so did the components used to manufacture them. They used to cost $400, now you can buy a new one for $40 - the tradeoff is cheaper parts. So now they don't last. Same with most all consumer electronic products nowadays. You pay little, you get little.

But if you have the time and a little skill, you can keep it going long after its expected "life". You can decide if it's worth it to you or not, but it is a relatively simple repair. I've changed hundreds of such switches on SMD (surface mount device) boards such as the one you need to fix. The main trick is use a wattage-controlled iron so you don't burn the board, and use a little care and common sense. You'll also need a small amount of solder wick to remove the solder from the pins (see your local RS for some). Just desolder the old ones with the iron and solder wick and put the new ones on the board and solder them in. Presto! Like new.

[devinemi83]

I had almost had enough of repairing cd players LOL. My original off brand one I got in 96 had its buttons go bad but since it was a cheap shit model its stuff wasnt very integrated the way sonys are. From what I see, sonys current model of walkman are VERY highly rated and the same price. And most people are giving it high reviews than the 2002 models(which I own). And longer battery life, my unit last 15 hours or so, but the new ones say its like 40 hours! The battery life evolution is what amazes me the most.


Original cheap = 25 mins with new full alkalines.
Audiophase = 3 hours
Coby(mp3 cd player) = 10 hours
Sony(current) = 15 hours.

I am not to impressed with mp3 cd players for the most part. By coby which I got 3 years ago and broke around 1.5 years ago did only an okay job. It didnt like certain mp3s. But on its side it did play wma files. Not TOO bad for 40 bucks.

[Roundabout]

Yeah. I understand that it may be more trouble than it's worth to fix it. If you do decide to do it, let me know if you need advice. I'll try to help you out if I can. BTW, if you're in SoCal and live near me, I could fix it for you, just buy the parts and drop it off. Probably take 10 min. to fix anyway.

The battery life is better because they found ways to reduce consumption in the motor area and laser. The motor generates Back EMF that can be used by other circuits to reduce power consumption. That, along with smaller components, reduces power consumption to minimum. The drawback is the smaller components can fail more often from flexing of the board (dropping/hard shaking of the unit).

Anyway, like I said, let me know if you need help. And like Jeex said, you can buy one with MP3 now for cheap (same price with or without MP3), and that might be useful. I've seen some for as low as $35.00 with MP3. Shop around, Wal-Mart seems to clearance them often for a very low price. CC has one (not Sony) this week for $19.95 in their ad. Either way, you can't lose, if you fix it or buy a new one.

[devinemi83]

Thats really cool to offer but I live in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. LOL Thats a looooong bus ride.

I think I will keep thise around for a little while longer. It seems that once I get it to the volume I want, its best to just lock the controls so it cant change randomly on it own. Then maybe take a trip to my local CC or walmart to see what the deals are.


Thanks dudes!

[flaninacupboard]

It amazes me how cheap portable cd players are these days! the first one i saw was a six battery monster, and the first hi-fi cd player i saw took up half the living room. now they're disposable items that cost £10! amazing...

[devinemi83]

It amazes me how cheap portable cd players are these days! the first one i saw was a six battery monster, and the first hi-fi cd player i saw took up half the living room. now they're disposable items that cost £10! amazing...

Yeah isnt it though! My first one was in 96 and it was the cheapest cheap shit personal player you could get. But it was 60.00 on sale. And my second in 2000 was a 15.00 model that had better performance. Then I upgraded to an mp3 model for a tiny 40 pricetag. But even the cheap players now are better than the high end from 4 years ago. Its really sweet. But its the same for electronics.

My dvd player was the cheapest I could get in 2001(apex ad660) and it was still 140 but now I see apexs on sale for 49-59 at walmart!

[Roundabout]

It amazes me how cheap portable cd players are these days! the first one i saw was a six battery monster, and the first hi-fi cd player i saw took up half the living room. now they're disposable items that cost £10! amazing...

I bought the first CD player available to the general public when I started working at Sony in 1983 - model CDP-101. Bulky, black and heavy, the retail price on it was $900.00! I got it at an employee discount for "only" $500.00, what a deal. :P Kept it for several years and thankfully sold it for close to what I paid (since I paid almost half price).

I remember my friends seeing it for the first time, oooohing and aaaahing about the "cool factor". No one I knew at the time had one, they were so expensive. CD's were just beginning to come on the market at the time and the selection was limited. I remember the local radio stations were advertising "from the CD!!!" when they'd start to play a song, like it was a really big deal to hear CD audio (BTW, they were using CDP-101's also, since that's all that was available).

Now you can buy the portable players for $15US, just bought a new one yesterday for that price. Has more features and works better than my $900 Sony used to. The world really changed in 20 years...

[flaninacupboard]

had to be done...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3808472040&category=3272

you're right, that's one big badboy!

[Guest]

It amazes me how cheap portable cd players are these days! the first one i saw was a six battery monster, and the first hi-fi cd player i saw took up half the living room. now they're disposable items that cost £10! amazing...

I bought the first CD player available to the general public when I started working at Sony in 1983 - model CDP-101. Bulky, black and heavy, the retail price on it was $900.00! I got it at an employee discount for "only" $500.00, what a deal. :P Kept it for several years and thankfully sold it for close to what I paid (since I paid almost half price).

I remember my friends seeing it for the first time, oooohing and aaaahing about the "cool factor". No one I knew at the time had one, they were so expensive. CD's were just beginning to come on the market at the time and the selection was limited. I remember the local radio stations were advertising "from the CD!!!" when they'd start to play a song, like it was a really big deal to hear CD audio (BTW, they were using CDP-101's also, since that's all that was available).

Now you can buy the portable players for $15US, just bought a new one yesterday for that price. Has more features and works better than my $900 Sony used to. The world really changed in 20 years...

I remember checking out some of my old man's Playboys awhile back and seeing the latest and greatest. It was the 1972 Christmas buyers guide. A red, led digital watch only $295. Awesome

[Roundabout]

Ah, memories...

What's scary, the next model, the CDP-701ES was even bigger and heavier! I had to fix these monsters back then, I had just started working there and had never seen a CD player in my life (barely knew what a CD was, they were so new). My boss just dumped them on me and said "fix them", and I had no idea where to start or what to do - no training on totally new technology.

Got pretty good at it after a while, but these units had no shock protection and the slightest vibration (even loud music) would make them skip like a mofo. On top of that, the driver IC's would go bad constantly causing it to zoom to one end of the CD and back to the other end, because of unreliable chips. The aforementioned radio station had constant headaches with theirs, due to contant use, and I was calling them from work and telling them to send their unit in for repair. They were reluctant, they only had one and wanted to use it to promote the station's "cutting edge" of having a CD player. Eventually it got so bad it had to be fixed. But of course, it'd fail again and I'd get the blame, never ending cycle.

Eventually Sony figured out how to build in some shock protection and the electronics got better, but it was hell for a couple of years. Now this stuff is throwaway, probably someday PC's will be the same story, throw them away instead of repairing them. PC-on-a-chip, in a small box that is sealed, if it dies, throw it away and get a new one. All of electronics seems to go that way eventually. Nothing's worth repairing anymore. Techs (like me) becoming obsolete, not many tech jobs around when you can just throw the product away instead of paying someone to fix it.

Progress...?

[flaninacupboard]

How times have changed......

[Roundabout]

I remember checking out some of my old man's Playboys awhile back and seeing the latest and greatest. It was the 1972 Christmas buyers guide. A red, led digital watch only $295. Awesome

I remember buying an LCD watch from Radio Shack for my birthday in 1975, for $75. No extra functions, just the time, no backlight, nothing. And that was cheap! Then as I was driving around a couple of days later, had my arm resting in the window, and I didn't think about the sun hitting the LCD - when I looked at it, it was totally black and I thought I'd ruined it! Turns out, after it cooled off, it went back to normal. Guess the older style LCD's were easily activated by heat and/or sunlight. Don't know what I ever did with that watch, must've lost it years ago. Probably if I still had it, it'd still be working today.

Now you can buy a watch that has more functions and features at the 99c store and throw it away when the battery dies. The replacement battery costs more than a new watch with a battery in it!

[devinemi83]

I have that issue to with my lcd watches. Anytime I am outside in summer or spring it goes jet black and doesnt turn back until I am out of the sun for 15-20 mins. I figure its a feature "Sun burn alarm" LOL.