[Wondermega RG-M1] Unresponsive laser/drive
Hello everyone!
So I've been hard at work repairing a gorgeous RG-M1 a customer sent me. Anyone who's worked on this console knows what awaits inside is a system made up of multiple boards all held together by roughly two dozen bodge wires and some scotch tape. The X'Eye this system most definitely is not!
Anyway, I have a two-part question here:
This particular one does not read discs. The laser appears completely unresponsive- does not move up and down on the sled, etc. So my first thought was the lid switch- the RG-M1 has a motorized top loading tray (I know- so cool lol) but I quickly ruled this out after opening it up and running a few basic tests.
Next I started inspecting caps- I found two dead ones in the vicinity of the 4 voltage regulators, so I went ahead and recapped the entire unit. Any leaking from the two bad ones was minimal.
Still, after this the issue remained. I'm wondering if my next course of action should be replacing those voltage regulators? I have both a recapped OEM power brick and a good aftermarket- same result with both.
Lastly, I bought a replacement Optima 5 laser early on just in case it was the issue- if not, happy to have the spare. While I don't *think* the laser is the issue, unfortunately I'm pretty sure I'll have to tear the entire lid mechanism apart to be able to tell for sure if the beam is firing.
My question is regarding the replacement one: anyone ever replaced a laser in one of these things? I'm not seeing the anti-static point anywhere on it. Maybe it doesn't have one, but that would make it the first laser I've ever replaced that didn't!
Any thoughts/comments are appreciated! 🙏😁