Audio Systems: Toyota factory cd, excessive friction, optical cartridge

Question
QUESTION:   What causes a cd to stay in slot then ejcct after a few second. Acts like it wants to work. On screen it reads Random RDT or RDM not sure. Dennis

ANSWER: Could be slow processing.  After the command to eject a cd is given to the electronics inside the set it must go through some algorithms to shut off the audio, empty memory, send signals to the servo motor to slow down the spinning of the cd, empty out the table of contents, actuate the mechanism to lift the disc from its mounting tray and open the doors to send the disc out.  So, there may be some time to do all that.  A "few" seconds sounds too long, maybe if you actually timed it you would find it to be 1 or 2 seconds which would be normal.  If it takes longer than that there could be a mechanical problem causing excessive friction or a slow-down in the microprocessor that handles all the electronic functions.  If you think it is a defect you would need to have a competent technician look into it and find out what is going on.

Hope this helps.
C



---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION:   CD does not play, it is jus slowly ejected. Did try to clean player, but same thing happened, but it did spin the disc at times. Just wonder how serious money wise. Thanks, Dennis

Answer
Thanks for the clarification.  The answer remains somewhat the same. While all these elctronic things are going on it is trying to read the information but the data coming off the system is not getting through.  Can be from a bad laser diode, a mis-aligned optical cartridge, the data processing gone bad or the servo motor not able to engage the disc correctly.

Also, in your case, since the features are locked up it may need a reset.  If you know how to reset it that would be worth a try.

To reset the power must be removed from the unit for 15 minutes or so.  You can do this by just pulling one of the big cables off the battery = but doing so will remove power from everything in the car requiring all the electrical items to be reset. If the player has the anti-theft code you will need the code in order to reactivate it again, so be careful about that.

Hope this helps.
C

PS: If it turns out to be a bad laser diode or optical pickup the repair is quite expensive; over $100 for sure.