Sony MDC-JE510

T

Tyler Sherman

New member
Maybe someone here can educate me. I picked up a Sony MDC-JE510 mini-disc recorder at a yard sale for $20.00. It works but when there is no disc in the machine it make a sort of grinding / clicking sound when it is powered up. Obviously there is a mechanism trying to do something. As soon as I insert a disc, however, the noise stops & it seems to function normally. This noise, I'm sure, can't be normal. What does it indicate?

It came with a bunch of discs that have been recorded on already. It is my understanding that mini-discs can be erased & re-recorded. The machine did not come with a manual so I don't know how this is done. I do know there is a little tab on the disc housing is meant to prevent re-recording if it's slid to the right. I'd be grateful if someone could explain how to erase the discs so I can re-use them.

Thanks in advance.
 
The noise!

The noise is a common problem with the JE510 and JE320. What the internal mechanism is doing is trying to seek all the way forward to it's 'home' position, but not quite making it far enough to press a little internal microswitch. The gap is very small, and in hundredths of an inch, which often makes partial contact but not quite enough, hence causing the chattering.

There was a fix to this problem which involved putting a sleeve of shrink tubing on the part which makes contact with the microswitch. I fixed it myself by bending ever so slightly the mechanical piece that makes contact. However, this did require a total teardown of the mechanism, and is not for the novice!

The intermediate workaround for this problem is to just keep a disc in the unit at all times, and it won't grind. There's also the off chance that by inserting and ejecting a disc a couple-hundred times might free up the mech and stop the chattering. Part of this problem may come from lack of use and stiffness in the movement of the carriage.

The discs may be rerecorded indefinitely. The little slide window tab should be closed, which is write-enable. The window being open is write protect.

Go to www.minidisc.org for more info on the cycling problem of the mechanism. As things go, it's not too serious, and doesn't affect other playability of the unit.:eek:;)
 
Last edited:
I have the 530 which isn't much different than the 510. Do you have the remote? If so, it makes things a tad easier to navigate.

If not:

Push the "Menu/No" button to right of the display.
Rotate the knob until you get to the "Erase" option
Press the "Yes" button (next to the "Menu/No" button)
Rotate the knob until you see "Erase disc?"
Press the "Yes" button

You should see an indicator on the display of "TOC Writing".
"Blank Disc" should come up shortly after that and you are good to go!;)

If all else fails:

http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/model-documents.pl?mdl=MDSJE510

:D:D:D
 
Sony MDS-JE510

Hey, thanks for the info, Reel Person & JJones. Good to know that "The Noise" is a common problem that does not affect the machine's performance. I do, in fact, have the remote for the machine & will examine it's functions. It never occured to me that there could be a button on it to simplify the re-record process.

There does not seem to be a "Menu / No" button to the right of the display on this thing. So I'm stymied as to how to proceed with your instructions. Hopefully the remote will help out with the erase process.

Does anyone know where a duplicate manual can be obtained for this machine?
 
Tyler Sherman said:
Does anyone know where a duplicate manual can be obtained for this machine?
Click to expand...

Click on the link in my previous post, then click on the "Primary user manual" link towards the bottom of the page. It should pop up as a .pdf file.

Oops, sorry. It seems the 510 does differ some from my 530. It's been a while since I've seen both of them.:o

Instructions for erasing entire MD:

"1. While the deck is stopped, press EDIT/NO repeatedly until "All Erase?" appears in the display

2. Press YES...............all tracks in the music calendar start flashing

3. Press YES again........When the disc name, all recorded tracks, and titles on the MD have been erased, "Complete" appears for a few seconds and the music calendar disappears."

Hope this helps............it was straight from the 510's manual.;):cool:
 
Sony MDS-JE510

Thanks guys, you've been extremely helpful. I printed out the PDF manual & got the knack down for erasing discs. It was easy & fast once I understood how it's done. If I feel adventurous sometime I'll try to tackle the "the noise". Would it help to spray some non residue contact cleaner in there? Or would that possibly do something adverse to the laser optics?
 
Tyler Sherman said:
Thanks guys, you've been extremely helpful. I printed out the PDF manual & got the knack down for erasing discs. It was easy & fast once I understood how it's done. If I feel adventurous sometime I'll try to tackle the "the noise". Would it help to spray some non residue contact cleaner in there? Or would that possibly do something adverse to the laser optics?
Click to expand...

I wouldn't advise spraying ANYTHING in there. Any type of fluid could have an adverse affect on the tranport system and optics. Compressed air might stir up some dust which could collect on the lens. Either way, you might end up worse off than you started. I would say your 3 options are:

1) If you feel savvy enough, tear it down yourself and fix it.

2) Take it somewhere to have it fixed.

3) Don't sweat it and just use the crap out of it!:D
 
Sony MDS-JE510

Good advice, thanks. I'll just put up with "the noise" for now. It's working great except for that. Mostly I'm using it to record stuff off the internet, such as concerts on "Wolfgang's Vault", and then creating regular CD's on my Alesis Masterlink so I can play 'em in the car or wherever.
 
MD "Cannot Edit" message

Well, it's been nearly a year later & I'm still tinkering with this thing. Now the problem is that when I try to erase some recorded mini-discs with the method described here I get messages that say "cannot edit'' and "protected'. Any advice about how to get past this glitch?
 
...

On each minidisc there's a little window or aperture that has this little sliding tab on it. Open is write protect the disc, and closed is write enable. :eek:;)
 
Thanks for the heads up on the write protect tab. However, that did not solve the problem. When I push the edit button I still get a "cannot edit" message no matter what position the tab is in. This thing came with a whole bunch of discs thay have been recorded on & it would be nice if I could reuse them. I did find a few discs that were blank, no problem with those. And a few others I've erased successfully. But now the vast majority have this problem. Anything else I might try?
 
B 4 The Love Has Faded

On the 510 (I have 4 of them), I find that the disc handler fails long before the electronics give out. I know that many of the problems associated with the mechanism involve some "grommets" that decay over the years.
My Primary Inquest: Is there any interface circuit, that will allow a Sony Memory Stick to be used as a substitute for the minidisc?
A 4 gig memory stick would yield well over 32 hours of stereo time, and that's enough to hold a minor library collection.
Then, if a socket were used, the capacity is unlimited.
Mainly, using the 510 as a production mastertrack archive, the single 4 gig stick would be quite enough.
Does anyone know of such an interface?
The 510 is a great design, except for the poopy disc handler.
 
In Agreement with jjones1700

jjones1700 said:
I wouldn't advise spraying ANYTHING in there. Any type of fluid could have an adverse affect on the tranport system and optics. Compressed air might stir up some dust which could collect on the lens. Either way, you might end up worse off than you started. I would say your 3 options are:

1) If you feel savvy enough, tear it down yourself and fix it.

2) Take it somewhere to have it fixed.

3) Don't sweat it and just use the crap out of it!:D
Click to expand...
___________________________

One would NEVER spray contact cleaner into a DVD burner slot, or on tape heads, or even into a CD player tray. Almost all of that stuff that "cleans", really has a chemical which dissolves crud, and usually leaves residue and lubricant.
I agree fully with jjones1700: NO SPRAY IS THE RIGHT WAY !!!
 
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