Sega CDX video problem

[Golgo 14]

Just got a CDX off of ebay and unfortunately, it has issues. After playing just fine for a few minutes, the video completely drops out. The game still plays and you can still hear audio fine, but there is absolutely no picture. Pushing the a/v cable tighter into the unit brings the picture back, but only for so long. I've tried 2 cables, so that's not the problem.

My question is: Do you think this is a problem just with the composite output somehow or is this a deeper problem with the CDX's video? If I someday get a S-video or RGB mod, will this likely solve my video problems? Thanks for any help.

[Hobie-wan]

Probably a broken solder joint in the CDX for the socket, slightly corroded socket in the plug that needs cleaning, or could be a wonky video cable.

[Golgo 14]

Probably a broken solder joint in the CDX for the socket, slightly corroded socket in the plug that needs cleaning, or could be a wonky video cable.

Well, it's not the cable. I bought the unit in the foolish hope that the cable was the problem.

Tonight I made another idiotic move and cracked the thing open. What a disaster. Now that it's open, is there something I should be looking for? I don't see anything obviously broken or corroded. My guess and worst fear is that the a/v jack needs to be replaced. The previous owner was some sort of ape who enjoyed breaking everything he could access on the unit. The volume wheel is gone and the plastic around one of the controller ports is broken. The display that shows CD track numbers lights up, but is also broken.

Any help would be appreciated, but I think I'll probably just end up cutting my losses and put this POS back on eBay.

[nightrnr]

I'm kind of in the same predicament. Actually I have 2 broken CDX units. One of them doesn't display video (but does start up and otherwise) and the other the CD system doesn't work at all. I've been wanting to combine the 2 units for some time, but still learning and finding the courage to try (it's quite an ordeal just separating the 2 halves of the unit).

What's funny, is that the 1st unit does show video if there's a 32X unit attached. I think it's because it draws the RGB signals from the CDX/Genesis and converts it to composite with it's own video encoder (or something like that, I'm no expert). Which I might be fairly happy with, but the video is pretty fuzzy, even by Genesis standards. I think few caps need replacing according to Segasonicfan's info:

http://www.freewebs.com/vgmods/segagene ... aitons.htm

...and that might actually work if I wanted the 32X unit on the thing (which I don't, it looks aesthetically awful). Do you have a 32X?, I'm curious if it does the same thing.

My guess and worst fear is that the a/v jack needs to be replaced.

I'll tell you MY worst fear: I contacted Segasonicfan once and he said it might even be a fried video encoder, which would be near impossible for my skill to deal with (SSFan managed the feat-shown on the link I gave). I'd take replacing the a/v jack any day. I doubt it's the problem though. I really wish it was just a loose wire that needed to be re-soldered or something.

Let us know what you end up doing. I'll try to post if I have any successes with mine in the near future (I've been doing some modding attempts lately and feel up for a challenge).

[Golgo 14]

I'm kind of in the same predicament. Actually I have 2 broken CDX units. One of them doesn't display video (but does start up and otherwise) and the other the CD system doesn't work at all. I've been wanting to combine the 2 units for some time, but still learning and finding the courage to try (it's quite an ordeal just separating the 2 halves of the unit).

What's funny, is that the 1st unit does show video if there's a 32X unit attached.

Man, that is weird. And I can see how a 32x solution wouldn't be to your liking. I mean the whole point of the CDX is that it's sleek and sexy. Well, at least for video game console.

Unfortunately, I can't test the 32x thing with my system as that add-on is one road I've never gone down. At least not yet.

I wish you luck, though. And I'll keep you posted if I come up with any solutions. Your post made me feel better after suffering alone with this damn thing all night.

[theclaw]

No one will miss a Genesis composite encoder. They aren't good enough to be worth fixing.

If that's what broken, best option is probably to ignore it and find some other way to convert RGB into the format you need.

[nightrnr]

Okay, so I was restless tonight after I posted and decided to take another crack at fixing one of my CDX units. I'll tell you up front, I've had no further successes, but I did learn a couple things.

1. On the "No Video" unit, I located a small cap that looked pretty bad. It's near the A/V jack, so that may indeed be my problem. I actually never noticed it, especially because it's on the back side (not sure if I've ever taken that one out all the way), and I didn't see the corrosion until after comparing it to the other unit and looking at the larger than it should be cap under a magnifier.
So now I need to figure out which cap to get; it's probably a 0.1uf cap, but nothing is labeled on it, just blank. There is a "7" right above it in the pic. I tried removing it with a soldering iron and needle nose pliers, but it kind of just disintegrated in the process. I'll finish cleaning that little mess when I have a replacement cap.



2. On the "No CD" unit, there was some pretty bad corrosion from the battery compartment and it got to the power area. I tried switching the power boards but it acts the same (I get a Sega CD screen, but no music, no loading, no nothing, just a frozen screen). Remember that the Genesis portion works fine, video, sound are good. I suspect that there's not enough juice getting to the CD to power it (and yes, I am using an official Sega "MK-4122" power brick 9.5V, 1.5A (I have one between the 2 systems).
Sorry, no pics for that one, as I've put it away for now. But if anyone is curious enough, I could pull it out again.

No one will miss a Genesis composite encoder. They aren't good enough to be worth fixing.

If that's what broken, best option is probably to ignore it and find some other way to convert RGB into the format you need.

Yeah I know. But I play on older TVs mostly and if I did ANY mod, it would probably be for S-video. Not sure if you still need the composite working for that (I'm pretty new at this, just not afraid to open things up and do basic soldering).
I'll save RGB options as a last resort.

[Golgo 14]

No one will miss a Genesis composite encoder. They aren't good enough to be worth fixing.

If that's what broken, best option is probably to ignore it and find some other way to convert RGB into the format you need.

That was my first thought, but after looking into it, it seems that the only way to get RGB is to go through that jack with a SCART cable which then attaches to something else. So if the jack is problem, I don't think that is the solution.

[Golgo 14]

Well, if it's the weekend, it must be time for me to do some more ill-advised attempted repairs on my CDX. After monkeying around with my enormous old Genesis 2/Sega CD 2 combo, I now believe there was never anything wrong with the video on my CDX. The problem is likely my 21 year old CRT which is finally giving up the ghost. I've literally been in denial about this TV's mortality and that has caused me to do some stupid things over the past two years. One of those stupid things was opening up my CDX last week which has caused a new problem.

The lid doesn't spring open anymore. I can lift it by hand when I press the "open" button, but it doesn't spring up at all. I'm assuming the problem is a screw I took out last week and didn't replace properly. Only problem is I have no idea where that screw should be. By any chance does anyone here know what I need to do to put the spring back in my old CDX? Thanks for any help!

[nightrnr]

PM'd you.

Screw is on the left side right by the "line out".
This probably happens to everyone whose ever opened a CDX. It's annoying to get the hinge back in place, but a simple operation otherwise.

To everyone else, do what I do and tape that screw down!