NeoGeo CD Hardware Issues - Please Halp

[ElkinFencer10]

So I know that the Neo Geo CD is extremely prone to hardware issues, and lo and behold, mine started crapping out on me tonight. Let me explain the issue. Sometimes the game won't load no matter what I do. Sometimes it will load after a minute or two of sitting on the media screen (the one it defaults to when there's no disc in the drive). Sometimes it loads right away no problem. When it does load, be it delayed or as intended, it always craps out within a minute or two and says there's an I/O error 0002.

I've tried gently rubbing the lens with a Q-tip in case it's dirty, and I've tried gently moving the lens back and forth with a Q-tip in case the lens is getting stuck. The usual online troubleshooting stuff. I think I've isolated the problem, but I don't know how to fix it (assuming I'm correct) or how difficult a fix it would be. When I try booting it up with the lid open but the little button depressed with a chopstick so that it thinks it's closed, the CD will spin, but it seems to spin at a very inconsistent speed, and it sounds like it's slipping as if the spindle isn't gripping the CD well enough to get a consistent spin.

I know it's hard to really determine from just my description, but does it sound like that's probably what it is, or is the problem likely something else that I haven't noticed? Does anyone have some advice for me? I had to send it to the fella at JammaNationX to get the sound repaired a few years back, but I'd rather not have to ask him to fix it and ship it off to Hawaii again if I can avoid it. On the other hand, I'm quite fond of my NeoGeo CD. =/

[BoneSnapDeez]

If it's only been a few hours it might just be a load time.

[ElkinFencer10]

If it's only been a few hours it might just be a load time.

That was my first guess, so I decided to test it against a game install on the Xbox One. When a game finished installing and updating on the Xbox One first, I knew that my problem was indeed no mere load time.