CD player gone crap

Well, the laser could have died, but I wouldn't just assume that. Also the laser could need cleaning, but that usually causes a progressive failure, not a sudden one like you describe.

With good (but old) transports like the TEAC in your player, it's quite often that the lubricant on the laser carriage tracking rails gets dry/dirty and the carriage can't move quickly enough to find the start of the CD. Or the transport drawer mechanism is also dry/dirty, and isn't positioning the CD over the drive spindle, so the motor doesn't "spin up" the CD and it can't be read.

For starters, take off the lid and watch to see if the CD falls on the spindle and starts to spin as soon as the drawer closes. If that's OK, check to see if the laser carriage moves back and forth trying to find the start of the disc. If not, clean the carriage rails with a Q-tip dampened with alcohol or lighter fluid. If OK, then clean the laser w/ a Q-tip dampened w/ a little alcohol. If that doesn't fix it, you probably do have a dead laser.

I`d suggest moving on as 15 yrs. is at least one digital lifetime.

Try here:Great cd/DVD Player troubleshooting site...JD http://repairfaq.ece.drexel.edu/sam/cdfaq.htm#cdgicl

Like light bulbs, lasers do eventually burn out and I had to replace mine after 6 years on a Meridian 508.24. I'll bet you that's what happened. Kudos for getting that much mileage before it gave up. You may be able to get it repaired.

Jd -- that's a great resource, thanks!!

Thanks guys, actually the discs starts spinning when I close the drawer. I also noticed that when there's no disk in and I close the drawer the carriage moves back and forth trying to see if there's a disk in. I gues that either the lens is dirty or burned.

I'll try to clean it.

Thanks for all the tips!