I have a Koss 1 bit DAC 'Bubble Boombox' manufactured in June 2003 which has, as of late, been having some problems. It will usually begin playing the CD just fine, but at a random point about half-way through, it suddenly has problems reading the CD (I think) and whirs around in silence for a minute or so before stopping and showing the Error symbol. Other times it won't even read the CD when I first put it in. The radio function works just fine.

It may just be time to say goodbye, but I really don't want to pay for a new one. I do kind of need it, as it provides a much steadier 'background noise' than the radio (and obnoxious commercials), while operating much more quietly than my laptop CD player (so that I can actually hear the music).

Any recommendations on getting this fixed (or just confirmation that it is FUBAR and should be given a violent and entertaining end) are appreciated.

have you tried playing music straight from your laptop?
like rip the CD onto your laptop and play.

Are there any substantial noises from the CD player at this point?
It may be you have a faulty motor driving the laser pickup head. It may be that the lens is not where it thinks it is and cannot establish a position on the CD.

Try skipping up to a higher song on the CD or to the approximate location where the error occurs. and then pressing play. That will force the motor to go straight for that location further out on the CD. If you are getting errors at a certain point and any track higher than that, this is likely the problem. I'm assuming you have this problem with more than a single certain CD so it's likely not a dirty disc problem and the lens reads the early tracks fine so its not a dirty lens either.

Given the price of a new stereo unit, its probably going to come down to buying a new one. I think I found a picture of what you are talking about and it doesn't look like a unit that would have any other inputs so you probably can't just patch a cheap discman or something into it easily.

Buying a decent speaker system for a computer is probably the cheapest halfdecent option to getting your CDs going again and just use the boombox for radio.

Sorry I forgot to mention. If it is a motor / drive problem, you can try dropping some lubricating oil (sewing machine, etc) onto the shaft connected to the gears if you can see them. They aren't always visible but if you can its worth a shot, just don't use a spray or you will end up with oil all over the electronics and/or a film of oil on the lens if you are sloppy. See the attached picture for an explanation. The gear assembly is on the right side. You may or may not be able to see that in yours (likely not, you usually have a cover that has a small rectangular aperture for the lens to slide back in forth in and that's all :S )

FireDragoonX - I have in the past, but I took it all off in an attempt to get my computer back up to speed (although it turned out drive space wasn't the problem). I might give it a try again, but this old thing has a tendency to heat up pretty badly, and the sound quality is not fantastic. Still, it's a fallback - Thanks for the suggestion.


19841984, you are FANTASTIC! Thank you so much for your suggestions! There's no real noise that I can tell... Just the normal kind of 'swishy' sound as it spins, and the sound it makes when its trying to skip tracks. It almost sounds like it just looses sight of what it's reading and then can't find anything readable anymore. I'l try your suggestion on track-skipping (later tonight - Cripes, today is packed) and see what I can figure out.

The computer speakers are a good idea, especially if I combine them with my old walkman, which still worked acceptably well last time I tried it (as long as you don't bump or tilt it while it's playing).

Try using one of the cd lens cleaners. Its basically a cd with al little brush on it, run it for about 30 seconds and it will clean the lens up. I had a similar problem with my ps2 not reading disc and that solved it.

What's a CD Player?