YouTube - MiniDisc Repair - Sony LAM-Z05

YouTube - MiniDisc Repair - Sony LAM-Z05 - Fixing Recording

click the image to go to YouTube - Sony LAM-Z05

The Sony LAM-Z05 (late 2004) is a slick, compact NetMD system. It didn't have any analog or digital inputs, just a USB port for NetMD, a headphone out, and a proprietary speaker jack.

The LAM-series always had cool opening mechanisms and this one uses a sliding top to reveal either the MD side or the CD side.

I bought this one cheap without speakers (since they're expensive to ship anyway), planning on it being a dedicated NetMD writer and using the headphone jack to listen to things.

Unfortunately, it wouldn't record. Neither CD to MD dubbing, nor NetMD was working. I was hoping that the write head got misaligned in transit which wouldn't be too bad of a fix (and it's happened to another deck I own). Getting into and out of the LAM-Z05 would be the real challenge since I didn't see anything documented online and there was no Service Manual available.

Please check out the video for a walkthrough on opening it up, checking out and adjusting the write head, and then reassembling it.

The main points are below:

Flip it upside down and remove the three screws holding the silver "foot" to the body.

After that, remove two more larger screws near the plug and near the rear. Then, the 4 screws that are holding the sides onto the body.

Next, we'll need to carefully pry the sides off (not too far!) to expose the "lip" of the grey section and slide it out.

Once you've pried the sides clear of the grey lip, you can pull it out and put it to the side.

Once that's out of the way, you can see the main frame and body inside. We'll need to work that free gently with a combination of prying the sides open and "wiggling" the mechanism towards the front, while lifting the sides upwards. This will make more sense in reverse later when you see how the sides clip into the internal frame.

Once the sides are off, the MD including the overwrite head are clearly visible.

Here, you can see I've pushed this white section down which keeps the write head up and out of the way. This is after I've adjusted it carefully with tweezers - the write head floats close to the disc surface, but doesn't touch it.

After I adjusted it, I just tested with CD to MD dubbing and then reassembled it. After reassembly, I tested NetMD which worked great, too. Now I have my dedicated NetMD writer tethered to my PC!

Please check out the video for a more detailed explanation!

Giveaway #9 - 800+ Subscribers on YouTube - Sony MZ-E810SP + MiniDiscs directly from Japan!

Thank you all for subscribing (if you haven't already, please consider it!) to my YouTube where I try my best to repair some of these great old devices. 800 subs ago I never thought this would get this far! Thank you again for your support and I hope I can continue to help the great MiniDisc global community in some form. To celebrate 800 subscribers, I'm doing something a little bit different this time! I'm going to give away this sweet Sony MZ-E810SP - a nice MD unit with a folding speaker dock, and I'm going to direct-ship some MiniDiscs that I won in Japan straight to you! So the winner will get two packages, one Sony MZ-E810SP, and one set of MiniDiscs from Japan! For this NINTH giveaway (completely free to enter!), use the Rafflecopter widget below to enter between October 26th and November 3, midnight US Pacific time. a Rafflecopter giveaway Please see official rules, here! Privacy policy is included here also - I don't need/wa...

Recertifying your CCIE for less than $600 (or less than $800)! Updated 2023

This is a 2023 update to my previous post about using Cisco Continuing Education (CE) credits to recertify your CCIE. Let's cut to the chase: You need/want to recertify your CCIE without taking an exam and you need to do it as quickly and cost-effectively as possible. Thanks to Cisco's Continuing Education program, you've had the option earn CE credits for years, but sorting through courses to find the best use of your time and money wasn't the easiest. Since it's time for me to recertify, I've had to dig into it a bit more and I hope this updated information helps you, too! Can I expense this? Probably! If you're working at a company that requires/benefits from your certifications and ongoing training, you should be able to expense your training courses! Step 1 - Determine your status Go to https://ce.cisco.com and login with your credentials to view your Dashboard of current certifications and training items you have taken in the past. Mine looks like th...

YouTube MiniDisc Repair - New Sony MZ-RH1 OLEDs - New Revision E for Easier Installation!

Every subscription helps fund more giveaways and content! If you haven't already subscribed, please consider helping support the channel by clicking the YouTube button - THANK YOU!! If you saw my previous post and video about the new replacements for the Sony MZ-RH1's dead OLEDs, well there's a great new update! Sir68k has done it again with a new, slimmer revision that's easier to install due to longer cable lengths, an extra flex cable, and less modifications. I won't write a long post because Sir68k and other members of the MD community have contributed to a great write up with clear photos of the installation which can complement this video. Sir68k's installation guide As always, thanks for watching!

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