Sony SCD-1/777ES firmware update: my DIY project

This is great news for those who have not gotten the chip yet, it means Sony can easily get more and burn in the version 2.53.

 

Not trying to be negative, but I sincerely doubt Sony will go through the trouble of making more chips. The players are coming up on 7 years old, I don't think it's high on Sony's priority list

 

Sam, Sony does not need to make anything, they just buy the eproms, burn-in the 2.53 firmware and resell them (at a huge profit I am sure). Even if Sony does not want to be bothered guys who do mods probably will since it is so simple. I watched a guy burn an eprom once, it took seconds.

 

I have located an Eprom Burner and now i am looking for stock of the Eproms. these might be hard to get as all my usual sources do not have them. maybe thats why sony is out of them??

and BTW, These Chips HAVE to go in a certain direction. if you have it in backwards, you could blow up the chip and or your player. Every IC has some sort of marker identifying which end is which. Some have a small engraved dot by pin 1, others have a "U" shaped notch on one end. etc. make very sure you identify which way your stock chip is BEFORE you remove it.

Zc

 

I tore the cover of my SCD-1 today to find out what was making the wind up toy noises when the transport moves. As you can see there are a total of 6 gears required to move the transport.

Gears 1 & 2 are made from a hard plastic. when handled, they have a distinctive sound. if you have ever handled those cheap plastic poker chips, you know the sound i am talking about! I thought that maybe the noise was because the lubricant had dried up. I have worked on many Sony VCR's and the number one cause for a Sony to eat tapes, is because the Grease has dried up on the left tape tension arm. So it was natural to assume that might be the case here. and in fact. i think its worse actually.

If you look at gears 3 & 4 you will notice that they are not straight cut like the rest of the gears. the teeth have an angled cut to them. The motor drives gear 4, this drives gear 3 either up, or down against the stops. they do this to take up slack and reduce noise. However. due to poor manufacturing tolerances, gear 3 moves around a lot. and gears 3 & 4 are made from a much softer plastic. easily deformable to use caution when handling these. Also notice the long teeth on gear 2. this is a safety measure. should the transport ever become jammed. these teeth will break off and save the motor from burning up, or worse, the motor drive circuit from burning up. And notice gear 6, this is actually two gears that are spring loaded. if you remove gear 1, these two gears slide apart just a little bit. again this is to take up slack and keep the transport solid during forward/back transitions.

Something in the works is making the noise. i really thought it was gear 3 as there is quite a bit of play on the shaft compared to the other gears. But gears 1 & 2 have very distinctive noises. so im not sure what causes it at this point.



I called my buddy Eddie Cilleti the famed DAT/ADAT repair tech and asked him what is safe and what he uses on plastic gears. White lithium grease is the answer (Thanks Eddie). I removed all the gears and lubed all the shafts, working the grease into the gears holes and moved the gears up on down on the shafts to distribute the grease as best as possible. Don't use too much, a little goes a long way and these gears move fast. you don't want grease flying around the inside of the transport.

Note the optical sensor in this photo. you will need a very short stubby screw driver to loosen one screw to gain enough clearance to remove gear 3. Be very careful not to get any grease on or in this sensor as this tells the computer that the transport is moving.




Here you can see the angle cut of the motor gear, gear 4. I noted that the motor made noise in one direction, but not in the other. I hope to find and replace this motor soon.



This gear is very loose on the shaft and is very flexible.



Next i am going to try using some Silicone to damped gears 1 & 2, a little bit on the tops of each gear should change the sound a bit. I am trying everything possible before removing the motor as that looks to be a MAJOR Pain!!!! Im hoping its not as bad as it looks.


Until next time.

Zc

 

Thanks ZC for the word of caution!

Keep us posted on your findings. Great pics too...

 

Thanks!

BTW, if anyone has a 2.40 Ver Chip they dont want, and they would like to donate it to the cause, i would gladly accept it. I think i can erase these and reprogram them! I jhave been studying Eprom Programmers all day and i want to experiment with some chips before i am ready to work with a 2.53 chip.

Are there any board members in Minnesota??


Zc

 

ZC,

Thanks for the detailed photos and explaination of the gears. I too have taken apart my SCD1 in this manner several times. I tried also some very expensive Dupont lithium (I think?--we can discuss more if you'd like) grease to lube the gears to no avail. I finally ordered a new sled motor from Sony. You actually have to de-solder the motor to replace it. Even after replacement, the noise was cut down only a bit, see my earlier posts in this thread.

When you're able to reprogram actual chips, I'd be happy to volunteer my 2.40 chip. I'm actually considering a used 777ES at this point, and I'd love to have a spare 2.53 chip.

 

Well I purchased a small quantity of Eprom chips today. they should be here if all goes well mid next week. I am still shopping for an Eprom burner but i should have one about the same time next week. SO....

I will experiment a bit with my own stock firmware chip just to make sure i have everything working well. then the hunt will be on to find or borrow a 2.53 chip!

So now the question becomes. What is a reasonable price to ask for the chips? How much were they from Sony? I am not so much interested in making a profit as i am recovering my cost's and gaining a chip for myself in the process.

Any thoughts???


Zc

 

$75 from Sony including shipping and tax.

 

The discs were not authored strangely. The 2-ch and M-ch areas of an SACD disc can either be separated by no gap or a gap filled with binary zeroes. A player playing the 2-ch area should be able to cope with both situations and should mute its output at the end of the area. A bug in the firmware of the SCD-1 & SCD-777ES caused them to play the zero-filled gap, resulting in full-scale noise at the output of the DAC. This problem only came to light when disc authoring migrated from Philips and Sony to third-parties. The Philips and Sony authoring systems, used to make all SACDs initially, were set for zero gap.

 

B.E., Very interesting, thank you. How did you learn this?

 

Correct Part Number?

Hi Guys... I'm a bit confused here. Read this post over at AA and it mentions a different P/N for the V2.53 chip.

Those of you that have ordered the V2.53 chips, could you please verify which of the following is the correct P/N.

P/N: 8-759-663-89 (MBM29F400TC-90PF-S23) - Old IC Chip? (Currently "Out of Stock")
P/N: 6-706-246-01 (MBM29F400TC-90PF-S253) - New Chip? (Currently "In Stock")

Thanks!

 

This exact designation is what is written on the Sony-printed baggie that my 2.53 chip came in.

 

Thanks Sam...

To add to the confusion this P/N MBM29F400TC-90PF-S253 ends in 253 (V2.53?)

 

Call Sony and ask them. Worse case scenario, you can send it back to Sony and be out only the $6-7 shipping.

 

I'm going to give them a call tomorrow... Thanks!

 

Hi Guy's

I spoke to Sony this morning to inquire about the correct P/N for the V.2.53 chip and I was told it's P/N: 6-706-246-01 (MBM29F400TC-90PF-S253). They told me that P/N 8-759-663-89 (MBM29F400TC-90PF-S23) was for the old chip that was no longer available.... I guess they packaged the V2.53 chips with the old P/N.

Anyway, they've shipped my V2.53 chip that I had originally ordered and I should be getting it any day now...

 

I ordered exactly the same P/N as Sam did and got the version 2.53 chip, it says so on its label and when read out it shows version 2.53. I have two comments:

1. It makes sense that Sony has them back in stock since they are just an eprom readily available.

2. It pains me to say this but Sony is out of control. I work in the microelectronics industry in manufacturing. A P/N screw up like this could lead to a disaster on the manufacturing floor leading to recalls and huge losses.

 

Good news!! Thanks for clearing up the confusion and the update.

Which discs do you have that are giving you the static problem?

 

Hi Oyama

I check the sony us website and the (MBM29F400TC-90PF-S253) is out of stock, guess its little too late, and one more thing is according the sony us website they only take order within USA I just wonder how you can order from them Cuz I'm also from Canada, thanks.

 

Well the cat is out of the bag now. On a whim i placed an order for the out of stock part. and i wa quite surprised when my order went through and showed up on the invoice as in stock! and even more surprised when it arrived at my door!

i havent installed it yet. But it says SCD-1 right on the bag so i have to beleive that both the S23 and the S253 are the same chip.

IN ANY CASE. I have a small stock of blank flash eproms due to arrive friday and a programmer due next week and i will have a limited number of S253 chips available if all goes well. I will ship world wide but will only be able to accept paypal for payment.

I am only looking to recover my total investment on the deal, so the price will be dependant on final tally of cost's + shipping for all parts divided by the number of chips i will make available. In any case, it will not be more then the factory.

I have sank considerable amount of time into this thing already. those dang eproms are HARD to find!!! and expensive. So i will be keeping a stash on hand in case Sony ever runs out again!


Zc

 

Well I'm glad to hear you were able to get one. I might still be interested in a spare chip in case I pick up a 777ES one day used. Do let us know when they're available and $.

Also, what's the status of figuring out that grinding noise on load/unload? Mine has been varying lately. Loudest when cold (and chilly in the listening room), but down to minimal after I've been using the player for a few hours.

 

Hi Himitsu and welcome to the forum!

Funny, I checked the Sony DPAC site before I went to bed and they had P/N: 6-706-246-01 (MBM29F400TC-90PF-S253) shown as "In Stock". Sony must not have many in hand at one time...

You are correct, Canadians can not order directly from Sony DPAC. You will have to order from one of the following Sony Authorized Parts Centers in Canada:

1. Global Electronic Supplies @ 1-800-668-8776 (This is where I ordered my V2.53 chip from.)

2. MTC @ 1-877-779-9929

Give Global a call and inquire about the V2.53 chips availability. If they're definitely out of stock, you may want to contact forum member zero cool about a chip...

Good Luck!!