CD Drive Issue on DP-32

[Tom Boyles]

I'm very happy to see that a faithful Tascam group is still around.

I am a long time 2488neo owner but decided to get the smaller footprint and faster DP-32SD.

I love the 2488neo but it was just so slow for transferring files out of projects to do work in a DAW and then back to the 2488neo.

I did find that I missed the MIDI of the 2488neo to sync with a drum machine (for example) when a singer/songwriter was used to playing along with their drum machine while writing. (Gets a better performance from them if they play along with what they are used to.)

So I picked up a used DP-32 with MIDI and CD drive. Although the CD drive is likely not going to be used very often, it doesn't seem to work on this one. I have put in a blank CD-R and it just kicks it out as a Non-Blank or Invalid Blank. I've tried many brands and all do the same thing. I have the impression the drive isn't actually spinning any longer.

Has anyone successfully replaced the CD drive in a DP-32 (or DP-24 for that matter)?
Or just live without it working?

Thank you everyone.

 

[-mjk-]

Have you tried playing a CD or ripping one? That will tell you right away if it's spinning or not. It might just need a good cleaning.

 

[Tom Boyles]

Thank you.

Yes, I tried playing an audio CD and it kicks it back out and message on screen is "Insert Audio CD".

The light on the front of the drive just pulses on and off and there's no sound like the CD is spinning whether it's a blank or audio CD.

 

[-mjk-]

Somewhere, I think I have the service manual. Some of the other users have it, so one of us will dig it up.

 

[Tom Boyles]

That would be awesome, thank you.

I had it open and the drive is a TEAC W224s-A5. Fairly standard SATA slim CD drive with the design of drives found in some laptops and small format desktops.

Curious if the drive must be that exact model of if other SATA CD drives that is the same design would work. I'm willing to give one a try, but the drive I found in an old desktop I have is the exact same design, but it is also a DVD drive, so not sure if the DP-32 would recognize it properly.

So far in my research, a TEAC W224S-A5 is tough to find, but I have found TEAC W224E drives online but I think the "E" signifies an EIDE drive and the "S" is for the SATA version.

So I'm outta luck unless another model SATA drive of the same design would work.

 

[-mjk-]

My understanding is that it is a bone stock CD burner and nothing special about it. As long as the power supply leads match up, I do not believe it would do any damage at all to try the other drive. It probably won't work because it is a DVD drive, but who knows?

 

[Tom Boyles]

Thank you for the follow-up. I will give it a try and take photos as I go to document the process just in case it works. Hopefully be helpful to someone else who also wants to give it a try.

With the drive out, I could also try it in a PC to see if it works there to continue diagnosing the CD drive itself.

 

[Tom Boyles]

Well, I am very happy to report that the CD drive swap worked!!!

I swapped out the TEAC DP32 CD drive for a DVD/CD drive I pulled from an old Dell desktop (a Data Storage Super Multi DVD Rewriter (Model: GT50N)) that was the same size and design as the TEAC drive.

Put it all back together and the replacement drive spun up and responded perfectly.

It would seem safe to assume, then, that the DP24/DP32 CD drive is not brand or model specific or even if it is just a CD drive, or not, as well. (Of course, it'll only work as a CD reader/writer due to software).

Thank you -mjk-, for walking through that with me which helped me get the confidence to "give it a try" and I am glad I did.

I took photos all along the way and put together a document of the process if anyone is ever interested in doing this themselves! I can't upload the PDF guide I created. But if anyone would like to review it, I can somehow get it to you.

 

[-mjk-]

Hey, that's great @Tom Boyles! You can post a link to a cloud file here, no problem. This is good information for the community. Nice work!

I use mine to rip my CDs onto lossless .wav files. Very convenient.

 

[Tom Boyles]

A link to that PDF:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tYs-hgXM3Jbib7VObzQ612TlxoogerQ5/view?usp=sharing

 

[-mjk-]

@Tom Boyles my guess is that you are a manufacturing engineer. This is a professional level servicing procedure. I want to personally thank you for an invaluable contribution to the forum community.

 

[Tom Boyles]

@-mjk- Thank you for the kind comments. You're very welcome. It was my pleasure to put it together.

I suppose maybe I should have been a manufacturing engineer, I do thoroughly enjoy documenting processes. I've instead been in marketing communications, art direction and programming.

Maybe one day I will think about sharing a TASCAM tracksheet program I programmed/designed that I have used for a while when recording with my 2488neo, DP32 and DP32SD. It uses a SQLite database to track data. It might be fun to have others give it a go and give feedback on it. (I grew tired of relying on a program like Excel.)

 

[-mjk-]

Please do, Tom! There have been a number of requests in several posts about track sheets.

 

[dctdct]

...Maybe one day I will think about sharing a TASCAM tracksheet program I programmed/designed that I have used for a while when recording with my 2488neo, DP32 and DP32SD. It uses a SQLite database to track data. It might be fun to have others give it a go and give feedback on it. (I grew tired of relying on a program like Excel.)

This is an amazing idea! Surely far better than all my Excel efforts.

 

[BazzBass]

Maybe one day I will think about sharing a TASCAM tracksheet program I programmed/designed that I have used for a while when recording with my 2488neo, DP32 and DP32SD. It uses a SQLite database to track data. It might be fun to have others give it a go and give feedback on it. (I grew tired of relying on a program like Excel.)

please do, and thank you in advance

 

[Tom Boyles]

Thank you for wanting to check out this application. Take a look at this new forum post I created to read more and take a look at the documentation for the program to see if it's something you would like to check out for me as a "beta test".

https://www.tascamforums.com/threads/standalone-tracksheet-program.9289/