Remove the top cover, the transport billet section, and clean and relube. This solves the problem 80% of the time:
SCD-1/777ES Transport Maintenance
1. Tilt up top cover at rear of CDP and disconnect ribbon harness that secures top cover to Main Board at front of CDP. Remove cover and set aside.
2. Remove ground wire to transport billet & screws securing transport at corner stand-ups. Lift transport with attached RF PCB straight out, while carefully pulling out two wide ribbon cables that secure transport assy at rear edge of Main Board.
3. Remove transport assy to grounded anti-static mat, being careful at all times not to touch laser lenses or to lean laser pick-up against any surfaces.
4. Remove retaining washers from round gears, taking care that they don't fly away. Remove round gears. Remove Sled Motor together with its bracket/PCB. Leave small plastic drive gear attached at end of sled motor shaft. Remove cast CD drive spindle motor assy. Remove cover plate from end of CD spindle motor assy, exposing sapphire bearing, brass bearing cup, and spindle motor coils.
5. Use swab and solvent to clean grease & dirt off all round & straight gears of transport assy & jewel bearing and bearing cup of CD spindle motor. Desolder and remove sled motor from its PCB, noting motor polarity before dissembling. (Motor runs backward if reassembled with incorrect polarity.)
6. Spray Deoxit into sled motor housing through holes exposed after desoldering sled motor from bracket/PCB. Apply opposing polarities of a 12V battery to motor poles, so as to spin sled motor in opposite directions and burnish brushes for about 30 seconds. Resolder sled motor to PCB. Reassemble sled motor assy to transport.
7. Confirm that there is almost no lateral play between CD spindle and its cast housing. Replace spindle motor assy if there is excessive lateral play or if spinning operation has become noisy. Put a drop or two of mineral or telfon oil into the collar bearings at each end of the spindle shaft housing. Remove any dried brown grease from jewel bearing cup and motor coil areas & replace with a small dab of white lithium grease or automotive moly grease. Reassemble CD spindle motor and reattach assembly to transport.
8. Apply white lithium grease to metal spindles of round gears. Put on round gears and confirm that they rotate smoothly. If they're tight, then you may have found the source of SACD read problems. Proceed with caution, but you may need to slightly enlarge the bore diameter of the plastic gear with a drill bit one size up from the stock bore. The drill bit must be inserted and turned by hand only.
9. Reassemble and lubricate all plastic round & straight gears sparingly with white lithium grease. Put a drop of mineral or teflon oil on each metal sled rail. Run the reassembled sled back and forth a few times by hand to make sure it runs smoothly and to spin off excess grease. Take care not to get grease on the tiny electric eye.
10. Reassemble transport to CDP, taking care not to peel back metal traces along edge of two ribbons as they seat to the Main Board headers. If any metal traces peel back, then retrim the ribbon using paper scissors or replace the ribbon.
11. If you continue to have read problems, then replace the sled motor, which has been discontinued as a Sony part but is still available from OEM manufacturer.
SCD-1/777ES Transport Maintenance
1. Tilt up top cover at rear of CDP and disconnect ribbon harness that secures top cover to Main Board at front of CDP. Remove cover and set aside.
2. Remove ground wire to transport billet & screws securing transport at corner stand-ups. Lift transport with attached RF PCB straight out, while carefully pulling out two wide ribbon cables that secure transport assy at rear edge of Main Board.
3. Remove transport assy to grounded anti-static mat, being careful at all times not to touch laser lenses or to lean laser pick-up against any surfaces.
4. Remove retaining washers from round gears, taking care that they don't fly away. Remove round gears. Remove Sled Motor together with its bracket/PCB. Leave small plastic drive gear attached at end of sled motor shaft. Remove cast CD drive spindle motor assy. Remove cover plate from end of CD spindle motor assy, exposing sapphire bearing, brass bearing cup, and spindle motor coils.
5. Use swab and solvent to clean grease & dirt off all round & straight gears of transport assy & jewel bearing and bearing cup of CD spindle motor. Desolder and remove sled motor from its PCB, noting motor polarity before dissembling. (Motor runs backward if reassembled with incorrect polarity.)
6. Spray Deoxit into sled motor housing through holes exposed after desoldering sled motor from bracket/PCB. Apply opposing polarities of a 12V battery to motor poles, so as to spin sled motor in opposite directions and burnish brushes for about 30 seconds. Resolder sled motor to PCB. Reassemble sled motor assy to transport.
7. Confirm that there is almost no lateral play between CD spindle and its cast housing. Replace spindle motor assy if there is excessive lateral play or if spinning operation has become noisy. Put a drop or two of mineral or telfon oil into the collar bearings at each end of the spindle shaft housing. Remove any dried brown grease from jewel bearing cup and motor coil areas & replace with a small dab of white lithium grease or automotive moly grease. Reassemble CD spindle motor and reattach assembly to transport.
8. Apply white lithium grease to metal spindles of round gears. Put on round gears and confirm that they rotate smoothly. If they're tight, then you may have found the source of SACD read problems. Proceed with caution, but you may need to slightly enlarge the bore diameter of the plastic gear with a drill bit one size up from the stock bore. The drill bit must be inserted and turned by hand only.
9. Reassemble and lubricate all plastic round & straight gears sparingly with white lithium grease. Put a drop of mineral or teflon oil on each metal sled rail. Run the reassembled sled back and forth a few times by hand to make sure it runs smoothly and to spin off excess grease. Take care not to get grease on the tiny electric eye.
10. Reassemble transport to CDP, taking care not to peel back metal traces along edge of two ribbons as they seat to the Main Board headers. If any metal traces peel back, then retrim the ribbon using paper scissors or replace the ribbon.
11. If you continue to have read problems, then replace the sled motor, which has been discontinued as a Sony part but is still available from OEM manufacturer.