I recently aquired an immaculate CD3500, which works in every respect as is should, some of the time. Some CDs it will scan and display the tracks, then switch off, some it won't scan at all, a few it will play but with massive distortion, and others it will play perfectly. The CDs it doesn't like don't seem to be any more or less damaged than the ones it plays. Is it just dirty, or is it more serious? Thanks for any advice

i'm not an expert on these by any means but running a laser cleaning disk through it would be my first port of call

Does it always play the same disks and reject the same disks ?

tom

Certainly clean the lens first - a cotton bud and some isopropyl alcohol is easier and better than the cleaning disc. If that does not solve the problem, I suspect that you have an electrical issue involving the laser control mechanism. I believe that this is usually due to a simple component failur rather than the laser itself though the latter is always a possibility. I hope it is a dirty lens though as the lasers are notoriously difficult to get hold of.