Thread by @Foone

I'm not an expert but I don't think laserdisc players are supposed to spread their own flat flex cables

yeah that's not good

so the thing is, I already replaced this cable.
See this thread?

https://twitter.com/Foone/status/1486535569874165765

I must have put it in wrong, somehow.

BUT I ordered two of them, according to the order history.
Do I know where the second one is? NOPE!

but in theory I can find it and fix this player

... again

damn it.
past foone didn't document where in the service manual this cable is described

It's CN402.
NOW WHAT'S THE PINOUT?

there we go.
now what do these mean?

this does seem to suggest that the sled controls are smart, and I can't just shove some voltage into the motor to get it to move. damn it.

I was kinda hoping I could tell it to just move the optical assembly out of the way so I could easily get to the shredded bits on the bottom, but no, apparently not

ok so continuity checking this cable says that despite some of the plastic being shredded off, it still works.

THESE ARE THE SECRET GUIDES

yeah I think my cable is too long and it came undone from here

ok I think I figured it out.
See how my optical head is on the bottom?

their optical head is on the top.
I'm running the cable the wrong way, because my optical head is flipped 180-degrees from how it should be when you're assembling it.

the trick is, how do I get my optical head up into the top without manually turning the motor 9000 times?

and I think the answer is THE SECRET SERVICE MODE

which should let me manually adjust the drive sled? I think? I'm not sure the optical assembly is the "sled".
It's not the "tray" that the disc goes into, at least.

well there's your problem

service mode does work, and also nicely demonstrates why it's trying to rip the cable apart

but the important part is that I finally have it at the top, so I can hopefully thread the cable properly

IT LIVES

And here's how it looks with the cable now in the correct place.

and for once I didn't accidentally un-RF-mod it while repairing it! I can still capture laserdisc rips with a Domesday Duplicator

fucking laserdiscs, man.

double-sided players: not even once.
four-sided players: not even zero times