[x300] How to solve NO CONT problem! Solved?

In reply to a message from skjagtech sent Tue 9 May 2006:

by the way for everyones, at some time probably, interest, I’ve
posted on diff swops.in a nutshell a xj40 diff fits, I did it. if
you knew this,feel free to guffaw at me–
patwag
exmouth, United Kingdom
–Posted using Jag-lovers JagFORUM [forums.jag-lovers.org]–
–Support Jag-lovers - Donate at http://www.jag-lovers.org/donate04.php

Pat,

Jos has it on his website. I don’t have the link handy, but if you do an
archive search for “Jos Raven no cont” you’ll find posts with the link.

“Mark 1” Mark Stephenson
'52 XK120 S673129, '59 Mk1, '84,'85,'86 &'95 XJ6-----Original Message-----
From: owner-x300@jag-lovers.org [mailto:owner-x300@jag-lovers.org] On Behalf
Of patwag
Sent: 05/09/2006 3:45 PM
To: x300@jag-lovers.org
Subject: Re: Subject: Re: [x300] How to solve NO CONT problem!! Solved??

In reply to a message from skjagtech sent Tue 9 May 2006:

ta, but does online book mean within jag lovers or another address,
wag

patwag
exmouth, United Kingdom
–Posted using Jag-lovers JagFORUM [forums.jag-lovers.org]–
–Support Jag-lovers - Donate at http://www.jag-lovers.org/donate04.php

In reply to a message from patwag sent Wed 10 May 2006:

Hi,

To put everything into clarity and to help Marks memory out; here
are the links

Jos :
http://www.mraven.com/stock-radio-pictures.htm

Online book :
http://www.jag-lovers.org/ebooks/bookindex.php?Vbook=x300

ski slope section:
http://www.jag-lovers.org/ebooks/view.php?Vbook=x300&Vsection=10.1

ATB

Steve–
The original message included these comments:

ta, but does online book mean within jag lovers or another address,
wag


http://www.skjagtech.co.uk TWR XJ-S TWR XJ6-S3 and X300
Somerset, United Kingdom
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I rarely ever have much to contribute here, because (knock on wood) none of my four Jaguars develops issues to resolve. Lately I’ve been driving the X300 VDP daily and decided I really enjoyed my tunes in the XJS convertible all last year, so I grabbed the CDs from it and put them in the trunk cartridge. Then began the “NO CONT” problem, in all its guises described in preceding posts. I read many post here and determined I’d do Jos’ fix, as I’m handy enough with a soldering iron to fix my own Sony TVs & such (and have them actually work ten years on!). So I pulled the console to get at the head unit.

Then I thought I ought try one thing mentioned here by someone in one thread or other–I took out the home-made CDs that play so well all the time in the convertible’s Alpine in-dash unit and replaced them with factory-made CDs.

NO MORE “NO CONT” indicator. Every CD played correctly without a hitch.

So if you’re like me and burn your own CDs from your own collection of 200,000 bits of music, it might be well and good if you encounter the “NO CONT” indicator to do as the poster whose name I wish I could now find again said we ought–try commercial CDs before dissembling the head unit & soldering away. I know Jos’ fix may well be likely needed in many cases, but as that Unknown Poster said, “try the simple stuff first”. I should have tried the commercial CDs first, but me being me, I disassembled the console first. Takes only 5 minutes on the x300, so no biggy, but I could have saved myself that 5 coming out and another 5 going back, by just trying that simple bit of putting in known quality CDs.

It’s interesting to me that the unit in the XJS is so much more forgiving, but it is 20 years newer, after all, with the full range of data handling via phone/MP3s, bluetooth, CD, satellite and such, where the X300 stock OEM unit is just AM/FM/Tape/CD. Doubtless there are differences in data handling (over-sampling, error correction, etc.) programmed into the units, with the new unit in the convertible being more flexible.

Anyway, I wanted to lend my experience and second that wise post of the guy who suggested to use commercial-grade CDs, clean cartridge, etc., before deciding there’s some fault with either the factory head or factory CD changer.

I should have known to check this myself. The unit had worked perfectly last road trip, packed full of commercial CDs. It was only after I put the Alpine in the convertible that I started making my own CDs, which were the source of my problem in the older less-forgiving changer. (I’ll follow the rest of his advice and look into getting higher quality blanks. I’m satisfied my burner is very good as I didn’t skimp on that when I bought it and it’s been rock-solid. Good blanks might let me have my obscure bits of music in the VDP. At some point, I might like a newer unit with more features, but for now, I, like most of you, just want the factory set up to work. And with commercial CDs, it IS, without that annoying “NO CONT” error.

Update: While it seemed for two days, the issue HAD been CD quality, the “Not Cont” message returned yesterday. So I pulled the head for a thorough inspection. The only obvious visible problem I found was quite obviously a real problem: The pin assigned for “tuner muting” on the main board was broken off, with the remnant of that pin in the socket of the smaller adjunct board. I considered replacing the pin, but decided a simple small jumper wire would be easier to manage without risk of damaging the board. Simple enough. While I was at it, I looked for the resistor Jos mentioned, No. 223, by the heat sink. While it looked fine under a jeweler’s loop, I reflowed the solder.

Working correctly again, with any CD, including home-made ones that hadn’t worked earlier.

Not such a bad job. But boy are those parts small. But at least the head unit is made in such away it disassembles easily enough to get at everything.

If it fails again, I’ll post. Otherwise, assume it’s continuing to work.

Truly curious that a single pin on that connector would have broken in the first place, but it was obvious it’d been broken for a while. There was obvious black soot right at the point of the break where it’d obviously accrued from a bit of arcing. I suppose the two pieces at times contacted, which had allowed the unit to operate and at other times, with temperature causing expansion or contraction, they didn’t contact and the CD would not operate.

So, here’s one data point for a broken contact at the tuner mute pin.

http://www.mraven.com/Jaguar_X300_Radio.html

This is an updated link to the stock radio page.

Jos Raven