Electronics > Repair
Sony Discman D-FJ401 Repair (How do I open this thing?)
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Rooster Cogburn:
I'm trying to repair this Discman and failing at the first step. The service manual does not contain the single most important piece of information anybody would need to service the device. How to unscrew those last two screws. They are completely inaccessible and are required to be removed for further disassembly. I can take it from there, but if somebody would just pretty please explain to me how to open this thing. Thanks!



https://elektrotanya.com/sony_d-fj401.pdf/download.html

Edit: Here's somebody else with the same problem, no reply:

https://old.reddit.com/r/walkman/comments/1aogl42/sony_dfj401_dont_have_a_power_cord_and_batteries/
thephil:
Form the exploded view, I would think that you need to remove the upper lid assembly first. Maybe it's just clipped on or there is some kind of hinge pin you can push out or something like that...

Edit: the image says "Spring full open" in steps 2 and 3 (left an right) – so probably its the springs that hold the lid? Try to remove those.
Rooster Cogburn:
I removed the springs. They seem to have no function other than pushing the lid open. I don't see any way to remove the lid. There's no rod to slide out, no way to pop it out from the joints its on, etc.

I repaired quite a few Sony players so far and none have this issue. They all either open from the bottom, have a way to remove the lid or have angled screws or otherwise accessible screws that can be removed with the lid on. No idea what on earth they were thinking with this one and then not mentioning anything about this ridiculous design in the service manual. I've been staring at this for hours, watched every YouTube video on Discman repair (not a single one looks anything like this abomination) and genuinely have no ideas how you can open this.

Here's somebody else with the same problem, no reply:

https://old.reddit.com/r/walkman/comments/1aogl42/sony_dfj401_dont_have_a_power_cord_and_batteries/
thephil:
Stubborn device!

I studied the photo in the link you sent as well as the details of the exploded view in the service manual again. To me it seems that the lid hinges on two plastic "axles" that are an integral part of the dark grey plastic tab next to the springs. I believe that you need to do some firm prying in order to push the legs of the lid to the outside and thus free it. Maybe its necessary to close the lid halfway while doing that so the lit gray/silver legs can move in the slot. Or maybe even from the outside if there is a slit you can reach in with a spatula when the lid is almost closed.

But it's hard to tell from a picture – so its mostly guesswork...
Rooster Cogburn:
I had initially discounted popping them out, but as you correctly observed you can push them free if you have the lid half-open, making this maneuver even more tricky. I tried to do so with a lot of force and managed to free one side. I had to use metal tools that completely mangle the plastic because there's no way to do this with a plastic spudger. Even then I can't free the lid because once I pop one side out the other is wedged in even more tight. It really feels like I'm going to break the entire discman into pieces :/



I just don't see how I can get this hinge off, let alone re-attach it and do all of that without breaking the flat flex cable etc.

I really hope the Sony engineer that came up with this design had to spend the rest of his lifetime employment scrubbing toilets for this. You had a hundred discman models with perfectly reasonable cases and assembly / disassembly procedures but this guy had to spend the weekend coming up with a 'novel' way of doing it...
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