CD Drive on Duo may not be behaving correctly?

[/turboG16]

I bought a cheap PCE Duo to fix up as a bit of a pet project. Today I was able to replace the frayed CD drive cables and get the drive working again. First time I did it read and played Puyo Puyo CD like a charm. But now on subsequent boots have been inconsistent.
Sometimes it just takes a couple seconds to go from one screen to another, sometimes it takes the better part of a minute. The music cut out of a menu once, and audio balancing feels off (this could be the AV cable that came with it since it only has one audio connector). And then there are times where it'll just hang while loading.
Tested out audio CD's, they read fast but the quality is questionable. One CD had a crackling sound during playback, but only the one. Playback also skipped once on another CD that's in immaculate condition.
I have already thoroughly cleaned the board and did a total recap, HuCards work fine of course. Is it a laser issue? Are these common? Is Puyo Puyo just a slow-loading game?

submitted by /u/princecamaro28
[link] [comments]

More...