Star Tech Journal

October 1 997
... continued from page 7
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too.) If they play normally - con-
gratulations, you fixed it!
Now if the ones you cleaned do
not play properly, you need to
look at the clamping. It's not un-
usual for the center hole of a CD
to be out of tolerance. So play the
off ending disc again and listen for
"slipping" and watch for "wob-
bling." It may be necessary to
ream out the center hole slightly
to make the CD seat on the laser
spindle properly. (Be careful to
not remove too much material as
that will cause the c_e nter hole to
be too large which will also cause
problems.)
MANY Discs SKIP
If after checking the readouts you
find that many discs have errors,
the problem is probably not the
discs. Most likely there is a me-
chanical or laser problem.
The first thing I like to do in this
circumstance is to check the me-
chanical aspects. Look at the
lens. Is it clean? Clean it any-
way! Look at the clamping hub.
Is it hitting the clamping plate or
retaining clip? Look at the laser
spindle. Are all the "fingers" in
place? Check the harness con-·
nections between the CDM-12
and the computer. Look for loose
wires or connectors not fully
seated. Correct any mechanical
problems you find.
One thing that is often not even
thought about when diagnosing
a playing problem is vibration.
A jukebox has speakers built in
and, as we all know, speakers vi-
brate. They vibrate even more
at high volume. As we also
know, CD players and vibration
do not get along! Vibration is
transferred to the CDM-12 via
the mechanism. So a smart thing
to check is the mechanism's clear-
ance from the front door. Is it
"floating" freely and not hitting
against anything? Are the
machine's service and parts
manual, old CD jewel cases and
other things that tend to collect
in the bottom of a jukebox clear
of the playing mechanism?
To electrically test the CD M-12,
access Run CD Tests ( Quick Find
149) and check each of the player
fuµctions. Detailed instructions
for using this exclusive feature
may be found in Section H of the
SyberSonic Service Manual or in
the January 1997 Star Tech jour-
nal Listen to the laser's spindle
motor. Is it quiet? Listen for slip-
ping of the clamping hub. (Re-
member, if the disc is not spin-
ning properly it cannot play
properly.)
Once you are sure all the me-
chanics are taken care of play a
few songs
(loudly)
iL and see
if they
play nor-
mally. If
they do, con-
gr atul ati ons,
jitll you fixed it!
"r
If you still cannot get the player
to work, chances are it needs to
be replaced.