Rock-ola laser 2000x mystery wire? Looking for leads here

Demo1024 · by **Demo1024** » Thu Jun 12, 2014 9:57 am

Hi everyone! New to posting here. I have recently acquired a 89/90 Rock-ola Laser 2000x jukebox. Something I had absolutely no knowledge of before a few weeks ago...
The machine seems to want to work. Accepts credits, allows selections, magazine rotates.... first problem. Gripper didn't grip and wouldn't go through full motions without "help"
Cleaned up that mess. Everything mechanical seems to be working fine now... Notice the cd only stays on tray about 1 second and is then lifted and returned. And that the Cd motor seems to be dead. Not sure if the motor would cause the cd to be rejected so quickly and believe I have 2 problems somewhere... Grounds checked... external fuses checked... found an ice cube relay that had a bent pin from someone jamming it in wrong... now the cd rotates!!! but not at speed... Going to dig into that after I figure out if I am missing a wire from the cpu to the Cd player box.
There are 2 purple wires coming from the cpu at the cd connection. One goes to the cd box and the other one (purple with white stripe) has a quick connector with nothing plugged into it. I noticed that the plug on the Cd box is also missing one wire. I'm hoping someone has one of these machines and can help, because I can't make any sense of the schematics from rock-ola and they seem to be for a different model. "Nostalgic" series If anyone has links to a correct manual or simply could confirm I am missing something here I would greatly appreciate it. Love to see this thing working again. I know If I had the manual this would be an easy fix/answer, but for now after buying toys this week, I will be broke for a bit and hope someone could help me out with a quick look in their machine or manual. The first pin on the top of the connector on the cpu at the bottom side plugged in is where the purple/white wire with the connector is and the 2nd wire from the top on the cd player side plug is missing..... I think I may need to upload some photos...

by **Ron Rich** » Thu Jun 12, 2014 6:05 pm

IMHO, my problem with "RockOla"is poor docs--seams to me that what was done on the production line one day, was not done the next day, and changed again on the third day--- That being said, I would ASSUME the un-connected wire is for some "accessory", or "option".
The length of time the CD sits on the player, indicates that either the player can not "see" a disc there, or that the player control, decoder board, is not seeing it. If it's a CDM3 player, I think that RO used the Phillips "decoder" board there. This board was noted for poor solder connections, and later, for "heat" problems--Most of these can be "fixed" by re-heating solder joints--
Ron Rich

Demo1024 · by **Demo1024** » Thu Jun 12, 2014 7:55 pm

Tyvm for the info. That's good news. Resoldering is something I'm prepared to do. I'll try that first and hope for some positive results

Demo1024 · by **Demo1024** » Mon Jun 23, 2014 10:02 pm

Did end up finding a broken trace on Cd interface assembly, but it made no noticeable difference. Got into the player and noticed a large brown spot on board. The only image I have found for this board has the same brown spot, but worse. Anyone with a cdm3 happen to know if this is supposed to be other than pcb green in this area.

Sorry for out of focus pic, but the color is there lol

by **Ron Rich** » Mon Jun 23, 2014 11:38 pm

Well, nope--It ainnasuppozedtobe that away--but poor design makes them all that way-- Ron Rich

Demo1024 · by **Demo1024** » Tue Jun 24, 2014 12:09 am

So this isn't an obvious problem then? There doesn't appear to be anything on the top side of the board there, which I thought was kinda weird. Guess I'll dig into another peice. If nothing else I like to see what all is inside of everything here lol. Just thought to mention I've never seen the laser power on at any point in trying to get it to play. Got some caps order that where supposed to be here today... Becoming a real adventure