Apple CD 300 (SONY CDU-8003A) ejects caddy

[LOOM]

I got hold of a Apple CD 300 (SONY CDU-8003A) drive that turns on and shows up on the SCSI bus when I list all the devices. I when I try to put a caddy into it, it just ejects the caddy instantly. I opened it up and cleaned the laser head with some alcohol, but it still acts the same way. 

After I cleaned it and put it together the caddy slot won't open automatically any more either, so I have to manually open it for the caddy to be ejected. Everything looked ok when I opened the box, no faulty hinges or anything I could see.

Does anyone have a idea how to fix it?

 

[eraser]

Have you checked the capacitors?  Based on the age of the CD 300 they are probably leaking and may well cause the drive to malfunction.  

It is at least a good sign that the drive shows up on the SCSI bus though.

 

[archer174]

I just had one of these apart today to scavenge parts for another drive. There is a -very- good chance the capacitors on the logic board have leaked. There are surface mounts on the main logic board and on the board attached to the front bezel. 

 

[LOOM]

Yeah, I saw a few caps on the front bezel board. They looked ok, but maybe I should try to change them. I will need to look for the other too, thanks  :quadra:

 

[madmax_2069]

Is there any kind of button switches on the inside to tell if a caddy is loaded or not ?

 

[LOOM]

The cd caddy slot opens when I put a caddy into it, and then the "CADDY LOADED" slot comes down, but it won't go up any more until i push it up by myself. I didn't see any switches, but maybe there is and it came loose when I opened it? Or the caps on the board attached to the front bezel board are not working and have something to do with it.

 

[techknight]

There might be a slim chance that part of this mechanism could be belt-driven. 

Belts gotta be shot by now. 

 

[archer174]

The drive itself should be a Sony CDU561-25. I have a teardown guide for a next drive that is very similar here: http://www.asterontech.com/Asterontech/next_cdrom_refurb.html

On your drive the inject motor will be connected by a ribbon cable to the logic board which will have a layout that is close to the one pictured. The bezel board is likely not the issue. I think the caps on the logic board are the likely suspect. Unfortunately if it's the motor itself going bad it's a full tear down to get to it, which may not be worth the effort. If after replacing the caps you want to give it a shot be mindful of the springs which suspend the mechanical parts in the enclosure. There is one at each corner. There shouldn't be belts in this drive. 

 

[apm]

I have one of these drives doing the same caddy eject thing. It probably is a cap issue. Oddly enough, the caps look fine and there's no obvious leakage on the component side of the board, but there's a real mess on the underside of the board around each set of caps. I can't quite figure out how it got there. The board mounts with components facing down, so maybe the electrolyte evaporates and then condenses on the other side?

 

[Juror22]

I have one that is doing that and I took the easy way out. I replaced the mechanism with a working one from a donor.  Since I know that I am just putting off the inevitable, let us know if you come up with a more permanent solution.