I picked up a non-working Rowe CD-100b with a CDM-3 player last night, and I am trying to get it working. I don't know the history of the machine, but I suspect it has a non-working cd player. Hopefully one of you can answer some questions for me.

The first thing I noticed is that there is no RCA cable plug in either the right or left CD inputs of the amp board. Is this where the CD drive is supposed to plug in? Where is the audio outs on the CDM-3?

Can I test the amp by simply plugging in an RCA audio source into the CD inputs on the amp board?

Lastly, I did re-initalize the machine, and it will select a CD from input form the keypad. It places the cd on the cradle, spins up for about 30 seconds, and then removes the CD. Is this typical of a dying CD player?

If the CD drive is bad, is it worth buying the upgrade kit from Happ? Or would I be better off going the MP3 replacement route?

Unless my Google-phoo is off today, I think the best I could do on a mail in service is $180. This makes the $234 for the upgrade kit from Happ look like an attractive alternative.

I found a really good page on the basic operations of a cd player http://www.repairfaq.org/sam/cdfaq.htm#cdtopfc

Cleaning the lens is one of the first things they suggest. Given the tobacco smell of the jukebox, it would not surprise me if the lens is dirty.

Well I tried cleaning the lens, and that didn’t work. The player starts up, and tries to focus the laser, however the servo never moves. The decoder board looks like someone to contact cleaner to it. The board also has been serviced in the past as I can see where a ribbon cable has been replaced. The strangest part is the burnt area in the corner where there are no components.

I found a service manual for the player online, but it is in Dutch....

D0F9CA53-4314-43F6-8D24-98DE2FDE24B9 (resized).jpeg

Ok, I got a mystery on my hands. I was able to turn my jukebox on for the first time in 6 months today. My kids had stacked some closet mirrors in front of it without asking last summer. I finally re-arranged enough in my shop to move the #@##$% mirrors today. I turned on my CD100C, and it came up and played music like a champ.

I opened it up to check everything over, and discovered this:
IMG_0006 (resized).jpeg

I have no idea what that black sticky mess is. It looks like it will clean up, but I'd really like to know what it is/was?