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AppleCD 600e General Maintenance

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Rear of an AppleCD 600e (Sleeps-Darkly, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Care and take-apart for the AppleCD 600e and the AppleCD 300e Plus, which share one case and one Service Source. Apple serviced both as three modules: the top case, the CD-ROM drive assembly and the enclosure with its power supply. There is no Apple procedure below that level, and no parts list or schematic.[1]

Handling

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Apple's guidelines:[1]

  • Switch the drive off and make sure no SCSI devices are attached before working on it.
  • Work on a soft, grounded surface and observe ESD precautions.
  • Never transport the drive with a disc inside, and use the original packing.

The enclosure module contains the mains power supply. Unplug the mains lead before taking the top case off.

The tray and the lens

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Apple's 1994 data sheet lists automatic lens cleaning as a feature of the 300e Plus.[2] Apple's guide for the internal 300i Plus, a tray-loading drive of the same generation, gives the care rules for the tray:[3]

  • Do not leave the tray open: dust on the lens can stop the drive reading discs.
  • Do not put anything on the open tray, and do not force the tray open by hand.
  • Do not wipe the lens with a paper towel or other abrasive surface. Apple referred owners to an authorised service provider for a lens cleaner.

Opening the drive

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From the Service Source:[1]

  1. Remove the six case screws and slide off the top case.
  2. Lift the tabs and carefully remove the front bezel.
  3. Remove the four drive mounting screws from the bottom of the case. Hold the drive and turn the case over.
  4. Slide the drive forward slightly and disconnect the audio-out cable, the SCSI select switch cable, the SCSI-device-to-case cable and the power cable.
  5. Lift the drive assembly out of the enclosure. What remains is the enclosure with the power supply, which Apple replaced as one module.

Inside the mechanism

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Apple went no further than the drive assembly. On the Matsushita CR-504-K, the 4x mechanism also used in the internal AppleCD 600i, a 68kMLA member found the circuit board and internals held to the metal casing by four plastic pins. Prising them out of the casing with a flat screwdriver let the internals lift out, and a careful dusting brought a drive that would not read back to life.[4] Check which mechanism your drive has before relying on this: llamamusic.com lists the Matsushita CR-504-B or CR-504-L, or a Sony CDU-75S-2, for the 600e, and a Matsushita CR-503-K for the 300e.[5]

SCSI ID and termination

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The SCSI ID selector is on the back panel. Apple's CD-ROM drives are set to ID 3 as standard.[6] Apple's external SCSI devices of this period have no built-in terminator, so a drive at the end of the chain needs an Apple SCSI Cable Terminator (M0332LL/A).[7][2]

Capacitors

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Apple published no component values for the drive or the power supply, and the power supply is part of the enclosure module.[1] If the drive misbehaves after the checks in the AppleCD 600e Troubleshooting Guide, inspect the mechanism's board for leaking electrolytics; Capacitor Failure Symptoms describes the signs.

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References

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  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Apple Computer, AppleCD 300e Plus/600e Service Source, hosted as File:Applecd 300e plus-600e.pdf (see AppleCD 300e Plus/600e Service Source). Take Apart: Top Case pp. 1-4, CD-ROM Drive Assembly pp. 5-7, Enclosure p. 8 (PDF pp. 18-25); Exploded View (PDF p. 27).
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Apple Computer, AppleCD 300e Plus and AppleCD 300i Plus data sheet, L00318C, March 1994, p. 1, hosted as File:AppleCD 300e Plus and 300i Plus Data Sheet (1994).pdf.
  3. ↑ Apple Computer, AppleCD 300i Plus User's Guide (1994), Care and handling, p. 7 (PDF p. 16), hosted as File:AppleCD 300i Plus User's Guide (1994).pdf.
  4. ↑ "AppleCD 600i take-apart?", 68kMLA forum thread, December 2010 to February 2011, 68kmla.org. Posts by protocol7 (Matsushita CR-504-K; four plastic pins; dusting cured a drive that would not read) and LC_575 (dusty lens or loose ribbon cable as likely causes).
  5. ↑ llamamusic.com, "Roland SCSI CD-ROM compatibility matrix", llamamusic.com/s50s550/Roland_CD_Mechanisms.html (retrieved 4 October 2026).
  6. ↑ Apple Computer, AppleCD 300i Plus User's Guide (1994), Troubleshooting, p. 54 (PDF p. 64), hosted as File:AppleCD 300i Plus User's Guide (1994).pdf.
  7. ↑ Apple Computer, AppleCD SC Plus Owner's Guide (1991), p. 11 (PDF p. 22), hosted as File:AppleCD SC Plus Owner's Guide (1991).pdf.


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