The Multimedia System Lesson 11

Objectives:

When you have completed this lesson, you will:

1. Understand how a CD-ROM (Compact Disk-Read Only Memory) works.

2. Understand how a CD-ROM differs from a floppy or hard disk drive.

3. Understand how a sound card works.

4. Understand how the system functions with the operating system.

5. Be able to locate and identify a common fault associated with the

multimedia system.

Materials Needed:
1. CES Computer Repair Trainer Model CES 975.

2. CES Computer Repair Module Manual.

The CD-ROM Drive

The Sound Card

Discussion:
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1. The CD-ROM or Compact Disk-Read Only Memory is a mass

storage device that unlike a floppy or hard disk, stores its
information utilizing an optical system. The information is recorded
onto the CD-ROM disk by using a laser beam to actually burn
microscopic “pits and flats (lands)” on the surface of the disk.
The construction of the disk is such that when laser lights strikes
the surface of the disk areas that have not been changed into a pit
but remain a flat (land) the laser light reflects back to a detector.
Areas that have been changed into a pit, scatter the light and
therefore do not reflect any light back to the detector. This reflection
or non-reflection becomes the 0 or 1 that represents the data stored
on the disk.
The advantage to an optical system is that there is no physical
contact with the disk and no magnetic pulses to become damaged
or diminished. In theory a Compact Disk with proper handling can
last forever.

The CD-ROM Drive

2. The CD-ROM drive is similar to its magnetic counterpart in that the

physical size of the drive is the same as a 5¼” floppy disk drive and
will fit into any computer that can have a 5¼” floppy drive installed.
The internal construction of the drive is similar in that there is a
motor to spin the CD, control electronics that translate the optical
information to digital information and a read head to read the
information on the CD.
The read head in the CD-ROM drive is an infra-red laser that is
very low power to avoid damaging the CD. The laser is focused into
a very tight beam of light that shines through a lens at the disk
surface (the underside of the CD). The reflected pattern of laser
light passes through a lens back to the photo or light detector to
determine if the data is a flat (land) (0) or a pit (1).

3. The CD ROM, unlike the floppy disk, spins the CD at different

speeds, depending upon where the read head (laser) is positioned.
Speed increases as the read head moves toward the outer edge of
the CD. The speed that the disk rotates is also determined by the
head position and the type of CD drive that you are using. The

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faster the CD drive spins the disk, the greater is the data transfer
rate.
It is common to hear CD-ROM drives expressed in rotational
speed, such as double speed, triple speed, quad speed, hex speed,
8 speed and 16 speed drive. This indicates that a double speed
transfers twice the information in the same time as a single speed
and so on. Modern CD-ROM drives turn at up to 50 times that of a
single speed. This is commonly referred to as 50X.

4. The CD ROM disk information is stored as a large file of

information, as such the disk operating system can not understand
the information that is on the disk. The CD-ROM does not use the
same file system as a floppy or hard disk an as such is not
compatible in native form with the computer.
The disk becomes useable through the use of software called
device drivers. The device driver performs the translation from CD-
ROM format to MS-DOS (Microsoft-Disk Operating System) format.
Note that even though Windows 98 uses the file MSCDEX,
Microsoft Compact Disk Extensions is not loaded in the
autoexec.bat file. The operating system kernel has the MSCDEX
code built in.
The Compact Disk is available in several formats, 66 minutes or 74
minutes of data. The capacities of the disks are 550 megabytes or
650 megabytes respectively. And a recently released 80 minute
disk that holds 700 megabytes of data.

Equipment Setup Procedures:

If your Computer Repair trainer has not been setup, ask your
teacher for the equipment setup procedure sheet before beginning
the following procedure.

Procedure:
1. Open the CD-ROM tray.

2. Insert the CD-ROM “How Computers Work” into the Drive.

3. Close the CD-ROM tray.

4. Put on your stereo headphones.

5. Use the mouse to double click on the icon “How Computers Work”.

6. If a warning message occurs on the screen, click on “OK”.

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7. When the music starts and the title screen appears move the
mouse cursor anywhere on the screen and click once using the left
mouse button. This will help the user to quickly start the program by
bypassing the title screen and make the music stop playing.

8. You are about to go on a tour of the Multimedia System.

9. Move the mouse cursor to the picture of the computer case and
click once on the front of the computer.

10. Then move the mouse cursor to the picture of the CD-ROM Drive
and click once.

Sit back and enjoy !!!

11. Then move the mouse cursor to the picture of the Sound Card and
click once.

Sit back and enjoy !!!

12. When the tour of the Multimedia System is finished click on “Main”
to go to the main menu.

13. Click on “Exit” to exit the program.

14. Click on “OK” when asked “Are you sure you want to leave?”

15. Click on “OK” again.

You have just exited the multimedia program.

Multimedia Repair Discussion

The multimedia system is an area of computer repair that can be
frustrating. Locating and repairing faults associated with the
multimedia system is difficult due to the large variety of
components, and lack of formally defined standards for the type of
multimedia system. Often problems associated with multimedia
systems occur on the initial installation and not with a working
system.

DIAGNOSIS

Problems associated with A multi-media system could be caused

by the following:

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a. Defective CD-ROM Drive.

b. Defective CD-ROM Controller.
c. Defective or not installed CD-ROM Driver.
d. Defective or not installed Sound Card.

Defective CD-ROM Drive

Defective CD-ROM drives can be diagnosed by utilizing a known
working CD-ROM. Error messages displayed are similar to normal
DOS error messages, such as drive not ready or error reading
drive. Testing a CD-ROM drive should include a general internal
cleaning using a CD-ROM cleaning kit. Dirt that has built up on the
laser or the internal optics will cause read errors that often simulate
defective drives. Note that cleaning a CD-ROM should be done with
a cleaning kit and not by opening the drive. A complete cleaning
with laser power adjustments and optic alignment requires
specialized tools and therefore is never recommended to be done
in the field.

Defective CD-ROM Controller

A defective CD-ROM controller could also produce similar
symptoms indicating a defective CD-ROM drive. In the case of the
computer repair trainer, and most of the computers that utilize the
PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) bus, the CD-ROM is
normally connected directly to the motherboards on board controller
for the hard disk or IDE (Integrated Drive Electronics) Interface.
This being the case, the POST would detect a problem associated
with the controller and report it during the boot. In fact, in most
cases the computer will not start and would generate an error.

Defective or not installed CD-ROM Driver

This error can also cause the CD-ROM not to function. The CD-
ROM Driver is a software program that acts as the interface
between the computer hardware, the operating system and the CD-
ROM. If the driver is not functional or is not installed, the CD-ROM
will not operate correctly. This type of error is usually detected by
the operating system in terms of an error that will state that the
drive you selected is an invalid drive specification.

Reinstallation of the driver software will normally fix this type of an

error condition. Windows 98 users should note that the driver is
installed during initial installation and is defined in the registry file. If
this file is corrupted or if the driver is corrupted, a complete system
crash may occur. This may result in having to completely reinstall
the Windows operating system.

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Defective or not installed Sound Card

Sound cards under normal situations do not usually fail. During the
initial installation of the sound card, however, the usual problems of
addresses, interrupts, DMA (Direct Memory Access) channels and
conflicts do apply. Most of the sound cards that are available on
the market today are utilizing the Plug and Play standard.
This normally indicates that you simply install the card and run the
configuration software, and the card will be initialized and work
correctly. In reality the Plug and Play standard sometimes can be
called the Plug and Pray standard since it does not always work
correctly in each and every situation.
In addition to problems associated with the installation and
software, games will sometimes not detect a sound card if the
installation is different from the original manufacturers
configuration. If a sound card is not functioning, check the
installation using the diagnostics included with the card. If the card
functions normally, the problem may be associated with the
installed drivers or the configuration of the card.

REPAIR

The repair of a CD-ROM drive is not always a physical repair.

Unlike a floppy disk or a hard disk, the CD-ROM uses laser light to
read the surface of the disk. Where a CD-ROM can hold multi-
megabytes of information, it is possible for the disk to become
useless by a single fingerprint or scratch on the surface of the disk.
Whenever an error is displayed on a CD-ROM Drive, always
change disks and try the operation again. If an error code is still
displayed, use a laser-cleaning disk to clean the objective lenses
inside the drive, then try to read the disk again. If after trying both a
new disk and a cleaning, the error code still persists, you would
then proceed with additional diagnostics to determine what is the
problem.
Unlike other devices in the personal computer that are simply
replaced when bad, there are special software drivers associated
with the CD-ROM that should be reloaded, and reconfigured before
you replace the drive. Since most problems with CD-ROM’s are
associated with the disk or the software driver, it is common to be
able to repair the CD-ROM problem without ever changing the
drive.

Review:

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The CD-ROM is a device that is used for storing far more

information than is possible on a floppy disk. The data is recorded
using a laser beam, and is read back by the reflections caused by
the original pits and flats on the surface of the disk.
The information on the disk is read by a laser and as such, the
surface of the CD-ROM disk never comes in direct contact with the
read or writes head. Unlike a floppy disk or a hard disk the speed
of the CD-ROM changes as the laser tracks across the surface of
the disk, with the disk spinning faster at the outermost edge and
slower at the innermost track.
The Sound Card often acts as a CD-ROM interface allowing the
connection of the CD-ROM to the computer and reproduces the
digital audio information into sound that we can hear.

Assignment:
Answer the following multiple-choice questions:

1. A CD-ROM reads data using:

a. A magnet and a coil.
b. A magnetized resistor.
c. A narrow beam of laser-light.
d. None of the above.

2. The surface of a compact disk contains:

a. A Positive charged magnetic surface.
b. A Negative charged magnetic surface.
c. Pits and Lands.
d. None of the above.

3. A narrow beam of laser-light is created in the CD ROM by a:

a. ROM BIOS.
b. Zener Diode.
c. Germanium Diode.
d. Laser Diode.
4. The laser beam is reflected back from the surface of the disk when
the beam strikes:
a. A land on the disk.
b. The smooth plastic coating of the disk.
c. A pit on the disk.
d. None of the above.

5. The reflected laser beam creates the binary code (0,1) when the
beam strikes against the:
a. Disk surface.

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b. Light sensing diode.

c. Prism.
d. None of the above.

6. All Multimedia Systems include the computer, the monitor, and the:
a. Printer and modem.
b. Scanner.
c. CD ROM and sound card.
d. None of the above.

7. The sound card translates a series of numbers into analog signals

that produce the sound we hear.
a. True.
b. False.

8. The DSP chip on the sound card is the:

a. Direct sound proportion maker.
b. Digital sound player.
c. Digital signal processor.
d. All of the above.

9. A compact disk stores much more information than a conventional

magnetic disk.
a. True.
b. False.

10. A compact disk can be erased and re-used many times.

a. True.
b. False.

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