Emerson EV-727 VCR

[Roy J. Tellason]

I got this unit in from a family member, was told "it won't take a tape or if
it does it spits it right back out again". I popped the top to watch what
was going on, plugged it in, and tried inserting a tape. It loads the
tape, pulls it out around the drum head, and starts things spinning there.
Then after a couple of seconds it stops spinning, puts the tape back in the
cassette, and sits there with the power light (?) blinking at me. Hitting
either the power switch or the stop button ejects the tape.

What's this thing trying to tell me? Any of you guys familiar with this unit?

 

[Patch]

"Roy J. Tellason" <rtellason@DONTSPAM MEblazenet.net> wrote in message
news:vql97vd2c225ee@corp.supernews.com...

I got this unit in from a family member, was told "it won't take a tape
or if
it does it spits it right back out again". I popped the top to watch what
was going on, plugged it in, and tried inserting a tape. It loads the
tape, pulls it out around the drum head, and starts things spinning
there.
Then after a couple of seconds it stops spinning, puts the tape back in
the
cassette, and sits there with the power light (?) blinking at me.
Hitting
either the power switch or the stop button ejects the tape.

What's this thing trying to tell me? Any of you guys familiar with this
unit?

Mode switch is dirty. (or bad)

 

[Sofie]

"Patch" <bob_acord@hotmail.com> wrote in message

Mode switch is dirty. (or bad)

.....and/or the ider gear/clutch is stuck or cracked... or otherwise faulty.

 

[Roy J. Tellason]

Sofie wrote:

"Patch" <bob_acord@hotmail.com> wrote in message
Mode switch is dirty. (or bad)

Mode switch I can figure, but this part:

....and/or the ider gear/clutch is stuck or cracked... or otherwise faulty.

?

Can you point me a little more specifically?

 

[Sofie]

"Roy J. Tellason" <rtellason@DONTSPAM MEblazenet.net> wrote in message

Can you point me a little more specifically?
------------------

Roy:
Specifically ....
1) check and/or clean the mode switch.......
2) check the idler gear and clutch mechanism for proper operation and
freedom of movement.
If you are still not certain how to proceed you should spend some search
time at the website for this newsgroup at http://www.repairfaq.org/
Plan to spend MORE THAN A FEW MINUTES to search, find and absorb all the
useful information that is at the repairfaq site.
--
Best Regards,
Daniel Sofie
Electronics Supply & Repair
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

 

[Roy J. Tellason]

Sofie wrote:

"Roy J. Tellason" <rtellason@DONTSPAM MEblazenet.net> wrote in message
Can you point me a little more specifically?
------------------

Roy:
Specifically ....
1) check and/or clean the mode switch.......
2) check the idler gear and clutch mechanism for proper operation and
freedom of movement.
If you are still not certain how to proceed you should spend some search
time at the website for this newsgroup at http://www.repairfaq.org/
Plan to spend MORE THAN A FEW MINUTES to search, find and absorb all the
useful information that is at the repairfaq site.

Oh, I did better than that, I downloaded all that stuff a while back, and
spent some nontrivial time absorbing much of it, and refreshing my memory on
things I haven't thought about in *years*. <g>

Still, I know what a mode switch is and what sort of nonsense I'm likely to
have to do to find one in this unit, but am not real sure about those other
bits. I've got a grip on how it's basically supposed to operate, but am not
overly familiar with the mechanicals.

Worse yet, I trip over how these things are supposed to act from time to
time. It took me *way* too long back when I was still making my living
fixing stuff to find out that these units would move the arms when plugged in
(NOT when turned on!) and if the mechanism didn't send the appropriate
signals to the controller chip in there it'd refuse to power up. I've seen
some units that'd pull the tape out and around the drum as a matter of
course, too, wasn't sure if this was one of those or not. And
unfortunately such service data as i've gotten a hold of from time to time
(sometimes at absurdly impractical prices) hasn't often seemed to touch on
these issues.

That seems to be a common thing ever since you started seeing digital logic
and later microprocessors built into stuff -- how is it supposed to act?
What's this chip supposed to do, are those pins I see in the schematic
input, output, or both? And all too often the manufacturers aren't helping
any with this stuff. But what can ya do?

 

[Eric Vey]

When I had VCR trouble, I found this website:
http://www.fixer.com/osm/index.html
very helpful. Diagrams and everything.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Careful, it wants to load GATOR, which if I call it what I want to call
it, I will get sued:
http://www.globetechnology.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20031023.wtech232/BNStory/Technology/
"In response to a libel lawsuit, an antispyware company has settled with
Gator and pulled Web pages critical of the company, its practices and
its software. And other spyware foes are getting the message."

Just decline to accept Gator and you will be okay.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


"Roy J. Tellason" <rtellason@DONTSPAM MEblazenet.net> wrote in message
news:vqmb4djt0dfqd2@corp.supernews.com...

Sofie wrote:

"Roy J. Tellason" <rtellason@DONTSPAM MEblazenet.net> wrote in
message
Can you point me a little more specifically?
------------------

Roy:
Specifically ....
1) check and/or clean the mode switch.......
2) check the idler gear and clutch mechanism for proper operation
and
freedom of movement.
If you are still not certain how to proceed you should spend some
search
time at the website for this newsgroup at http://www.repairfaq.org/
Plan to spend MORE THAN A FEW MINUTES to search, find and absorb all
the
useful information that is at the repairfaq site.

Oh, I did better than that, I downloaded all that stuff a while
back, and
spent some nontrivial time absorbing much of it, and refreshing my
memory on
things I haven't thought about in *years*. <g

Still, I know what a mode switch is and what sort of nonsense I'm
likely to
have to do to find one in this unit, but am not real sure about those
other
bits. I've got a grip on how it's basically supposed to operate, but
am not
overly familiar with the mechanicals.

Worse yet, I trip over how these things are supposed to act from time
to
time. It took me *way* too long back when I was still making my
living
fixing stuff to find out that these units would move the arms when
plugged in
(NOT when turned on!) and if the mechanism didn't send the appropriate
signals to the controller chip in there it'd refuse to power up. I've
seen
some units that'd pull the tape out and around the drum as a matter of
course, too, wasn't sure if this was one of those or not. And
unfortunately such service data as i've gotten a hold of from time to
time
(sometimes at absurdly impractical prices) hasn't often seemed to
touch on
these issues.

That seems to be a common thing ever since you started seeing digital
logic
and later microprocessors built into stuff -- how is it supposed to
act?
What's this chip supposed to do, are those pins I see in the
schematic
input, output, or both? And all too often the manufacturers aren't
helping
any with this stuff. But what can ya do?

 

[Roy J. Tellason]

Eric Vey wrote:

When I had VCR trouble, I found this website:
http://www.fixer.com/osm/index.html
very helpful. Diagrams and everything.

Yes, this site was somewhat helpful...

Careful, it wants to load GATOR, which if I call it what I want to call
it, I will get sued:

I'm not sure what you refer to here, but maybe that depends on what you're
running there.

Just decline to accept Gator and you will be okay.

I never got asked... <shrug>

 

[Eric Vey]

--I never got asked--

'Cause maybe you already got it installed?

"Roy J. Tellason" <rtellason@DONTSPAM MEblazenet.net> wrote in message
news:vqnj89jhgqtk38@corp.supernews.com...

Eric Vey wrote:

When I had VCR trouble, I found this website:
http://www.fixer.com/osm/index.html
very helpful. Diagrams and everything.

Yes, this site was somewhat helpful...

Careful, it wants to load GATOR, which if I call it what I want to
call
it, I will get sued:

I'm not sure what you refer to here, but maybe that depends on what
you're
running there.

Just decline to accept Gator and you will be okay.

I never got asked... <shrug

 

[Roy J. Tellason]

Eric Vey wrote:

--I never got asked--

'Cause maybe you already got it installed?

Nope. Don't even know what it is offhand...

Um, is this maybe something that's windoze-specific?

 

[Eric Vey]

--windoze-specific--

Yupper. It is a windows program that very helpfully points out websites
you never know you needed. I heard that it is so 'wildly successful'
that they are porting it to other platforms.


"Roy J. Tellason" <rtellason@DONTSPAM MEblazenet.net> wrote in message
news:vqnnbj21n1fj6b@corp.supernews.com...

Eric Vey wrote:

--I never got asked--

'Cause maybe you already got it installed?

Nope. Don't even know what it is offhand...

Um, is this maybe something that's windoze-specific?

 

[Roy J. Tellason]

Eric Vey wrote:

--windoze-specific--

Yupper. It is a windows program that very helpfully points out websites
you never know you needed. I heard that it is so 'wildly successful'
that they are porting it to other platforms.

Well, they must not have gotten to Linux yet, or something...