Panasonic DVD Recorder model DMR-ES20 Problem

Hi,

I have a Panasonic DVD recorder issue. When you plug it in (AC outlet),
the rolling "ooooooo" (initializing/recovery) never ends. I can force it to
go into standby by holding the Power button (on front panel) for 10 seconds.
Now there is a flashing "12:00 AM". Next, I press the power button on unit
or remote, and a "Hello" appears. Normally, the "Hello" appears for a few
seconds, then goes away. Now, "Hello" stays on for hours. I did not wait to
see how many hours. Note: If I hold the power button for 10 seconds on the
unit, the display changes back to the flashing "12:00 AM". However, I still
can NOT use this recorder.

I am a service tech (repaired TVs, VCRs, Stereos, etc.) for many years.
I tested several electrolytic capacitors using an ESR & capacitor
tester in the power supply, etc. I also performed a "reset" procedure.

PLEASE do NOT make suggestions because I have years of troubleshooting
experience.

IMPORTANT:

I am looking for someone who had the EXACT SAME problem with
this model, "DMR-ES20" (NO letters after "20"), and he/she fixed
it. What did you do to fix this problem?

Thank You in advance, John

 

[pfjw@aol.com]

Help.... But, Don't Help!

Cap testing is not an exact science.
Cap testing in-circuit is even less so.

It will be, (at least) one of these three:

.... a failed diode in the starting circuit. If there are any zeners, go there.
.... a failed cap - not holding a charge, so it does not tell the circuit that it is 'ready'.
.... if there are any relays involved, go there.

Otherwise, there are special places in the nether regions for your sort.

Peter Wieck
Melrose Park, PA

 

[John-Del]

On Thursday, November 15, 2018 at 7:48:00 AM UTC-5, jaugu...@verizon.net wrote:

Hi,

I have a Panasonic DVD recorder issue. When you plug it in (AC outlet),
the rolling "ooooooo" (initializing/recovery) never ends.

*According to the service manual, this means the software isn't loading or is corrupt.



.....

PLEASE do NOT make suggestions because I have years of troubleshooting
experience.

*Understood.



IMPORTANT:

I am looking for someone who had the EXACT SAME problem with
this model, "DMR-ES20" (NO letters after "20"), and he/she fixed
it. What did you do to fix this problem?

Thank You in advance, John

*There are a lot of reasons the 0000000 on plug in stays. Corrupt software, bad memory, problem on the motherboard, problem on the power supply, or anything on the SCL/SDL loading it down (even a bad drive) will give the EXACT same symptom as you have. I have a similar model (with VHS also) and mine did the same thing a few years ago.

 

[olaf]

jaugustine@verizon.net wrote:

I am looking for someone who had the EXACT SAME problem with
this model, "DMR-ES20" (NO letters after "20"), and he/she fixed
it. What did you do to fix this problem?

Ich have an DMR-E30 with a problem very equal to your problem.
It goes on, does absolutly nothing, if I press the off-button for
10second it show "BYE" in the VFD and switch off.

I know that the powersupply is working. The maincontroller can write
"BYE" to the VFD so I know the controller is working. But when I close
the testjumper it did not show any error-value. So my guess is that it
is a problem with the firmware in the flashmemory and I guess you have
the same problem.

Olaf

p.s: I am graduate engineer and professional hardware developer and I
have the repair manual. But this time I think I have to give up. It is
a shame, because this old recorder is a masterpiece!

 

[John-Del]

On Thursday, November 15, 2018 at 11:30:06 AM UTC-5, olaf wrote:

jaugustine@verizon.net wrote:


I am looking for someone who had the EXACT SAME problem with
this model, "DMR-ES20" (NO letters after "20"), and he/she fixed
it. What did you do to fix this problem?

Ich have an DMR-E30 with a problem very equal to your problem.
It goes on, does absolutly nothing, if I press the off-button for
10second it show "BYE" in the VFD and switch off.

I know that the powersupply is working.

How? If you're going on that it's outputting voltage, that only proves the power supply is not dead, but that's not enough. I've seen these sag and recover so quickly that you won't see it on a DMM. I repaired several of these Panasonic recorders with a cranky smps or buck converters that refused to complete the boot.

 

[Terry Schwartz]

Please do not make suggestions, as you are already an expert apparently. Yet you can't fix it without knowing EXACTLY what someone else did to fix it.

Pompous ass.

There are dozens of us here with many MORE years of troubleshooting experience. Myself included. However, I'm sure as hell not going to help you, as that seems to be exactly what you want.

You posted about this a long time ago. Still not fixed? I see your years of experience have yet to pay off.

 

[olaf]

John-Del <ohger1s@gmail.com> wrote:

>How? If you're going on that it's outputting voltage, that only
proves the power supply is not dead, but that's not enough. I've
seen these sag and recover so quickly that you won't see it on a
DMM.

But I think I would see it with my 200Mhz HMO2022. .-)

I repaired several of these Panasonic recorders with a cranky smps or
buck converters that refused to complete the boot.

I agree, if someone would told me anything like this my first thought
would be the power supply, too. But I checked it VERY carefully.

But sometimes, only sometimes it is not the power supply...

Olaf

 

[Michael Black]

On Thu, 15 Nov 2018, jaugustine@verizon.net wrote:

Hi,

I have a Panasonic DVD recorder issue. When you plug it in (AC outlet),
the rolling "ooooooo" (initializing/recovery) never ends. I can force it to
go into standby by holding the Power button (on front panel) for 10 seconds.
Now there is a flashing "12:00 AM". Next, I press the power button on unit
or remote, and a "Hello" appears. Normally, the "Hello" appears for a few
seconds, then goes away. Now, "Hello" stays on for hours. I did not wait to
see how many hours. Note: If I hold the power button for 10 seconds on the
unit, the display changes back to the flashing "12:00 AM". However, I still
can NOT use this recorder.

You asked about this back in July, got a bunch of answers. I can't
remember if you ever posted again in that thread, but if ever there was a
time to resurrect a thread, it is when you started it and have a followup.

I think you got decent answers back then, yet you post like you've never
been here before. And the people most likely to announce their capability
are often the ones who aren't, they just assume they'll get a better
answer if they claim to be a "service tech" or some "authority".

Your post suggests otherwise, and you don't seem that capable if you
insist on replies only from people who have experienced the exact same
thing.

Go back and read the previous thread, maybe there is some help there.

Michael

 

[John-Del]

On Thursday, November 15, 2018 at 1:45:05 PM UTC-5, olaf wrote:

John-Del <ohger1s@gmail.com> wrote:

How? If you're going on that it's outputting voltage, that only
proves the power supply is not dead, but that's not enough. I've
seen these sag and recover so quickly that you won't see it on a
DMM.

But I think I would see it with my 200Mhz HMO2022. .-)

As long as you don't run it faster than 10ms or so. Lots of techs get fooled by a quick glitch that doesn't disturb their DMM's update count. On analog circuits you may not notice it, but in digital I've seen this cause an endless system reset cycle. Wondering if OP understands that..

 

<SNIP>

You asked about this back in July, got a bunch of answers. I can't
remember if you ever posted again in that thread, but if ever there was a
time to resurrect a thread, it is when you started it and have a followup.

I think you got decent answers back then, yet you post like you've never
been here before. And the people most likely to announce their capability
are often the ones who aren't, they just assume they'll get a better
answer if they claim to be a "service tech" or some "authority".

Your post suggests otherwise, and you don't seem that capable if you
insist on replies only from people who have experienced the exact same
thing.

Go back and read the previous thread, maybe there is some help there.

Michael

Hi Michael,

Here is one of the replies I received in that previous post from a "Lee":

"Yes. Bad capacitor. Replacing it fixed it"

I asked "Lee" which capacitor? He NEVER responded.

John
..

 

[pfjw@aol.com]

John:

Consider the analogy of the shotgun. The reply you received was perfectly valid. Your response and expectation was not.

Peter Wieck
Melrose Park, PA

 

[John-Del]

On Friday, November 16, 2018 at 7:33:13 AM UTC-5, jaugu...@verizon.net wrote:

SNIP
You asked about this back in July, got a bunch of answers. I can't
remember if you ever posted again in that thread, but if ever there was a
time to resurrect a thread, it is when you started it and have a followup.

I think you got decent answers back then, yet you post like you've never
been here before. And the people most likely to announce their capability
are often the ones who aren't, they just assume they'll get a better
answer if they claim to be a "service tech" or some "authority".

Your post suggests otherwise, and you don't seem that capable if you
insist on replies only from people who have experienced the exact same
thing.

Go back and read the previous thread, maybe there is some help there.

Michael

Hi Michael,

Here is one of the replies I received in that previous post from a "Lee":

"Yes. Bad capacitor. Replacing it fixed it"

I asked "Lee" which capacitor? He NEVER responded.

John
.

He may not have made note of the cap. I don't make notes unless the problem was something that took a lot of time or was really non intuitive (like a 100K leakage on one of the front panel switch contacts - yep, had one of those recently)

And you assume that *your* recorder has the same bad part as Lee or someone else had the exact problem as you? It might, but it doesn't have to be necessarily. What if he told you the location and that didn't fix it? What then? I've seen several problems in these Panasonics cause the constant 00000000, including my own DMR-EZ475V.

I already told you that the constant 0000000 on ac plug-in means incomplete software loading or corrupt software. If the software isn't corrupted (I haven't seen a Panny do this), then you have to figure out why it's not finishing the boot. You're an experienced tech and the manual is on line. What more do you need? It's not like it's intermittent.

BTW, you can buy a working example on ebay for like $60 U.S.