We've got a Panasonic dvd player (the S27). It's been through about 4 years of good use, but the last couple of days it's been acting very strangely. You put in a disk, and as it puts up the progress bar of reading the directory it gets 1 tick in and then shuts down completely. Won't power back up unless you unplug it, leave it for 30 seconds, then plug it back in.
Of course when it comes back up it does the same thing - start reading the disk, then fritz.
Google to the panasonic website. Click on support for the device type. Find your model number, go to downloads. download the latest FIRMWARE for your dvd player. You must remember where it was saved to on the harddrive. I recommend saving to the desk top. burn the saved file to a blank dvd disk . Then follow installation instuctions for the firmware upgrade. YOU MUST BE VERY CAREFUL TO FOLLOW THE INSTALL INSTRUCTIONS TO THE LETTER. HOPE THIS HELPS. snipped-for-privacy@cox.net
Nope... It starts reading the directory then shuts off completely. Can't be powered back on unless you unplug it for 30 seconds. Can't get anything to play.
Have you been inside at all to have a look what is happening in the time that it remains on ? Most Panasonic models suffer from bad spindle motors, and yours is the right sort of age. Have a look to see if the disc actually tries to spin up. If it doesn't, try just flicking it round with a finger. Sometimes, the motors go so bad that when the player tries to spin it up, the power supply detects an excess load, and shuts down.
That's a good thought Mark. I haven't known Pans to be particularly bad in this respect, unlike some of the other makes that we all know and love ( !! ) but worth a shot.
Mark whose machine it is - start by having a good look at all the electrolytics in the power supply. Check for any where their tops have started to 'dome'. If none are evident, it would be worth running over them all with an ESR meter.
Sorry to take so long to respond... Day job and all that. Took the top off this weekend to see what was happening. As Arfa guess, it wasn't actually spinning up. It just sat there. There was a buzz at the start, then it shut down.
Interestingly, I flicked it around with a finger a few times, and the next time it *did* spin up - for a few combinations of on/off, open/close. Then it stopped spinning up again. Went back and forth with the finger flick every time it seemed to "jam" and after a few go rounds it just seemed to spin up again normally. Not that I'm holding my breath on it.
I didn't see anything looking to "dome" on the inside, but then I am just a novice.
I also looked at the back, and it seems that it's just 3 years old, not
Am I correct in guessing that it sounds like the spindle motor? Would it be worth fixing if it is, or would that cost near the same as a new unit for one who isn't in the repair business?
Assuming that you are saying that once you get it to spin up, it does read and play ok, then yes, that would be indicative of a bad spot on the spindle motor. On most Panasonics, the spindle motor comes preassembled onto a sub deck, that you then have to swap the laser onto. Mechanically, this is not too tricky. However, there is then usually an alignment procedure for correcting the laser tilt, which involves adjusting three hex screws under the spring loaded laser slide rails, whilst watching the effect on the jitter factor by way of an internal diagnostic display. This is not an easy procedure. You might check if the deck assembly is available complete with the laser for a reasonable price, as then it would be just a drop in job.
There is a way that you can 'recover' a bad motor, but really, it would only normally be used to 'prove the point', and I would not do it on a customer's repair. However, as it's your own unit, and it doesn't work now, I guess you've got nothing to lose. You will need a 12v DC power supply, and some switch cleaner. You need to first disconnect both connections to the motor. It is important that the motor is completely disconnected from the external circuitry. The connections are usually made to it via an orange flexiprint which will need to be unsoldered. This will reveal two kidney-shaped holes in the motor backplate. Put a small squib of switch cleaner in each hole, then connect the 12v power supply BRIEFLY across the motor 4 or 5 times. No more than about a half second for the first few connections, and maybe a little longer - say 1 second - for the last one. Wait 30 seconds or so, then repeat the procedure with the connections from the power supply reversed, so that the motor spins the opposite way. 95% of the time, this procedure will successfully recover a motor with a bad spot. On the odd 5% of occasions, it will result in total demise of the motor, but as I said, you haven't got a lot to lose.
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