Sony CCD-FX620 Camcorder... tape door problem?

I have a Sony CCD-FX620 camcorder that seems to work perfectly save one problem... it likes generic "OH NO EJECT THE TAPE" errors. In VTR mode, it usually works fine, except occasionally (especially when rewinding or fast- forwarding) it stops and flashes the eject icon at me until I turn the thing off and eject, and sometimes it doesn't even entirely eject; I can hear it lifting the tape off the drum but it does not open the door and it is necessary to disconnect the power and reconnect it before it will eject.

Then when I am in recording mode, it more often than not starts beeping and telling me to eject the tape as soon as I close the tape door (before the tape carriage thing slides back down into the camera). Occasionally if I push on the tape door a little bit this stops and I can record, but then it usually gets mad next time I move the camera around and does the same thing again. Grr. The way I close the door seems to affect it, too: even pressure on both of the top corners while closing slowly but with a few seconds of very much pressure after it's latched tends to reduce the frequency of the problem.

Any ideas on how I might go about fixing this thing?

I have seen this same problem on two Sony camcorders. The symptom starts with the camcorder wanting to tell you to remove the tape for some unkown reason. You take it out, put it back and things seem fine for a while. Later, the motor spins up like crazy when you load a tape and you think it is going to explode. Later it simply stops recording even though the motor is running and the tape is moving.

I've been told the problem is simply age. The camcorder's electronics are very fussy and some of the components drift in value and the thing basically goes out of range of its operating capabilities. The feedback loops go out of lock and it simply stops functioning properly.

Some claim this is piss-poor design by Sony ... I might agree. Mechanically the unit is sound and has maybe 7 years of use on it, but less than 100 hours total run time. It dies because it gets confused with itself. Not good.

It will cost between $100-$200 to fix it. Not worth it. My recommendation ... go buy a Sony TRV240, 350, 460, or 480 digital-8 camcorder (which will play your old 8mm tapes) and move everything to DVD on your computer. I make this sound simple, but it will take a good bit of time depending on how much you want to mess around.

I have an fx620 myself and like it alot. It is now a battery uncharger.