DMR-E85H Hangs on PLEASE WAIT

DigaDo · 23-12-2011

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chick_Hearn

Hmm, this may not an easy or economical fix. Just out of curiosity, there should be no problems swapping the HDD from my unit into another eh75v? All I truly care about is the content on the HDD.

To date I've not swapped hard drives between Panasonic HDD/DVD recorders. At the AVS Forum I've read owner reports that such swaps require that the swapped-in hard drive must undergo a formatting before the recorder will be functional. In other words, all the existing recordings will be trashed.

The DMR-EH75 photo will give you some idea of the labor involved in removing various assemblies before removing the power supply circuit board, unsoldering any failed or failing capacitors, soldering in new capacitors and reassembling the recorder. My capacitor replacement projects (with standard series Panasonic recorders) have taken around an hour per recorder.

I've described and illustrated such projects in August and October 2008 posts in this AVS Forum thread:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1055111

I should add that technology is not my field. With so many Panasonics in daily use I've learned to service and perform minor repairs/rebuilding to keep our household recorders functional with very little down time. I do not service/repair recorders outside our immediate family. My findings are most often reported in various threads at the AVS Forum. (The AVS Forum allows for editing/revising/updating older posts. In my opinion such features are essential when addressing semi-technical matters. I'm an infrequent poster at CD Freaks/MyCe.)

__________________
"A ROSE BY ANY OTHER NAME WILL SMELL AS SWEET. BUT IT DOES NOT FOLLOW THAT WHATEVER WE CHOOSE TO CALL A ROSE WILL POSSESS THE ROSE'S FRAGRANCE."

--Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield (1917)

Chick_Hearn · 28-12-2011

Price was a bit higher than I estimated/anticipated, but it was all worth it. It required some new parts, all good.

__________________
"The ballgame is in the Admiral Refrigerator. The door's closed, the light's out, the eggs are coolin, the butter's getting hard, and the Jell-O's jigglin!!"

Chick_Hearn · 30-12-2011

Quote:

Originally Posted by DigaDo

To date I've not swapped hard drives between Panasonic HDD/DVD recorders. At the AVS Forum I've read owner reports that such swaps require that the swapped-in hard drive must undergo a formatting before the recorder will be functional. In other words, all the existing recordings will be trashed.

Could you please provide some links on this topic? I've got two DMR-EH75v units. Both have the Samsung SV0802N drive. It's a pity if you can't do this swap. I'd understand if it's impossible for different models/manufacturer/capacity. But for the exact same drive?

Why would this be the case? Thanks.

__________________
"The ballgame is in the Admiral Refrigerator. The door's closed, the light's out, the eggs are coolin, the butter's getting hard, and the Jell-O's jigglin!!"

DigaDo · 30-12-2011

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chick_Hearn

Could you please provide some links on this topic? I've got two DMR-EH75v units. Both have the Samsung SV0802N drive. It's a pity if you can't do this swap. I'd understand if it's impossible for different models/manufacturer/capacity. But for the exact same drive?

Why would this be the case? Thanks.

It's been some time since I've read AVS Forum posts addressing your questions. At the moment I can't point to you to a specific AVS Forum thread because these discussions are usually found in more general discussion of Panasonic hard drive models. A quick search at AVS finds around seventy threads where such discussions may be found. Before searching at AVS be sure to set the Display Options back to beginning. The default setting goes back thirty days.

I will summarize how these AVS Forum posts address your questions:

The Digital PCB's operating system initiates and formats a specific hard drive. Whenever the operating system identifies any swapped in hard drive, even an identical model hard drive, that swapped in hard drive will require formatting before it may be used in that recorder.

__________________
"A ROSE BY ANY OTHER NAME WILL SMELL AS SWEET. BUT IT DOES NOT FOLLOW THAT WHATEVER WE CHOOSE TO CALL A ROSE WILL POSSESS THE ROSE'S FRAGRANCE."

--Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield (1917)

Chick_Hearn · 30-12-2011

"The Digital PCB's operating system initiates and formats a specific hard drive. Whenever the operating system identifies any swapped in hard drive, even an identical model hard drive, that swapped in hard drive will require formatting before it may be used in that recorder."

So if any essential part of the OS has to be replaced (motherboard, for example), the repaired unit wouldn't be able to read the hard drive? Thus the hard drive would have to be formatted? Thanks.

__________________
"The ballgame is in the Admiral Refrigerator. The door's closed, the light's out, the eggs are coolin, the butter's getting hard, and the Jell-O's jigglin!!"

DigaDo · 30-12-2011

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chick_Hearn

"The Digital PCB's operating system initiates and formats a specific hard drive. Whenever the operating system identifies any swapped in hard drive, even an identical model hard drive, that swapped in hard drive will require formatting before it may be used in that recorder."

So if any essential part of the OS has to be replaced (motherboard, for example), the repaired unit wouldn't be able to read the hard drive? Thus the hard drive would have to be formatted? Thanks.

Replacement of a motherboard would probably not require that the hard drive be formatted.

The operating system is found on the large chip under the heat sink on the Digital PCB. The Digital PCB is located on a platform under the DVD Drive in some models. The first photo shows a Digital PCB in a 2006 DMR-ES46V. The second photo shows two 2006 DMR-ES35V Digital PCBs on unmounted platforms.

Attached Images

	DMR-ES46 DIGITAL PCB.jpg (97.9 KB, 22 views)
	DMR-ES35V DIGITAL PCBS WITH THEIR PLATFORMS.jpg (83.4 KB, 21 views)

__________________
"A ROSE BY ANY OTHER NAME WILL SMELL AS SWEET. BUT IT DOES NOT FOLLOW THAT WHATEVER WE CHOOSE TO CALL A ROSE WILL POSSESS THE ROSE'S FRAGRANCE."

--Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield (1917)

user659 · 11-03-2012

Thanks everyone. Replacing the capacitors fixed the problem for me, too. The originals were not leaky but they bulged slightly on the top.
Finding replacements was a problem. Radio Shack ("The Source" here in Canada) sold a small pack of caps but none were 16 V 680 ufd. It's almost impossible to find a store that sells components these days. So, I went to a computer repair shop and they gave me an old, defunct PC motherboard that was destined for the recycler. That board had 6 16V 1000 ufd caps. I used two of those as replacements.

jjeff · 11-03-2012

Nice job! another classic Panasonic saved from the junk pile

rkblackhorse · 11-03-2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by user659

Thanks everyone. Replacing the capacitors fixed the problem for me, too. The originals were not leaky but they bulged slightly on the top.
Finding replacements was a problem. Radio Shack ("The Source" here in Canada) sold a small pack of caps but none were 16 V 680 ufd. It's almost impossible to find a store that sells components these days. So, I went to a computer repair shop and they gave me an old, defunct PC motherboard that was destined for the recycler. That board had 6 16V 1000 ufd caps. I used two of those as replacements.

Just to repeat, the 10 or so suspect capacitors (by the same manufacturer) in the 105° C rating, cost $6 and change from Digi-Key. They're in 100+ countries, incl. Canada, ship anywhere. Just put " digikey" in the web address window of your browser. (If you don't have one, order a small (25 watt or so) soldering iron and some wick at the same time.)

DMR-E85H Hangs on PLEASE WAIT

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