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  1. Member
    Join Date
    Jun 2017
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    Kendal, Cumbria, United Kingdom
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    Hello All,

    I'm new to this video malarkey and have been lent two Mini DVs (Panasonic) to play with.

    The first is an NV-DS60B. which I've actually persuaded to work. The second is an NV-GS40B, which I want to use because
    it has an SD card and my laptop has an SD card slot.

    OK, the 40B has three batteries, two CGA-DU14 ones and a CGA-DU07. All three are working, inasmuch as when each is put in the AC charger, the green charge light eventually goes off, so far, so good.

    Here come the problems

    1:

    When I turn the camera to 'on' I'm rewarded with...nothing, zero, zip, zilch, seven times the square root of foxtrot alpha. So far, I've tried...

    *Tape/card - card mode.

    * Auto/manual focus.

    * Off/on and 'mode' (after finding the switch lock button) - the Camera, VCR and Card/FBmode lights a re conspicuous by not illuminating.

    * Otherwise, nothing. The camera is silent. Trying to record or pressing 'quick start' does nothing. There is no LCD or viewfinder
    activity, in fact, no activity at all.

    * I found the reset button and have tried it, with power on and off, battery in and out. There's no response.

    2:

    This may be the reason for this DOA behaviour.

    I can use the open/eject slider and open the cassette compartment cover. However this is as far as things go. The cassette compartment won't open.
    I can fiddle with the Push/close tab on the cover and the cover will push in 2mm against a spring - let it loose and the 2mm gap opens again.
    The cover is clearly being held by some sort of metal tab - I can hear this. If I hold the cover closed and shake the camera, there is a light, plasticky rattle from within - I think there's a tape in there but it isn't travelling.

    So there we are for now. I don't yet have the DC power cord so I can't try it for alternative powering up.

    The other aspect I know about is that the camera has not been used for some time - nor had its tape-only compadre.

    There's also a Canon FS200, which is also stone dead - no charger yet All three cams look to be in mint condition.

    Good things come to he who waits but any thoughts/experiences would be of value.

    Thanks, David.
    Last edited by davhill; 3rd Jun 2017 at 21:12.
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  2. Member
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
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    San Francisco, California
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    Start taking it apart and see if a cassette is stuck inside. The first screws to remove usually have little arrows next to them.
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  3. Member
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    Jun 2017
    Location
    Kendal, Cumbria, United Kingdom
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    Thanks JV Raines,

    I don't see any screws with arrows and I'm not confident about starting to strip the camera - yet.

    Click image for larger version

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    When I open the cassette compartment cover, I see this hardware. In the gap at the top, the white nylon gear can be turned
    with a probe. The larger one to its left seems fixed and I see no obvious latch to open the compartment.

    Click image for larger version

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    This pic shows the cover that's not openng. The metal lid is pushed towards me by a spring and when push the lid in and out, the gap closes.
    However, when I let the lid go back to its rest position (as here) it's clearly latched by a metal stop, whose action can be felt. If I gently insert
    a ****tail stick, there seems to be a tape in there.

    I've tested all three battery packs with my meter andI'm getting 8.2 DCV from each (no load).

    If I push the eject switch on the other Panasonic camera, the cover opens (small motor sound) and the tape is ejected. I expect this one should
    do the same.

    The camera remains dead and resetting does nothing.

    I can get hold of the power lead to go from the charger to the camera so I thinks that's the next thing to try.

    The Canon cam is also dea but I've yet to collect the charger.

    Fun & games for a raw rookie
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  4. Member
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    Aug 2010
    Location
    San Francisco, California
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    If the problem were just a jammed cassette, the camera would at least light up and chirp and you might hear a motor straining before it gives up. There is a problem in the power path and/or the microprocessor is dead.
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  5. Member
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    Jun 2017
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    Kendal, Cumbria, United Kingdom
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    Originally Posted by JVRaines View Post
    If the problem were just a jammed cassette, the camera would at least light up and chirp and you might hear a motor straining before it gives up. There is a problem in the power path and/or the microprocessor is dead.
    Thank you, JV (?).

    This makes sense I know that the camera has been looked after - this is obvious. However, I also know that it hasn't been used in a very long time - this
    is according to the widow of its owner.

    I think it now makes sense to try out the lead from the charger that runs directly to the camera. I expect that this will effectively modify the
    power path and may therefore reveal something. I'll see about picking it up.

    Thanks again, David
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