Problem on ILODVDR04 not loading disc anymore

[birador66]

Hi there,
I have an ILODVDR04 with lite on model ddw-451s with a hacked firm version I did about 3 yrs ago. Its been working fine everything was working until one day it just wont load the disc anymore. when i close the tray it will open up again so i decided to open it to see whats going on seems to me that the thing in the middle of the drive just wont pick up the disc anymore thats why its not spinning and it opens the tray again. Dont know if its the writer having a problem or maybe the hacked firmware or its just broken already. Is there a way to put the ilo firmware back just to see if it starts loading the disc again ?

thanks,\
birador

[J C]

It might be that it is already broken.

Mine has some problems of it's own. It's like it will decide when to open, I click open and it says open on the screen, but it doesn't come open and instead starts to load. I have to click the open button a few more times.

And with mine, it gets very overheated, the top is always off.

And after a few hours the video starts to play choppy (when playing DVDs).

But I had mine for a year or two. I don't use it to record anymore, just to watch an hour or two of DVDs so I don't over use my JVC DVD recorder.

[CrazyCanuck]

Hi Birador and J C, I own a number of ILO recorders (5 HD04s and 4 R04s), and was able to fix them all one way or the other.

Just want to say that the problems you guys have is not a firmware one.

Possibility of 3 things;

1) dirty lens
2) mal-adjusted front bezel
3) dead or dying drive

I bought 2 Ro4s that people said wouldn't load and problems with the open and close feature. What I did was I removed the front bezel assembly, when pulling the bezel from the 1/4 extension, there should be some give, about 1/16 to 1/8 of an inch, if not, loosen the spring-loaded screws a bit and reinstall bezel, could be as simple as that.

Try cleaning the lens first (do it a few times), if not, try removing the bezel to verify springload, if too tight it will trick the unit to thing that there's an obstruction, it might had been ok initially when the drive was strong, but in its used state, it might now start to think that there's an obstruction because of being pulled by the front display panel.

To remove bezel;

1) open tray and unplug unit
2) bezel is attached to a 1/4 inch or so extension, pull the bottom of the extension back from the tray and slide/push up to remove bezel assembly
3) If screws are tight and no give, loosen both of them by a few rotations each, go slow, put it back on and try again, you might to repeat this step a few times.
3) replace drive, done this to one of my R04s (all of my HD04s run on new drives) look at the stickies on this site http://www.techolio.com/forums/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=7 , lots of good info on Ilo and Liteon issues.

Good luck

CC

[birador66]

Thanks for the reply guys,
I will try that Crazycanuck hope it fixes it
thanks,
Birador

[J C]

1) dirty lens

That is the most likely reason why mine is playing choppy after a while. Because I have the top off to get air to it it probably gets dirty really bad.

[MJA]

CrazyCanuck.

is it possible to replace the DVD writer with NEC 3500A for example on the ILO ?

[CrazyCanuck]

Not sure about the NEC drives if they are compatible with the R04. Liteons and Liteon clones such as Sony GW 120 (DRU 120 and also Q 120) work great, no fast-forward on newer models but the loder ones work great. Here's a list and a site with a lot of info on drive replacement.

http://www.techolio.com/forums/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=7

good luck

[bevills1]

The Sony DW-G120A (DRU-120C) is an exception to the lack of fast forward, i.e. this Sony has fast forward in the recorder unlike newer LiteOns such as SHW-160P6S. However, I saw 1 thread where a user cross flashed the SHW-160P6S to SHM-165P6S and then cross flashed to Sony DRU-120C to gain fast forward function.

[LCSHG]

Bevills1

The 160 is a belt drive and the 165 I believe is a direct drive, this is for the tray

Isn’t the Sony DRU-120 drive an older Liteon clone.
Why the cross-flash from a 160 to a 165 [Is this because ot the drive method] and than flashed to an older Sony DRU- 120.
Could it not follow that the Liteon 165 could be cross-flashed to an older model Liteon as the 851 to 1693

[ronpar]

i bought a lg (life's good) GSA-H1OL LIGHT SCRIBE 16 SPEED DUEL LAYER FROM SAMS IT WORKS GREAT FAST FORWARD WORKS GREAT ALSO THE ILO R04 GETS TO HOT INSIDE THE CASE I TOOK MY ILO BACK 4 TIMES TO WAL -MART UNTIL THEY STOPPED MAKING THAT MODEL SO I JUST REPLACED IT WITH THE LG FROM SAMS I PUT MY LG ON TOP OF MY ILO SO IT WOULD NOT BURN UP WRITER # 5 IT DOES NOT GET HALF AS HOT ON TOP AND IT HAS LASTED ALOT LONGER THEN THE OTHER 4 ILO'S DID

[bevills1]

I thought the 160 and 165 were identical except the 165 is a 160 with DVD-RAM added but am unsure about this. The Sony DRU-120C is a rebadged LiteOn SHM-165P6S, and I'm guessing flash from 160 to 165 is to prepare for cross flash to Sony. I've not done any cross flash of LiteOns myself and don't know if the 165 could be cross flashed to 1693 or older model. It'll take some research or someone with more knowledge than me, but I'm sure there must be some limits to cross flashing.