APEX 500 skips and freezes

[pglenn]

My APEX 500 (about 2 years old) recently began skipping and freezing, slowly getting worse. It usually starts about 1hour to 1 1/4hour into whatever I am watching, and not always in the same place for the same disks. disks that played perfect before now begin skipping and freezing, and the same disks play perfect on my PC and on friends players (also a APEX, though a newer model). afetr a few minutes of the disk skipping/freezing, the entire player will lock up and I have to manually turn it off and then back on - the remote will not even respond. I am thinking either the player really needs cleaner, or else it is just getting old (2 years?) and needs to be replaced.

At this time it is as cheap to get a new player (under $100) as it would be to take it in for repairs/cleaning. I am willing to take it apart myself if I knew how and what to work on - I have already had the cover off and took my vacuum cleaner to it to remove loose dirt/ cat hairs/ etc. any suggestions for the problem would be welcome, and anywhere online that may show the disassembly and re-assembly would be welcome as well. at this point what do I have to lose by taking it apart?

to date I know 8-10 people all with apex's and mine is the only one with problems.

[i_am_dave]

I have heard rumors that most APEX players are very heat sensitive and will begin to misbehave when they heat up.
I purchased my APEX-500W for $98, which tells you how old it is

Mine will skip and freeze even with purchased DVDs.

Has anything in your environment changed lately? Such as moving the player so that it sits over the TV?

I have a friend that cannot use his on hot summer days and must turn it off after a few hours to let it cool down.

Good luck!

[Grim-Ripper]

If I were you I would just pony up the dough and get a new player.

--- my 2 cents ----

[handyguy]

Probablyheat, so do you have it in an entertainment center? Take it out & put it outside the center

Funny, soon as summer comes along there are topics like this on every message board, esp computers.

[pglenn]

I dont have it in my entertainment center - no room. It is actually sitting on the floor direct in front on the EC where it has been since day one.

[disturbed1]

There's quite a few different Apex 500 models.

I have an Apex 500ad, and 2 500w.

The Apex 500ad is great for DVD-R, CD-R playback, and can be hacked with the 703 firmware to play mp3s.

Like posted above one of the 500w's skip even on Hollywood DVDs, while the second 500w, plays mostly all media.

I have heard rumors that most APEX players are very heat sensitive

Very very true.

My 500s can play only one or two movies in a row, a third is out of the question. If the disc even loads, it fails at the menu.

My 5131, and 1100 play 3 movies in a row without problems, the fourth is marginal. While my Panasonic and Philips models hold up to the Nightmare, Jason, and Star Trek series just fine (8-10 movies in a row).

I believe the 500w was recalled, and replaced by another 500x model? Then on to the 1100 models.

Take the DVD player off the floor. Carpet holds heat. Or at least set books (or something) under each corner to elevate it, to allow air flow.

A buddy of mine has a small 12" fan blowing directly on the case of his Apex 660. This seems to have cured most skipping problems he had with that player.

If your looking to replace your DVD Player, I'd recomend a Panasonic sp35 model for $99. The picture quality is so much better than any of my Apex's.

Every DVD-R media skips in one of my 500w, Ritek, and Princo produce the most skips. Verbatim, Samsung, and Gigastorage (PrimeDisc 4x) produce the fewest skips. With the three discs listed above, the movie is watchable, it only skips 2-5 times per movie. Ritek and Princo are unwatchable, with skips every 5 minutes or so.

None of my other players have problems with DVD-R media besides the one 500w.

[pglenn]

I installed a small 12v fan the other night, blowing across the power board, and all seems fine now. I played a DVD twice in a row Sunday night, and another 3 times in a row last night, and absolutely no freezing like before.

[SVCDummy]

Hmm....

I remember this scene from only a few months ago. Quite some time ago bought 2 APEX 600ad units. One for me and one for my parents. When I finish watching my movies I send them to my parents. Their unit started locking up in January. First I started cooling it down with a small fan. When it continued I took my unit over and tried it and mine worked fine. I opened both units up side by side to take heat and electrical readings when found the lens in their unit to be slightly discolored.

It turns out that since they are smokers, the lens in their unit developed a film of smoke residue. I cleaned it with camera lens cleaner and all problems went away.

Just another thing to look for.