dvp 642/37 loading problem

[alice_gh]

Please help!
My Philips DVP642/37 player works fine all along. I use it very infrequently. Last week when playing a DVD, I press the remote ‘pause’ button. Waited for about 10 minutes and decided not to continue watching. So I pressed the remote ’power’ button to turn the power off while it was in the ‘pause’ mode. The next time I turned the power on again, the player showed the disc loading screen for a split second and then a blank blue screen. The ‘loading’ light was on permanently but I just got a blank screen. I tried pressing the buttons on the front of the machine with the following strange results:-
‘Open/Close’ button: It open only ¾ of the way only. If I hold this button, the tray would start to close in discrete steps(like in a very slow motion mode).
‘Pause’ button: If I press and hold this button, the white ‘loading’ light will change to ‘play’ and the disc will load(with a disc loading & resume playing message) and play properly. If I let go (release) this button, I got a blank blue screen again. If I press and hold the ‘stop’ button before I release the ‘pause’ button the DVD will continue playing. It will continue
playing even if I release the ‘Stop’ button at this point. Sometimes the ‘Pause’ button also acts like the Open/Close button, opening and closing the disc tray in the normal smooth fashion.
‘Stop’ button: Pressing and releasing this button alone has no effect if I got a blank blue screen while the loading light is on. It does have effect as described in the ‘Pause’ button above.
I tried using different disc’s(which had worked before) with no luck. It seems that the player has a mind of its own with healthy peripherals(power supply, laser) behind it. Reloading the firmware doesn't solve this loading problem either.

[ROF]

You didn't list one of the easiest solution to a malfunctioning set top device.

Did you unplug the device for several minutes and then plug it back in?

[alice_gh]

Thank you kindly for your reply.
I did forget to mention the obvious.
I did unplug several times and waited more than 30 mintues.
One time I unplugged it and left it overnight.
I can't return it as it has passed warranty period.

[handyguy]

they aren't very reliable according to reviews on the left column under dvd players. I can't think of anything you can do since you tried it all.

[lumis]

i purchased one of these units a month ago. i never really used it that much, but it is handy for playing xivd's off a dvd-rw. i recently purchased an xbox with xbmc, so the dvp642/37 hasnt been unused since.

if you're interested, i could let it go for $35 + s/h.. it's in great shape, comes with remote, and the f/w is updated.

[giannid]

For what it's worth, there is a trip lever on the bottom of the DVP642 to open the tray door when the power is shut off. You might try to unplug your machine, trip this lever, and open the door and see if it's jammed or something.

The image below shows where the lever is.

[alice_gh]

Thank you ROF, handyguy and giannid for replying.
With giannid's suggestion, I did manage to open and close the tray a couple of times. It felt quite smooth. The open/close button went back to the open fully mode(instead of 3/4) when power up again. I tried loading a disc and it did load and play successfully. With the second trial, it fell back to 3/4 open mode and it failed to load again. I peeked underneath the tray when it open. The track is well lubricated and there was this belt driven pulley system that rotated when the tray moved. The pulleys were a bit oily. Could the problem be a slipping or loose belt? Pulling a bit on the belt felt like normal tension though. One thing for sure. I do believe giannid has helped me to zero in the problem. Thanks. I hope I can resolve it soon.