panasonic self check problem

[tony blaze]

this is a first for me for my dvd recorder problems. I own a DMR-E100h and i was high speed dubbing and when it got down to the last munite of recording i believe it just froze. it kept making loadind noises like it was still transfering info but after 20 minuites i knew something was up. i cancelled the dubbing by holding return for 3 seconds as your supposed to , it said it was cancelling on the screen but the player wouldnt stop. i unplugged it then pluged it back in again and the self check came on the player but it never seems to finish. some loading noises for the 1st munite but after that , nothing. Any options, advice or ideas will be greatly appreciated from panny owners. thanks

[handyguy]

Unplug it for more than a minute. Thats the best you can do. You might try to manually eject the disk, if there is one in it.

[ktnwin]

The Panasonic DMR serie has a nasty Self Check problem, usually it's caused by a bad DVD or bad section of the HDD. If the problem persists after ejecting the DVD disc, then you may want to look into replacing the HDD , worst case, let's hope that it's caused by a bad DVD.
I got the same issue when I try to play a DVD that was burned incorrectly (on the PC), since the DMR cannot read the disc, it displays some error messages but pressing ENTER does not clear it, the unit instead goes thru Self Check, tries to read the DVD again then repeat this vicious circle. This simply means the firmware in the unit is not designed to handle these conditions properly. A normal DVD player would eject an unreadable disc, not the Panasonic DMR.

[tony blaze]

how would you go about manually ejecting the disc?

[handyguy]

Searched the net & found this, but its for a 100 model:
1. Hold the POWER on the front of the unit to force the unit to turn off
2. Press STOP twice on the front of the unit
3. Press the OPEN/CLOSE once on the front of the unit.
4. When the tray opens, remove the disc, and do not use that disc again.

Thank you for your interest in Panasonic products.

Sincerely,
Representative
Panasonic Customer Call Center

[Spok]

The solution given does not work on my dmr e100

I found a method that does though:

To eject a disk if the dmr e100 won't function: Press and hold Power (12 secs) to force power off, then hold Stop and "Channel Up" for 5 secs on the front panel.


On a side note, does anyone know of a way to allow use of a larger hard drive, mine only has a 80gig, if I replace the new just gets formated to 80gig, regardless of its real size.

[jjeff]

With Panasonic DVDRs the HDD size is hardcoded in the firmware. I've never read of anyone successfully upsizing the HDD.

[rogs]

It may not be relevant, but there was a long thread about 'self check' problems with some Panasonic DVD recorders a couple of years ago. Seems the problem was down to poor heatsinking.
This post from that thread:

http://www.avforums.com/forums/3496863-post114.html

goes to the heart of the problem, and more importantly the solution.

It certainly fixed the issue for me on my E55.
Whether the same fault is responsible on the E100............?

[wrestlingfanatic]

Yesterday i put what was supposed to be a blank disk to record something, about 30-40 seconds into the disk a pop up comes on the screen and something may be worng with the disk and the unit will automatically power down and strat back up. This has happened before, the difference being the disk popped out. this time the recorder comes on by itself reads the disk that is in there and shuts down. this has been happening since last night and all day today and tonight until i unplugged th unit cuz i got tired of hearing the disk reading. ANY help would be appreciated this dvd recorder is less then a year old but i can't fix it and i really don't want to have to buy a new one.

[jjeff]

It would help if you would have said your model number but if it's a EZ model recorder stuck in a endless loop(with a DVD stuck in the drive) you may need to manually eject the disc to regain control.
You'll want to unplug your machine, turn it over and look for a manual eject slot. It won't be marked but should be under the DVD drive. Generally you need to insert a smaller screwdriver to release the DVD. I believe all Panasonics have this manual eject slot but if you can't find it or can't get it to work then you may need to take the cover off your machine and remove the DVD from the top. If you go this route be particularly careful to remember how to re-assemble the drive.
Generally after removing the DVD your machine will return to normal, it's up to you if you want to try reinserting the DVD. Personally I'd try another one first to make sure your machine is still working, then maybe put your suspect DVD back in and see what happens.

[wrestlingfanatic]

It would help if you would have said your model number but if it's a EZ model recorder stuck in a endless loop(with a DVD stuck in the drive) you may need to manually eject the disc to regain control.
You'll want to unplug your machine, turn it over and look for a manual eject slot. It won't be marked but should be under the DVD drive. Generally you need to insert a smaller screwdriver to release the DVD. I believe all Panasonics have this manual eject slot but if you can't find it or can't get it to work then you may need to take the cover off your machine and remove the DVD from the top. If you go this route be particularly careful to remember how to re-assemble the drive.
Generally after removing the DVD your machine will return to normal, it's up to you if you want to try reinserting the DVD. Personally I'd try another one first to make sure your machine is still working, then maybe put your suspect DVD back in and see what happens.

The Recorder is a dmr ez 28

[jjeff]

Then it should have the eject slot and should be OK once you get your DVD out.
I've had it happen only once to my EZ-28 but was a regular occurrence with my EZ-17. I no longer have the EZ-17.

[wrestlingfanatic]

I turned it over to look for the self eject button and didnt see it, i just got off the phone with panasonic and they say i need to send it them cuz the disk may have damaged the unit

[jjeff]

If under warranty you could do that(not sure who pays for shipping) but there should be a slot.
I'm not near my EZ-28 at this moment but I'll try some searching and see if I can come up with a link to a photo showing the slot and instructions on how to get the disc out. I know I've seen such a post but a quick search came up with nothing.

[V Bot]

Check this pic out I too own a Panasuckic.

[V Bot]

Here's another

[jjeff]

Thanks Vbot, you found the same source as I just did. Digado over at AVS has posted several nice photos, here a link again courtesy of Digado.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=18656384#post18656384
Some more from AVS
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=14709306#post14709306

[V Bot]

You're welcome, I have this very model and it always helps to find others troubleshooting. I never knew about the underneath slide until today.

[wrestlingfanatic]

Thanx for all the help guys, i'll try what u suggest and let u know what happens