Re: Stuck VCR tape, DVD not reading

On Aug 23, 6:42 pm, "Arfa Daily" <arfa.da...@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
"Art" <scimethod2...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message

news:1187902602.365664.322840@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I've got a Toshiba SD-V392SU DVC/VCR player, and there's a tape stuck
inside. It won't play, and when you hit "eject", the little "VCR
spool" icon flashes, indicating that there's no tape inside. So, there
ya go: it won't eject or play since it thinks there's no tape inside
to play or eject. Upon opening the cabinet up, I easily found the
little motor that appears to eject the tape. Trouble is, it is a worm
drive setup, and the nylon gear is too small and too slippery to turn
by hand. Taking out the chassis that holds the tape doesn't appear
feasible (a screw that holds it in is only accessible by taking out
the tape), and even if it could be taken out, doesn't appear to be a
step toward solving the problem.

So, I gotta actuate the motor. The motor has 2 easily accessible
terminal that have been soldered to. They are labeled "+" and "-",
indicating the motor is a DC motor. If I hook up an external DC
voltage to the terminals, what voltage should I try? More importantly,
will damage result if the voltage is applied without unsoldering the
motor's terminals? If I hook up my supply by following the "+" and "-"
terminals' markings, will that eject the tape or suck the tape in
harder? Finally, if this is unwise, I might be able to take out the
motor. If so, then eliminating the worm drive gear should allow the
rest of the accessible gear train to turn smoothly by hand...right?
Will this allow me to take out the tape?

Suppose I get the tape out. Now what? What makes the VCR think there's
no tape inside?

Consider next the DVD portion of the player. Tray works, it spins the
disc, but it won't read DVD's or CD's. Is fixing this feasible, or is
there likely some tiny internal problem not fixable?

Art

Try 6v on the motor, but disconnect it first, as you may do damage to the
driver IC if you don't. If you only use a lowish voltage like this, it is
unlikely that you will cause a problem if your first connection attempt
causes it to 'suck' rather than 'blow'. You just can't tell which way round
to connect it to get eject. The normal running voltage is probably closer to
12v, but 6v should be enough to get it going. As far as the DVD player goes,
it is unusual for one to fail to play either a CD or DVD, and unless there
is a common cause for both the VCR and DVD problems, which seems on the face
of it fairly unlikely, as the DVD at least does all the right things,
allbeit not finishing up actually reading the disc, then it is likely that
the laser is faulty, and it won't be cost effective to repair. Did the DVD
and VCR problems occur at the same time, or was there some common external
problem such as a storm or sudden power outage prior to the faults appearing
? It's just possible that there is a supply rail missing or noisy, which is
shared by both the VCR and DVD, and it is this which is leading to the
problems. Once I had got the tape out - or maybe even before trying to - I
would measure and 'scope all of the power supply rails, just to make sure
that they are good voltage-wise, and 'clean'

Arfa

Thanks for the advice. I haven't tried it yet, but I'll get to it this
weekend. I don't recall exactly if the problems occurred together, but
am inclined to believe that wasn't the case. Unfortunately, I have no
scope at home (just at work) so I can't check the rails for
cleanliness, just able to do a bare-bones DVM check. How likely is a
blown rail, though, considering all of the other functions (remote
sensor, channel tuning/picture is fine, all panel lights okay, etc.,
sorry I didn't mention this in the OP)?

BTW, I was startled to see the vastly different construction
techniques used in the DVD board vs. the VCR/TV board. The DVD board
uses SMT, but the VCR/TV board uses what frankly appears to be not so
much a printed circuit board as old-fashioned point-to-point wiring
and thru-hole components. From above, the board has components and a
silk screen image for component labeling, but no traces. It does,
however, have tons of holes in which bare wires poke up from below,
travel across a short distance, and then go down another hole. What's
this all about? My technical skills involve a lot of improvisation (I
work in a lab, and am not involved in production), so I'm actually
sort of used to this. But how the hell does it pay for a company
(producing a product in volume) to do this sort of thing? Any ideas?

Art

.

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