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Panasonic DMR-E85H error U99
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handyguy2
Junior Member
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14. August 2008 @ 18:37 |
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Also note that TVG is turned off in the summer for a couple of weeks. This happens every summer to me. I think it has something to do with so many messages we are getting about these machines.
Anyone know what happens to TVG when the new digital law occurs in Feb. 2009? Is it going to be continued?
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jhaninger
Suspended due to non-functional email address
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15. August 2008 @ 17:15 |
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Vulcanusa,
When I do a full reset of the machine so that all settings are available and do a manual channel scan, after the complete scan that stops at channel 125, the only channel that works is channel 3. My guess is that the channel scanning is only showing what is perceived throught the coax cable, not the vhs.cfm" class="forum_link" target="_blank">S-VHS cable (L3). I can choose another channel with the remote and the TV screen shows that another channel is chosen (box in top right corner of screen) but only a blue screen appears with no program. The channel does NOT change on the DVR so the Blaster must not be controlling it. That's probably because you have to tell the Blaster in TV Guide Setup which DVR you have. The only way to get the Blaster to work is to setup the TV Guide and all is functioning again. I want to turn off the TV Guide searching for programming, but with the TV Guide setup, it will not stop.
Once you do the TV Guide Setup, the option to do manual channel setup is grayed out and cannot be selected.
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vulcanusa
Member
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15. August 2008 @ 18:20 |
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jhaninger,
Occasionally, I've had a problem where the Auto Channel Scan is grayed out -- and I don't even have a cable box. You cannot skip setting up the TV Guide function, even if you intend to disable it after the fact. This is my suggestion:
1) Reset the machine to factory defaults
2) Power on
3) Complete the initial configuration of the TV Guide set up. Enter all zeros for the ZIP code. You're not going to use the TV Guide anyway, so it doesn't matter that you enter all zeros.
4) Enter that you have a cable box and select L3 as the input. Complete the TV Guide set up.
5) Navigate to the Auto Channel Scan function in the normal manner.
6) Is it grayed out?
7) If yes, repeat 1 thru 6 - believe it or not, sometimes the reset and set up process has to be repeated in order to un-gray the Auto Channel Scan option. Others on the thread have experienced this also.
8) If the Auto Channel Scan can now be activated, then auto scan the channels.
If you repeat this process a couple of times and you can never get the Auto Channel Scan option activated, then I guess you're out of luck.
If you are successful, then perform the Auto Channel Scan and see if the DVR drives the IR Blaster while doing so. Let us know what happens.
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vulcanusa
Member
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15. August 2008 @ 18:41 |
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jhaninger,
I'm speculating here.
Since you're using L3 as your input, the only reason for performing the Auto Channel scan is to disable the TV Guide download. You're not performing an Auto Channel Scan to actually scan channels into the DVR, right? The cable box is only going to select a single channel to transmit to L3. What I'm trying to say is you might not care if the DVR drives the IR blaster while performing the Auto Channel Scan. All you care about is that when you set up a manual timer program to a certain channel number, that the DVR activates at the correct time, it uses the IR blaster to drive the cable box to that channel, and the input remains selected as L3.
When you're watching TV using L3 as your input, it's not like you're using the DVR remote to change channels. You're using your cable box remote to change the channel being transmitted into L3 on the DVR.
I re-read your post and I think you're under the impression that the cable box transmits all incoming channels out its non-coax output to L3 on the DVR. I very highly doubt that. The cable box is only going to transmit a (i.e. one) channel out its non-coax output to L3 on the DVR (i.e. DMR-E85H). That's the channel you've tuned to using your cable box remote. You must use the cable box remote to change channels, not the DVR remote.
Comments are welcome from anyone experienced with the functionality of cable boxes which have discrete audio/video outputs in addition to a 75 Ohm coax cable output.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 15. August 2008 @ 19:01
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jhaninger
Suspended due to non-functional email address
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16. August 2008 @ 15:49 |
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Vulcanusa,
I reset the DVR 4 more times with no luck. The Manual channel scan option stayed grayed out. You are correct that during the Auto Channel scan, it is only scanning through the one channel that the cable box is tuned to. The channel blaster is not changing the channels during this function so no channels will be found other than the one tuned in at that moment.
My main goal was to stop the channel changing as the DVR tries to download programming. Your suggestion to set the Zipcode to all zeros did the trick! No more channel changing when the DVR is off.
My guess is that Time Warner is not allowing TV Guide programming to download thruough their new digital service. The TV Guide functionality has been blocked.
Thanks again for your help.
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vulcanusa
Member
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16. August 2008 @ 21:04 |
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jhaninger,
If you set up a manual timer program, when the timer pops and the machine activates, does the IR blaster change the channel on the cable box and does the input select on the DVR remain L3? Just curious....
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cal401
Junior Member
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17. August 2008 @ 14:06 |
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Originally posted by jhaninger:
...
My guess is that Time Warner is not allowing TV Guide programming to download thruough their new digital service. The TV Guide functionality has been blocked.
...
If you have no analog service, then TVGO won't work. My cable system has both analog and digital signals so TVGO still works. Every few months Cox does something to interrupt the TVGO signal. I call in and complain and it shows back up in a day or so. I usually check with the local PBS and ABC stations to make sure they are still passing the TVGO feed on before I call Cox.
Cal
Cal 8571x
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 17. August 2008 @ 14:10
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geissler
Newbie
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18. August 2008 @ 00:04 |
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Originally posted by jhaninger:
My guess is that Time Warner is not allowing TV Guide programming to download thruough their new digital service. The TV Guide functionality has been blocked.Quote:
Any cable company employees on this board? I was having trouble with my circa 2001 Digital Cable terminal (a motorola DCT-2500) -- one of the channels had poor audio. A Shaw cable tech came over to check my coax signal -- he said the problem was the terminal was ageing and the lower end channels on these boxes had a analog tuner while the higher channels came through a digital tuner. The noise was indicative that the analog tuner was failing.
So I bought a new digital cable box (DCT 700) -- which the tech said had a complete digital tuner on all channels
TVGuide wouldn't download with the new tuner. I called tech support and they were clueless. I went back to the DCT-2500 and the guide downloaded for about two weeks, then it stopped.
I tried everything. I reset; I unplugged; I hooked up through L3, then Coax, then L3 again; I called Shaw -- they still didn't have a clue what I was even talking about.
I figured that Shaw did something -- it was working, then I switched service and then it wasn't working. I thought maybe Shaw did something to the TVGOS signal ... just like jhaninger.
Anyway, I got a newer DCT-2100 (circa 2003) off a family friend, hooked it up and 24 hours later had TVGuide. The problem was with my DCT-2100, something wasn't letting that TVGOS signal through (BTW, the box still works, but a couple channels don't sound so great).
I don't know if the installer that came to my house was telling tall tales about analog and digital tuners, but that new DCT 700 wasn't letting the TVGOS signal through and I think it was just coincidence that the old DCT-2500 started having problems.
Colin
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jhaninger
Suspended due to non-functional email address
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19. August 2008 @ 06:19 |
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Vulcanusa,
When my timed recording starts, the DVR changes channels and all it shows on the TV in the top right hand corner is the channel it is recording from. It is recording the right channel, but I am just assuming it is recording from L3. Is there some way to definitively know it is recording from L3?
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Junior Member
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19. August 2008 @ 08:58 |
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I give no guarantees that this is your problem, or that there is a solution to what you're seeing, but this is the situation we have in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, DC:
Comcast Cable switched to a fully digital lineup a couple years ago. They made allowance for TVGOS by continuing to transmit the PBS station on a high channel (94) in analog. However, someone screwed up somewhere and made it so the signal on channel 94 contains the wrong call letters. That means that whenever there's a change to the lineup or if I reset my unit, I have to both select the right lineup (there are 5 listed) and afterwards edit my channels to attach channel 94 to the right call letters. THEN I get listings.
It's possible that some disconnect like this has happened between your cable company and TVGOS - if so, TV Guide On Screen support (CE_Customer_Support@tvguide.com) is your best bet for tracking it down and finding a solution. (The cable company's tech support didn't even know that there was an analog channel out there, let alone what it was for.)
(By the way, I finally got TVGOS support to recognize the disconnect earlier this week; we'll see if they manage to do anything about it. But at least I have a workaround solution.)
I might also recommend a couple of things on the hardware side: If you have signal splitters in your setup, open ports can "leak" and degrade the signal to the endpoints; you can buy coax caps at Radio Shack to close them off. You could also try buying/installing a signal booster to improve the signal quality in from the street.
Originally posted by geissler:
Originally posted by jhaninger:
My guess is that Time Warner is not allowing TV Guide programming to download thruough their new digital service. The TV Guide functionality has been blocked.Quote:
Any cable company employees on this board? I was having trouble with my circa 2001 Digital Cable terminal (a motorola DCT-2500) -- one of the channels had poor audio. A Shaw cable tech came over to check my coax signal -- he said the problem was the terminal was ageing and the lower end channels on these boxes had a analog tuner while the higher channels came through a digital tuner. The noise was indicative that the analog tuner was failing.
So I bought a new digital cable box (DCT 700) -- which the tech said had a complete digital tuner on all channels
TVGuide wouldn't download with the new tuner. I called tech support and they were clueless. I went back to the DCT-2500 and the guide downloaded for about two weeks, then it stopped.
I tried everything. I reset; I unplugged; I hooked up through L3, then Coax, then L3 again; I called Shaw -- they still didn't have a clue what I was even talking about.
I figured that Shaw did something -- it was working, then I switched service and then it wasn't working. I thought maybe Shaw did something to the TVGOS signal ... just like jhaninger.
Anyway, I got a newer DCT-2100 (circa 2003) off a family friend, hooked it up and 24 hours later had TVGuide. The problem was with my DCT-2100, something wasn't letting that TVGOS signal through (BTW, the box still works, but a couple channels don't sound so great).
I don't know if the installer that came to my house was telling tall tales about analog and digital tuners, but that new DCT 700 wasn't letting the TVGOS signal through and I think it was just coincidence that the old DCT-2500 started having problems.
Colin
Suburban Maryland - 20723
DMR-E500HS (mfg 8/2004)
Comcast Digital
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vulcanusa
Member
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19. August 2008 @ 10:40 |
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jhaninger,
Since I don't have your configuration I can't test it myself, so I could be a bit confused. If anyone knows different, please correct me.
When you use L3 as an input, there is no channel to be changed on your DVR -- which is your Panasonic DMR-E85H. Some cable boxes are now DVRs as well, so I want to make sure when either of us write DVR, we mean the Panasonic DMR-E85H.
I have not encountered a piece of audio/visual electronics which outputs more than a single "channel" to other than a coax RF cable (i.e. its antenna output). You have written you have your cable box connected to your DVR through a separate S-Video cable (and I presume separate audio cables) from the cable box to the L3 inputs on your DVR.
If your DVR operates the way I expect it to when you specify in the initial configuration that you have your cable box connected to L3 of your DVR, when a timed program activates, I would expect the unit to fully power-on, select L3 as its input, AND USE THE IR BLASTER TO CHANGE THE CHANNEL ON YOUR CABLE BOX. The DVR itself would not "change channels". There are no channels on L3. The DVR does not "tune" to L3. It simply "selects" L3 as the recording source. The DVR's analog RF modulator that is used to tune to one of many possible transmit frequencies incoming on the RF antenna input is not being used in your configuration. Rather, the RF modulator on your cable box is being used to tune to a particular channel, mix (or down convert) the selected RF channel to an IF (intermediate frequency), separate the video and audio components of the selected channel, and output them discretely to the individual S-Video and Audio outputs you have connected to your DVR's L3 inputs.
You can think of this process as similar to the one you might have used in the past when you had a cable box connected to your TV through the RF antenna output. Whatever channel you selected on the cable box was always transmitted out the cable box on channel 3 to the TV. You always kept the TV on channel 3. You never changed the TV's channel from 3. That is sort of how L3 works. The DVR does not "tune" to L3. It simply selects L3. All "tuning" is done on the part of the cable box. That is why it is critical that your DVR's IR Blaster commands the cable box to tune to the channel number you specified when you setup a manual timed program recording event on your DVR using the DVR remote's green PROG/CHK button.
I apologize if all this was already clear to you. You have written that the DVR records the program you set it up to record. Then it must be using L3, since you have nothing connected to the DVR's RF antenna input. The only question remains: is the DVR commanding the cable box to tune to the correct channel appropriately using the IR Blaster? To test this, use your cable box remote to change the cable box to a different channel than one you want to record. Set up a timer program on the DVR to record your desired program. When the timer triggers, you should see the channel change on the cable box's display automatically to the one you wish to record. You might have already run this test except you wrote the DVR changes channels instead of something like: the DVR commanded the cable box to change channels using the DVR's IR blaster.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 19. August 2008 @ 10:42
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jhaninger
Suspended due to non-functional email address
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21. August 2008 @ 21:08 |
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Vulcanusa,
Everything in your last post is correct!
Sorry about the confusion with identifying the DVRs in question. I have both the Panasonic DMR-E85H DVR and the Time Warner DVR made by Scientific Atlanta. The L3 connection is set as the input and everything goes through that input. Any channel changing is done by the Blaster before it gets to the Panasonic DVR.
I emailed CE_Customer_Support@tvguide.com to ask if there is any way to download dhannels with Time Warner's digital broadcast. I doubt if there is a workaround, but it's worth a try.
Thanks again.
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vulcanusa
Member
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22. August 2008 @ 09:37 |
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jhaninger,
Great!
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Junior Member
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23. August 2008 @ 13:58 |
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Well it finally happened. I was actually looking at my E85 as it was recording something. The thing was turned off but still recording. All of a sudden it powered up and had the "PLEASE WAIT" message on the front panel. Then it dimmed and brightened and that was it. Just a solid PLEASE WAIT. Tried unplugging and plugging back in but always the PLEASE WAIT, nothing else works, no video out, TVGuide or anything. The thing was totally dead. So I did what I had hoped I'd never have to do and tear the thing apart and replace those 4 capacitors.
I took off the cover, removed the hard drive and bracket, and there was the fault. C1260, C1270, and C1271 were all burst and leaking. C1261 looked ok but I replaced that also. All 4 caps are the same value of 680uF, just different voltages. But I replaced all of them with 35volt caps, so this shouldn't happen again.
Put it all back together, hooked it up, plugged it in, turned it on, and crossed my fingers. IT'S ALIVE! Didn't even lose any data on the disk or the TVGuide. It's all back to normal. Wow!
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 23. August 2008 @ 14:06
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mccartybr
Newbie
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3. September 2008 @ 12:58 |
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This may have been answered before but I didn't see it - sorry if it already has.
I recently fixed my dmre85 by replacing the 2 big capacitors on the power supply board. I replaced then with 1000 uf 35V.
What if any, are the long term consequences of replacing 680uf capacitors with 1000uf? (I am no electronics expert). Everything works fine now, just wondering if this can create future problems.
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yankee10
Newbie
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5. September 2008 @ 01:00 |
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mccartybr:
None. These are filter capacitors for a +12vdc power--the bigger the better--but not necessary. The only thing to watch is the voltage rating of the capacitor. Panasonic used +16v--which is too small of a margin for a +12vdc power. +25v or greater would ensure a longer life on the capacitors. You used +35v--so you're OK.
If the capacitors are somewhat larger physically, however, you could conceivably upset the airflow around them and cause overheating of other components.
yankee10
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Kassel
Junior Member
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10. October 2008 @ 20:46 |
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Help. I have been having some trouble recording lately. I put in a disk, the machine asks me to put in another disk, I open the tray, close it again with the same disk. After two or three turns, it seems to realize there is a good disk in there. Now it has choked, it has a disk in there, is locked in a please wait cycle, where it cycles around, won't turn off even without unplugging. I figure if I can get that disk out, things might improve. I am guessing I need to at least clean the dvd drive eye, wherever that is. Thanks. KK
kingkassel@aol.com
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Magnum19
Newbie
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10. October 2008 @ 21:05 |
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Kassell, I had my machine do the same thing, several times.
The following may not help get the disc unlodged but it worked for me:
I would put a blank disc in and the machine would sit there forever-- then finally, it would "freeze". So I unplugged the unit, waited 20 seconds, plugged it back in and just kept continuously pressing down the "Open/Close" button. The machine kept flashing "Please Wait" but eventually popped out the disc.
It happened again a few days later. I went through the same process and the machine eventually popped the disc out.
I finally realized that the machine was no longer "willfully" accepting any of my BLANK media. (Don't know why-- these particular blank discs had always worked before.) I did not fully cure this problem (sometimes the machine would seize up using my old media, sometimes it wouldn't) until I SWITCHED media to:
Verbatim (94971) White DV-001-1133 Inkjet Printable 8X DVD-R Media.
(I had to go through several manufacturers before this media worked. I found them at supermediastore.com at a good price.)
I know the above sounds crazy and is hardly "scientific"-- but it did what worked for me!
All the best!
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Kassel
Junior Member
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11. October 2008 @ 01:36 |
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Thanks Magnum. I noticed another blogger here gave some keystrokes that should force an ejection of the disk, but that only works from the off position. This machine actually will never go off while it is plugged in. It is locked into a cycle of please wait - self check - bye - please wait -self check - bye etc. The only way to power it off seems to be to unplug it at present. However, I did open her up today and pulled the hard drive. None of the capacitors are at risk. I don't actually know how to pull the dvd drive, but could probably figure it out if needed. I am going to power it back up again, since I had had it all apart. Maybe that makes a difference. Otherwise, I will try to power it up by wiring the hard drive to a separate computer's power supply, to see if that computer's power supply will once again clear the brains of this unit. I will try your long push on the eject button again. I did that earlier, it just kept cycling throught the system check ... please wait junk, with no action on the disk at all. K
kingkassel@aol.com
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Kassel
Junior Member
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11. October 2008 @ 15:04 |
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OK you guys. I tried multiple times to get that disk to pop out, it refuses. The system will NOT power off no matter what I do. I did bypass the main power supply and hooked up to a computer's hard drive again, which is what healed my U99 shutdown a couple of years ago, but this time got no result. The system will not shut off, and it will not eject the bad disk. This means the hard drive etc is all nonaccessible. The control panel shows the HDD has been selected rather than the dvd drive, but again, no action. The number for channel 7 shows on the front after it runs through a few please waits and self checks. Any suggestions are appreciated.
That cheap plastic tape-like info belt that hooks under the dvd drive came out again, I popped it back in too. No result. Gee whiz.
kingkassel@aol.com
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Kassel
Junior Member
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11. October 2008 @ 15:05 |
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Oops. I mean I hooked up to a computer's power supply, not a hard drive, but had no happy result.
kingkassel@aol.com
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bendered
Newbie
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11. October 2008 @ 18:22 |
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Found a software that will do low level formatting on the drives for the E85H if you think it needs it. http://hddguru.com/content/en/software/2...el-Format-Tool/
I did use it on an old E85H I bought on Ebay that was "broken". The drive wouldn't detect so I ran the low level format and now the drive is now usable.
I also have found that if you have old motherboards or have friends who have them, especially for the Pentium 4's or AMD equivalent, there are many of them that have capacitors that will suffice to replace the ones that are talked about throughout this thread. I pulled 8 of them that are 16V 1500uF 1W 105ºC. All were in good shape and I have use them on broken models I have picked up in various places and they are all working perfectly.
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Scan10
Newbie
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11. October 2008 @ 22:19 |
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More than once - I've had DVD's that cause my 85 to sieze: DVD refuses to eject, usually ending with a U99 or stuck in "Please Wait".
Most recently I found that this was due to DVD's recorded in "VR" mode by other DVD recorders. For some reason - the recorder does not know what to do with this type of DVD and the machine hangs up. I've seen some $29 DVD players that simply eject when they have discs that they can't recognize - since the 85 isn't in production anymore, I doubt there will be a fix from Panasonic.
With my machine - none of the posted keystroke sequences can fix the problem - I've had to open up the unit, pull the cover on the DVD drive, extract the disc - and then the unit works fine when re-assembled.
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yankee10
Newbie
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12. October 2008 @ 20:46 |
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Just a note. The +12v that feeds the hard disk drive also feeds the DVD drive. If the +12v is out or flaky, plugging the hard disk drive into an external power will not affect the DVD player.
You say that the capacitors are OK. Visual check only? Have you tested the +12v? It is easy to do. On the 4-pin power connector that plugs into the hard disk drive poke a voltmeter probe into the back of pin 1 (the red one) and put the voltmeter ground lead on pin 2 or 3 (the black leads). It should read about +12v. [for completeness, pin 4 (yellow) is +5v.] If the voltage on these pins are solid, then the capacitors (C1270 and C1271) are OK.
When my +12v was bad due to the capacitors, the DVD drive would not open or close and I also could not power off the unit. See my post on page 62.
Originally posted by Kassel:
OK you guys. I tried multiple times to get that disk to pop out, it refuses. The system will NOT power off no matter what I do. I did bypass the main power supply and hooked up to a computer's hard drive again, which is what healed my U99 shutdown a couple of years ago, but this time got no result. The system will not shut off, and it will not eject the bad disk. This means the hard drive etc is all nonaccessible. The control panel shows the HDD has been selected rather than the dvd drive, but again, no action. The number for channel 7 shows on the front after it runs through a few please waits and self checks. Any suggestions are appreciated.
That cheap plastic tape-like info belt that hooks under the dvd drive came out again, I popped it back in too. No result. Gee whiz.
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Kassel
Junior Member
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16. October 2008 @ 22:03 |
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Thanks Scan10 and Yankee. Based on your experience, it seems my new order of operations should be to A) check that connector going into the hard drive to see if the power is getting past the suspect capacitors. As I have said the capacitors looked fine, but I am not opposed to changing them since they have caused so much trouble for others.
B) If the capacitors appear to be functional, then I must figure out how to open up the top of my dvd drive to pull out the errant disk. The disk is just a blank, so it has nothing to do with VR designations. Instead, it seems to be the machine was born with a brainfart that makes it hard to handle a variety of blank disk types. K
kingkassel@aol.com
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