DescentBB

hey guys, im at my parents place and ive got a issue with a Go-Video Dual Deck VCR. it will not turn on, ive checked the fuse with a DMM and its good. the Fluoresence LED Screen does not show the time or any normal features it simply flashes and does nothing. the PSU Section of the PCB makes a "Cricket" like chirping sound each time the screen flashes. there is a dual CR3032 battery PCB with a small on/off switch, i have tried cycling this switch. both batteries show a 2.9 VDC with a 3+VDC printed on the battery itself.

anyone have any ideas as to what is wrong.

Did you check the output of that PSU?

AN ISSUE ... LOL!

/me gives up :S

you check the cord?

alright, enough BS Answers.


yes MD i checked the PSU, its output is reading fine and within 3% +/- VDC of the printed voltages on the PCB

Why does all this stuff happen to YOU man?

why does it matter if it happens to me or not?

STFU and post something related to the issue mobi...

Throw it out, get new one.

they dont make them anymore AFAIK....my dad would do that, but the damn things were 300$. id rather take a Radio Shack visit over paying 300 for a new one

i was serious, is the cord frayed?

Alright, does the motor activate and start spinning the heads? If not then it probably blew them. Those things are so old, I wouldn't be suprised if components started failing left and right. You'd be better off scrapping it and buying two cheap VCRs. Seriously.

Ace,

Kurupt and MD didn't seem to me to be offering BS answers, and Mobius seemed to be making a joke. Lighten up man.

And secondly...I have 15 years electronics engineering/tech experience and I can honestly tell you to throw the VCR out.

This is exactly what I would tell you if you brought me the unit straight out as fixing a VCR unless it's something really simple like a POWER CORD would be expensive $$ and unless you have an engineering degree and a schematic, you won't be able to do anything more than speculate as to what is wrong with the unit.

And, on a side note, you can pick up a VCR for under a $100 now and a VCR/DVD combo for practically the same.

Only a fool would get a VCR/DVD combo. If one side fails, you're screwed and half the time they're made with the cheapest components possible by companies like RCA and Philips. You've better with seperate units.

MD-2389 wrote:Only a fool would get a VCR/DVD combo.

its not a VCR/DVD combo its a Dual Deck VCR unit. two VCR systems in one.

Alright, does the motor activate and start spinning the heads?

to answer your question, yes it will sping the heads very very briefly, then it starts the flashing fluorecense screen stuff. im thinking something is shorted out somewere after the PSU section. it got it to "attempt" to eject one of the tapes still trapped in it. it got half-way through the process and then quit, and went back to its "flashing" state.

and Mobius seemed to be making a joke. Lighten up man.

and right about now, jokes are some BS I dont need.

This is exactly what I would tell you if you brought me the unit straight out as fixing a VCR unless it's something really simple like a POWER CORD would be expensive $$ and unless you have an engineering degree and a schematic, you won't be able to do anything more than speculate as to what is wrong with the unit.

the AC Mains power cord is fine. the PSU is feeding the proper VDC output levels, i tested each lead with my DMM, each lead came out within 3%+/- VDC. im suspecting the problem is somewere after the PSU, its gotta be somewere near the PSU. cuz everything else is "trying" to operate properly.

AceCombat wrote:

This is exactly what I would tell you if you brought me the unit straight out as fixing a VCR unless it's something really simple like a POWER CORD would be expensive $$ and unless you have an engineering degree and a schematic, you won't be able to do anything more than speculate as to what is wrong with the unit.

the AC Mains power cord is fine. the PSU is feeding the proper VDC output levels, i tested each lead with my DMM, each lead came out within 3%+/- VDC. im suspecting the problem is somewere after the PSU, its gotta be somewere near the PSU. cuz everything else is "trying" to operate properly.

As supersheep is saying, you are doing nothing but speculation.

get the two VCR's(heck buy one, do you really need two?). nab a slegdehammer and send that dual-deck thing to the graveyard.

There probably a label on that thing saying something about "no user servicable parts inside". You are that user.

uh huh, and how many "users" that do have the knowledge of fixing such things..........FIX THEM!!

Flip......just shutup
My father has his reasons for buying a dual deck VCR.....okay so stop bantering his reasons....WTF Has he done to you guys. so STFU about the usage of such a device.


since everyone wants to flame me. (except those who did give constructive ideas) just STFU and ill take the damn thing to Radio Shack.


STRESS!!! Close this please

Ace,

I didn't really feel that anyone was specifically trying to attack you or your father or his reasons for having a VCR. It's obvious that you're a bit "on edge", and seem to be taking things a bit harsher than they're meant.

But in any case, most of these sorts of things just wear out. Honestly I'm surprised it took this long. Unless he does need a dual-deck, it'd probably be easiest and cheapest to just buy a new single-deck unit (not sure if they make duals anymore). If he does need it, then it might be worth fixing up, but without trying to be open to the not-always-100%-serious DBBers' suggestions, this thread won't work.


If you guys can't get along, then just let the thread die. If it gets much worse, I'm sure your wish for Stress to close this will be granted. (What, the rest of us Tech Forum mods aren't good enough for ya? )

Plebeian wrote:But in any case, most of these sorts of things just wear out. Honestly I'm surprised it took this long. Unless he does need a dual-deck, it'd probably be easiest and cheapest to just buy a new single-deck unit (not sure if they make duals anymore). If he does need it, then it might be worth fixing up.........

the exact reason why he wants to keep this dual deck unit.

Plebeian wrote:If you guys can't get along, then just let the thread die. If it gets much worse, I'm sure your wish for Stress to close this will be granted. (What, the rest of us Tech Forum mods aren't good enough for ya? )

Stress is the first name that came to mind......me and him are always firing BS at eachother having fun. sorry no offense meant

AceCombat wrote:

Plebeian wrote:But in any case, most of these sorts of things just wear out. Honestly I'm surprised it took this long. Unless he does need a dual-deck, it'd probably be easiest and cheapest to just buy a new single-deck unit (not sure if they make duals anymore). If he does need it, then it might be worth fixing up.........

the exact reason why he wants to keep this dual deck unit.

Nothing wrong with that. Just most people don't want or need both decks, so it's sometimes taken for granted that people only want/need one.

AceCombat wrote:

Plebeian wrote:If you guys can't get along, then just let the thread die. If it gets much worse, I'm sure your wish for Stress to close this will be granted. (What, the rest of us Tech Forum mods aren't good enough for ya? )

Stress is the first name that came to mind......me and him are always firing BS at eachother having fun. sorry no offense meant

hehe, yeah, I'm pretty much the Tech Forum Stealth Mod. Actually, were it not for the ex-"Mac Forum", I wouldn't be a mod at all. For some reason I'm still around even though the Mac Forum came, went, merged and pretty much vanished. But hey, I have nice green text, can't complain.


In any case, hope you can track down the problem and fix it so your dad doesn't have to either track down an old dual-deck or make do with two units.

AceCombat wrote:

MD-2389 wrote:Only a fool would get a VCR/DVD combo.

its not a VCR/DVD combo its a Dual Deck VCR unit. two VCR systems in one.

Alright, does the motor activate and start spinning the heads?

to answer your question, yes it will sping the heads very very briefly, then it starts the flashing fluorecense screen stuff. im thinking something is shorted out somewere after the PSU section. it got it to "attempt" to eject one of the tapes still trapped in it. it got half-way through the process and then quit, and went back to its "flashing" state.

and Mobius seemed to be making a joke. Lighten up man.

and right about now, jokes are some BS I dont need.

This is exactly what I would tell you if you brought me the unit straight out as fixing a VCR unless it's something really simple like a POWER CORD would be expensive $$ and unless you have an engineering degree and a schematic, you won't be able to do anything more than speculate as to what is wrong with the unit.

the AC Mains power cord is fine. the PSU is feeding the proper VDC output levels, i tested each lead with my DMM, each lead came out within 3%+/- VDC. im suspecting the problem is somewere after the PSU, its gotta be somewere near the PSU. cuz everything else is "trying" to operate properly.

I mentioned the VCR/DVD combo, not MD and I personally haven't had a problem with it but if I do, it has a nice 3 year warranty

Understood, but I don't think they know that.

K...You checked the voltage levels. And now you are planning on doing what? I'm not trying to be sarcastic, merely pointing out that at this point, you are at a point where you do not know what is broken and where to begin. I don't know what your electronics background is but checking voltages is only the first step at fixing something like this. At this point, my next step would typically be parts testing. Checking diode voltage drops, resistance values, caps, seeing if there is anything obviously bad. If I couldn't find anything there, the next step would be to begin swapping chips out starting with the most likely candidate first and working from there.

You would need a good quality desoldering iron since most likely the board is double sided. You'd need to know how to read voltage drops, read and verify resistor values, and be able to cross reference and find the IC's used in the unit.

If the motors are bad, you'll need to find who made them, if they still make them, and if not where you can find an equivalent motor for use in the unit.

This is what you'll need to do to fix this VCR. One alternative is to take the VCR to a repair shop, but you will pay for it, most likely more than the cost of buying another unit on EBay or in a store.

I commend your curiosity and determination to fix this yourself but electronics takes years to learn and fixing something seemingly as simple as a VCR will have even a seasoned technician telling you to buy a new one. Not because it's out of the realm of possibility to fix, but because the cost is prohibitive.

Finally, Radio Shack may be able to order the IC's and parts in the VCR, but you'd be much better off finding them online yourself through major electronics parts suppliers like Newark.

Good luck Ace.

well, this is the primary issue to getting it to work. a very highly valued tape is locked in the deck, when the issue arisen , the tape was being copied to a new one. yes yes i know DVD, but tell that to my dad, hes a old time junkie . soo not only do we need to free this tape, we need to get it working just to do that. plus he really loves this VCR, it has lasted him 6 years and this is the very first problem, it has ever given him. this is why i persist in getting options and opinions. so bare with me here, it is "HIS" VCR and "HIS" tape that is being locked up by a non-functioning VCR.

Getting the tape out shouldn't be too hard. You'll have to disassemble the case, remove the assembly around the tape and very carefully free the tape from the read head. Most likely the tape will be spooled through some mechanism and then over the read head and back into the tape. You will probably have to take apart most of it to get the tape freed.

Be careful when working with the tape itself as it tends to be quite fragile.

Once you have the tape freed, you can look into getting the VCR itself fixed.

see thats exactly the issue, this tape is already very old, and i dont want to damage it at all. dad said he would beat my arse if it comes back to him unplayable im going to head out later this week and check prices.

Just spin the motor that normally ejects the tape by hand, it will work, I've done it before plenty of times.

krom, you are missing three things.

1.the tape ribbon itself is still engaged in the miyrad network of devices.
2. the motors are below the deck
3. it is locked in place by a lock-catch somewere i have no clue as to where it is located.

Try the 18" drop check and see what that does.. Seems to work on the planes most of the time.
THis is what I figure. Its already broke.. Your not gonna make it work less


Box

LunchBox wrote:Try the 18" drop check and see what that does.. Seems to work on the planes most of the time.
THis is what I figure. Its already broke.. Your not gonna make it work less


Box

box..........STFU

No reason to be a dick. There is no end to number of things that have been fixed by this method..

If the power supply is good and you have checked all the diodes (4 of them making a bridge) in the power supply, then your getting down to component level crap that I am sure an F-14 pilot would have no clue about. If all else fails go for the drop check.. 18" may be a little to much for a VCR.. But I would definitly get it a couple of good hits.

I am not trying to get into an argument with you about this, but your the one that starts in with the STFU. So since you wanted to get into being an a$$. Do it with someone else or else go shove your finger up a cats a$$

AceCombat wrote:

MD-2389 wrote:Only a fool would get a VCR/DVD combo.

its not a VCR/DVD combo its a Dual Deck VCR unit. two VCR systems in one.

Ace, I can read, can you? I was talking to Sheep, not you. You need to calm down, because all you're doing is acting like a @sshole and you're pissing people off. If you don't like the answer someone gives, then don't bother replying to them.

to answer your question, yes it will sping the heads very very briefly, then it starts the flashing fluorecense screen stuff. im thinking something is shorted out somewere after the PSU section. it got it to "attempt" to eject one of the tapes still trapped in it. it got half-way through the process and then quit, and went back to its "flashing" state.

Ok, then your problem may be with the LED that detects the presense of a tape. I had a VCR with a very similar problem. If the detector diode doesn't sense the light beam emitted by the emitter diode (you can't see it as its outside the visual spectrum), then it'll trigger a circuit which tells the VCR that a tape is present and that it may play the contents. Stick your finger over either one of the diodes (they'll be sticking up on a plastic assembly facing parallel to the PCB on either side of the loading assembly) and hit the eject button. At the very least that should get your tape out.

AceCombat wrote:krom, you are missing three things.

1.the tape ribbon itself is still engaged in the miyrad network of devices.
2. the motors are below the deck
3. it is locked in place by a lock-catch somewere i have no clue as to where it is located.

Right, thats why you spin the motor. See it works like this, that one motor controls the loading and unloading of the tape, by spinning it all the parts that the tape goes through will retract and release the tape including the catch, it will probably even wind up the slack on the tape for you. Just find a place to spin the motor and quit your bitching.

Krom wrote:

AceCombat wrote:krom, you are missing three things.

1.the tape ribbon itself is still engaged in the miyrad network of devices.
2. the motors are below the deck
3. it is locked in place by a lock-catch somewere i have no clue as to where it is located.

Right, thats why you spin the motor. See it works like this, that one motor controls the loading and unloading of the tape, by spinning it all the parts that the tape goes through will retract and release the tape including the catch, it will probably even wind up the slack on the tape for you. Just find a place to spin the motor and quit your bitching.

okay once again, the motor is below the deck, i cant get to it without removing the entire deck from the chassis. read #2 again.

MD-2389 wrote:

AceCombat wrote:

MD-2389 wrote:Only a fool would get a VCR/DVD combo.

its not a VCR/DVD combo its a Dual Deck VCR unit. two VCR systems in one.

Ace, I can read, can you? I was talking to Sheep, not you.

i stand corrected, i thought you were talking to me.

to answer your question, yes it will sping the heads very very briefly, then it starts the flashing fluorecense screen stuff. im thinking something is shorted out somewere after the PSU section. it got it to "attempt" to eject one of the tapes still trapped in it. it got half-way through the process and then quit, and went back to its "flashing" state.

MD-2389 wrote:Ok, then your problem may be with the LED that detects the presense of a tape.

i dont know about that, it wont even power up long enough to hit the eject button. much less power up long enough to eject a tape.

ok its simple

the deck is shot so just take it apart and get your tape out that way and just buy 2 decks there so damn cheep now

or

find the moter that drives the inject\eject system and use a dc power supply and turn the moter that way

Just find some place to turn that motor, its not that hard, it doesnt matter where it is as long as you can get to either the motor shaft, or the gears that come off the motor just as long as you can cause that motor to spin.

Krom wrote:Just find some place to turn that motor, its not that hard, it doesnt matter where it is as long as you can get to either the motor shaft, or the gears that come off the motor just as long as you can cause that motor to spin.

okay once again, i cannot turn the gears as they are locked by a catch device, which i cannot locate.

Warlock wrote: ok its simple

the deck is shot so just take it apart and get your tape out that way and just buy 2 decks there so damn cheep now

becuase my father wants to keep it for his own reasons. thats 3rd time ive said this

Warlock wrote:find the moter that drives the inject\eject system and use a dc power supply and turn the moter that way

again for the 5th time, i cannot manually eject the tape, the mechanisms are locked. i cannot reach the motor terminals becuase they are on the bottom side of the chassis, covered by the tape deck itself, and i do not want to take out the entire deck, risking i cant put it back together.




why do i keep answering the same questions over and over and over and over again

Ace, you would save yourself a lot of hastle if you just took it into a VCR repair place and have them take care of the problem for you and recover the tape.

You're not going to be able to do it yourself and some how miraculously fix the machine. That is what people giving suggestions in this thread have been trying to to tell you. Your dad is going to have to come to grips with the fact that the machine DOES NOT WORK ANYMORE. If he really wants to keep it THAT badly, he'll have to finance its repair by a professional. This includes them having to order parts if necessary.

You can keep repeating the same things over and over until you're blue in the face but the fact remains the machine is broken. This wasn't exactly the best of places to come asking for help regarding a dualdeck VCR in the first place IMO. Stop acting like a little kid and deal with it.

1. Machine = Doesn't work anymore.
2. You can't repair machine and recover Tape yourself.
3. Dad will have to pay to have the machine fixed if he wants to keep it.
4. Dad will have to pay to have the tape recovered.
5. Services will have to be provided by a PROFESSIONAL.
6. Somebody please cue the STFU Ace picture and close this thread already. sheesh.

Tyranny wrote:6. Somebody please cue the STFU Ace picture and close this thread already. sheesh.

GOOD IDEA!! STRESS PLEBEIAN!!!!


were is my picture, and close this

Buy a new one for 30 bucks. There, dilema solved.

Well, this thread has gone downhill again and we're rehashing the same old "bash Ace".

So, Wish Granted.

(Do check out local repair places. Might be able to get an estimate on the amount of work required. Though to save your dad's tape, he's probably willing to do whatever it takes.)