"Mark Modrall" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"Arfa Daily" wrote:

"Mark D. Zacharias" wrote in message
t...
Arfa Daily wrote:
--snip--

Have you been inside at all to have a look what is happening in the
time that it remains on ? Most Panasonic models suffer from bad
spindle motors, and yours is the right sort of age. Have a look to
see if the disc actually tries to spin up. If it doesn't, try just
flicking it round with a finger. Sometimes, the motors go so bad that
when the player tries to spin it up, the power supply detects an
excess load, and shuts down.
Arfa

Bad power supply caps?

Mark Z.

That's a good thought Mark. I haven't known Pans to be particularly bad
in
this respect, unlike some of the other makes that we all know and love (
!! ) but worth a shot.

Mark whose machine it is - start by having a good look at all the
electrolytics in the power supply. Check for any where their tops have
started to 'dome'. If none are evident, it would be worth running over
them
all with an ESR meter.

Sorry to take so long to respond... Day job and all that. Took the top
off this weekend to see what was happening. As Arfa guess, it wasn't
actually spinning up. It just sat there. There was a buzz at the
start, then it shut down.

Interestingly, I flicked it around with a finger a few times, and the
next time it *did* spin up - for a few combinations of on/off,
open/close. Then it stopped spinning up again. Went back and forth
with the finger flick every time it seemed to "jam" and after a few go
rounds it just seemed to spin up again normally. Not that I'm holding
my breath on it.

I didn't see anything looking to "dome" on the inside, but then I am
just a novice.

I also looked at the back, and it seems that it's just 3 years old, not
4.

Am I correct in guessing that it sounds like the spindle motor? Would
it be worth fixing if it is, or would that cost near the same as a new
unit for one who isn't in the repair business?

Thanks
mark

Assuming that you are saying that once you get it to spin up, it does read
and play ok, then yes, that would be indicative of a bad spot on the spindle
motor. On most Panasonics, the spindle motor comes preassembled onto a sub
deck, that you then have to swap the laser onto. Mechanically, this is not
too tricky. However, there is then usually an alignment procedure for
correcting the laser tilt, which involves adjusting three hex screws under
the spring loaded laser slide rails, whilst watching the effect on the
jitter factor by way of an internal diagnostic display. This is not an easy
procedure. You might check if the deck assembly is available complete with
the laser for a reasonable price, as then it would be just a drop in job.

There is a way that you can 'recover' a bad motor, but really, it would only
normally be used to 'prove the point', and I would not do it on a customer's
repair. However, as it's your own unit, and it doesn't work now, I guess
you've got nothing to lose. You will need a 12v DC power supply, and some
switch cleaner. You need to first disconnect both connections to the motor.
It is important that the motor is completely disconnected from the external
circuitry. The connections are usually made to it via an orange flexiprint
which will need to be unsoldered. This will reveal two kidney-shaped holes
in the motor backplate. Put a small squib of switch cleaner in each hole,
then connect the 12v power supply BRIEFLY across the motor 4 or 5 times. No
more than about a half second for the first few connections, and maybe a
little longer - say 1 second - for the last one. Wait 30 seconds or so, then
repeat the procedure with the connections from the power supply reversed, so
that the motor spins the opposite way. 95% of the time, this procedure will
successfully recover a motor with a bad spot. On the odd 5% of occasions, it
will result in total demise of the motor, but as I said, you haven't got a
lot to lose.

Arfa