Magicjohn if you do decide to try to repair it yourself and succeed and think someone totally electronically challenged could also do it, please let me know because I would like to get my DMRE 55 going again if i can.
Good luck.
I'm a novice at this myself, I've done a bit of soldering in the past, but wouldn't have a clue where to start in repairing this sort of stuff. I'm not going to bother with the usual disclaimers, warnings about tampering with mains power etc. - You know the score! (And you don't know my address!)
Go for it! - If you have "written off" the unit, then you only have a few pounds to loose if you try to fix it and mess it up completely! Replaced mine last night - difficulty level on a scale of 1 to 10 is about a 2! It is a little early to say whether this has fixed my problem, as it was an intermittant fault, but all seems to be working O.K. and certainly the power-up "self test", seems to be much quicker than it was.
It's very straightforward - but you need a (smallish) soldering iron and some way of removing the old component - it has 5 "legs" - I used my "solder sucker" without any problems, although a previous poster says that I shouldn't use one in this instance and recommends using desoldering braid instead (didn't explain why though).
Quick step-by step (although most of this could be found in previous posts.)
Order new STR-G6353 from Nikko Electronics (
www.dalbani.co.uk) £6.33 plus £4.99 Post and packing! - Post and packing seemed expensive, but their service was amazing! Ordered at 4:30pm, arrived before 11:00am the next day - they are in Surrey, I live in the Isle of Man!
Disconnect leads from DMR E55, noting where they went.
Remove cover - 1 screw each side, 3 on the back. - Stand back in amazement, when you see how much "free space" there is inside the unit - my previous encounters inside AV equipment have always been with (older) VCRs.
Looking from the back of the machine the power supply board is on your left.
Tricky step number one. - Remove the "ribbon cable" connector linking this board to the next. Don't pull on the cable itself! Use a small flat-bladed screwdriver to release the clip on the socket, and ease the plug (attached to the cable) out. The plug and socket are both black and it isn't easy at first to see where one starts and the other finishes.
Remove the three screws fixing the board in place, and the screw holding the AC in socket on the rear panel.
Lift out the board, it looks like it could be connected to the boards on the front panel, but isn't. Try to remember how the board comes out - this should help when you come to replace it! (See below.)
Locate the (hopefully duff!) STR-G6353 - it is between the transformer and biggest capacitor on the board and is attached to a "heatsink" (of sorts!) On the board it is marked IC001 - Don't confuse it with IC006 which looks similar!
Remove the screw from the heat sink. Now you have to desolder the STR-G6353. (This is tricky step number two! - Actually I found this easier than I expected). Unfortunately there are a few tiny surface-mount components close to it's legs which you need to avoid, so take care.
The new chip comes in an anti-static bag - I don't know how sensitive these are to static, but it is worth taking the usual precautions - i.e. earth youself before handling it!
Bend the legs if necessary, so they fit in the holes in the board, screw it to the heat-sink and solder the pins. (There is no sign of any heat sink compound on the old components - so I assume that none is needed?)
Replace the board (this took me a while until I realised that the metal tab at the back of the front panel, that always seemed to be in the way, is actually bendy plastic.)
Replace the ribbon cable connector!
Replace the AC screw and 3 fixing screws, the cover and it's 5 screws, connect up and hope for the best!
The whole operation took me a little over half an hour - I would be interested to know how you get on.
...of course this isn't a "repair", but a temporary fix..... I expect to be doing it again in two years time!
Does anyone know if it would be worth modifying the heat sink to make it bigger? There is certainly loads of room in the box.