Panny E-85 repeated self check problem

L

lazzer

Guest
Dear all,

After roughly 18 months of trouble free use, my E-85 has an annoying problem. It goes through a repeated "self-checking" routine along with a few seconds of completely blank display. This can last several minutes after which it is usually useable. I have tried pressing and holding the power button for 10 secs, which seemed to rectify the problem for yesterday, but today I am back to square one!

Any help will be much appreciated, and apologies if this is an often asked question!

Cheers. Lazzer :)
 
could be a failing hard drive, If you manage to get it started, I should copy anything you want to keep onto disc
 
Thanks Illustrator.....

Anyone else who has experience of this?

Cheers. Lazzer :)
 
Yes, I occasionally have the problem on closing the DVD tray (doesn't seem to matter: RAM, -R or empty).

I've tried a power-off, HDD reformat - which seems to improve things for a while.

I'm now looking for the sale/guarantee paperwork for a RTB - but I don't want to lose the benefit of an otherwise superb system!
 
The only time my E85 has gone into continuous self check mode was when a part recorded 4x Ritek DVD-R refused to eject. Eventually had to remove the 4 screws from top of laser compartment and remove the disc by hand. It was quite loose on the spindle. To gain access to the front screws it is also necessary to pull forward the front housing of the machine. After removal of the disc and reassembling its been OK since. Sent the spindle of these Ritek discs back. Now using Verbatim and Datawrite 4x and 8x. The cheap Datawrite Yellow either speed work quite well and have had no coasters having used about 200 of them now.
 
I think with the machine on standby, holding down 'stop' & 'channel up' on the front of the machine forces the tray to open. saves taking the machine to bits if there is a bad disc in there
 
illustrator said:
I think with the machine on standby, holding down 'stop' & 'channel up' on the front of the machine forces the tray to open. saves taking the machine to bits if there is a bad disc in there

Tried that several times. Even leaving overnight and trying it again next day. Didn't work. Hence the drastic action.
 
lazzer said:
Dear all,

After roughly 18 months of trouble free use, my E-85 has an annoying problem. It goes through a repeated "self-checking" routine along with a few seconds of completely blank display. This can last several minutes after which it is usually useable. I have tried pressing and holding the power button for 10 secs, which seemed to rectify the problem for yesterday, but today I am back to square one!

Any help will be much appreciated, and apologies if this is an often asked question!

Cheers. Lazzer :)

I have just had the same problem with mine also about eighteen months old.

Turned out to be the HDD. The HDD would not spin up in the Panasonic but was OK in a PC. So I connected the HDD power lead to my PC‘s PSU, booted them both up and copied the HDD contents onto DVD-RAM.

Changed the Samsung HDD for a Maxtor 5400-RPM, 80Gb (not my favourite brand, but the only one I could find of that size and speed) and now it's booting OK. I did try a 7200-RPM 120Gb Hitachi HDD that worked OK but only 80Gb was recognised (as expected).

However I still have the DVD issue where it goes into Self Check if I use a RAM disk. I did have this issue before the HDD failed and so updated the firmware (see other thread about 8x DVR-R), which seemed to help for a while. I am now thinking either the DVD drive has also failed or maybe the Panasonic's PSU is failing and cannot deliver enough current as the old HDD work's OK in a PC.

illustrator,

Do you know the part number of a service manual for this model, as I think I might get one from SEME and have a look, (I am an consumer electronics Engineer by trade) and would rather order by PN than description?
 
I think service manuals are released monthly on cdrom these days, I'll have an ask around see if I get the date or part no. of the cdrom
 
illustrator said:
I think service manuals are released monthly on cdrom these days, I'll have an ask around see if I get the date or part no. of the cdrom

Thanks. :D
 
I have the problem with my e85 again about 18 months old and suspected the hard drive. After reading this im going to replace it.

Most electrical equipment just knows when the 1 year warranty runs out, then plays up

Thanks all
 
lord42 said:
I have the problem with my e85 again about 18 months old and suspected the hard drive. After reading this im going to replace it.

Most electrical equipment just knows when the 1 year warranty runs out, then plays up

Thanks all

Before you rush out and get a new HDD, check the warranty on the current one; the Samsung in mine apparently has a three-year warranty. The reason I have not yet sent it back is because it works OK in a PC, and I therefore suspect that Samsung’s warranty agents might find it NFF. But I will now be sending it back and if they replace it, it can become a spare drive. 5400 RPM, 80Gb drives are getting hard to find.

Also check the Panasonic boots OK if you disconnect the HDD power cable.
 
Thanks ill try booting with the hd unplugged. I also have a samsung drive so may still be under warranty ill check that out.
 
Fred Smith said:
The reason I have not yet sent it back is because it works OK in a PC,

This PC is running on 2 ex E85 drives & my daughters on 2 ex HS2 drives
 
I replaced the HD last night and it works a treat. Its great to have it working again.
 
At first the E85 started to fail on the dub to DVD-R either straight away or around 97%,. Then started shutting down and self checking when blank DVD-R were inserted.
Searching around on t'internet it seems to be a common fault in the E85. Had mine back for repair and they didnt fix the fault. (They reinitillised CPU and cleaned)
I only had it 11 months. I did do a lot of editing and burning but I expected it to last longer than that.
Worked out ok in the end as I got a straight swap for a E60 (200gb HDD and freeview), just hope that it isnt a Panasonic problem, and a year down the line it happens again! Hopefully Panasonic are aware of the problem, and future machines are made with this in mind. (Especially my new E60 ;) )


Forgot to say the E85 would always start up ok also record & edit from TV/VHS to HDD no problem, it only shut down & "Self checked" when dubbing to DVD-R was involved or a DVD RAM was inserted.
 
Sedated - were you attempting to dub to x8 speed DVD-Rs? the E-85 has a problem with these and needs a firmware upgrade to fix, or to be set for the high-speed dubbing option. I had a similar problem with mine, but now ensure any recordings to be dubbed are set for high-speed dubbing and the problem hasn't recurred.

(An alternative way to dub to x8 speed DVD-Rs if you haven't set the high-speed in advance is to record 60 seconds of something (I do a blank screen on AV4) as a high-speed recording to dub as your first item then add non-high speed recordings to your list before dubbing. The 60 secs acts like a leader and the disc will then record fine. When playing the disc back, just skip the first chapter.)
 
nialli
Using the same DVD-Rs I had always used (Same batches). I had 3 makes (Ritek, Verbs x4 TDK x8) All worked great befor problem. Wouldnt even accept a DVD or Ram in the end. As said just shut down "Self Checked"

I had the High speed dub set from day 1, even if I knocked it off no difference.

Your work around is intresting. I could have tryed if it accepted a disc but alas it didnt and I havnt got the machine anymore. Shouldnt have to faff about anyway.
 
I've never had a problem with 8x DVD-Rs on my E85.
 
JohnG said:
I've never had a problem with 8x DVD-Rs on my E85.

Me neither, but then I tend to use high speed mode.

Don't like the sound of this, my Panasonic is around 18 months old as well, did everyone here buy one when they first came out, around April 04?

Still, I've got it covered on a Barclaycard extended warranty, so if it does break I hope it breaks in the next 6 months.
 
Use the cheaper Datawrite Yellow 8x from Blankdiscshop. I have now used over 100 of these in my 18 month old E85 and they have all worked fine - not a single coaster. I don't use high speed dubbing tho. Just checked SVP don't have any 8x listed now but they have the 4x at £8-70 for a spindle of 50 and I also use these on the E85.

http://www.blankdiscshop.co.uk/acatalog/dvd-rnoprint.html
 

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