WOW Attila, great post. I was never able to find those caps, so I sent my unit out and got a bill of $475. Well, 12 weeks later, they didn't fix it, so I paid the $50 check out fee and sent the unit back to Panasonic with a promise if a fee of $130 to fix it. Now I know we have all seen and heard this before, but I had no choice. I sent the unit back, waited a month, and got a phone call last Thursday. They stated the same thing was wrong that the $475 repair folks did, it had a bad Digitial processor board. Well, I also put the bad hard drive back in the unit and they replaced that as well....ALL for $130. The unit is supposed to be UPSed back to me today. Now that I know where the caps are, I am buying a few sets for when they fail in the future.. Again...great post Attila
What was the number you called to get the $130 flat fee - I tried to call a number that was posted earlier and never even got a call back. For $130, I would just send it out - I'm not a fan of messing around with electronics. Thanks!
Well, as I think it was SJShmitty who said, I've been lurking on this forum, which I have now joined just to thank Yankee10, Roger (U99 a few years back), and SJShmitty. I have licked the capacitors. My machine went down (Please wait) in May, so I looked around then for the answer but didn't find it. Logged on again in early September and knew immediately that you all had figured it out. Seemed somewhat simple, but I certainly needed the service manual (I can't just "pop the top open" and know what I'm looking at - thanks Yankee10), as well as the parts (okay, I understand the logic of getting 1000 something or others at 25 watts (volts?) again - thanks, but I decided to order the exact same part from Tiger Direct), and of course I had to then learn how to desolder (much harder) and solder (great video from the Curious Inventor, in spite of which I did burn myself). It's a beautiful thing to fix something I have no business doing. I'm not a hobbyist; I'm not a boy; I am capable of reading and re-reading your posts and studying the service manual somewhat. Seeing those quite obviously defective 1270 and 1271 capacitors was quite satisfying. Managed to put things back together and didn't lose anything on the hard drive. So . . . . thank you very much for taking the time to educate me. I appreciate it greatly. But won't those capacitors go bad again in a few years? If anybody out there needs a push and feels overwhelmed, fear not. Try not to grab the new soldering iron you just bought from Radio Shack - it does hurt. But it is worth it. Donna
OK, I just got back my E95 after a $130 trip to Panasonic's repair center. it has the new code on it and usable hard drive recording space of 294 hours. I test every function and it work like new out of the box. I am wondering if they replaced the caps that seem to go bad. No biggie as if I get the dreaded U99 or please wait, I will fire up the soldering iron and replace as necessary.... FYI the new hard drive is nice and quiet. Again, thanks for all the help!
Well I called Kord and it sounds like I should get my RMA form in by Friday for the flat rate of $130. I'll keep my fingers crossed.....
Attila, Awesome pictures/documentation. Thanks. I'm sure one of my units has exactly the same problem. What was that white substance you applied? Some kind of liquid plastic insulator?
Where did you order this cap? I tried the tiger direct website - unless it's not tigerdirect dot com. If it's allowed, can you post the website that you ordered the caps from? I'm suppose to get my RMA letter from panasonic in the mail by Monday, but thought I would try the cap swap if I can get the right caps. Thanks!
Plain old electrical tape cut to size and wrapped around the wires. The only "tricky" bit was to make a bridge. I cut off about 2/3 of one of the legs and soldered that cut-off wire to the board, which was coming straight up. Than I folded the other leg ( was too short to reach the board ) and soldered it to this cut-off wire "bridging" the short leg to the board, like this:
Reporting on Cap changes. I received 4 capacitors from panasonic today - 2 for now and 2 for the future. Installed 2 new caps. Poped top of drive and inserted cdr for firmware upgrade. Connected to tv to witness it come alive. Powered up unit and no noise. Just my favourite message - Please Wait- with knight rider lights. Talk about a downer. Any help, suggestions is greatly appreciated. In my first post I had asked about the sequence of operations. More specificially does the fan operate all the time or not. I have a polaroid hdd with dvd recorder and the fan runs all the time. My problem could be the fan and I do not know it. Meaning if the fan does not show operation to the board then nothing else happens. I will check the old caps and report back - let my neighbor borrow my meter. That way someone else does not fall into the same boat as me. As reported earlier my capacitors were not bulged at all but also not checked for capacitance, neighbor on vacation and has my meter, but having reviewed some posts it seemed that some had same symptoms and had success with cap changes. Just my luck. Oh well. I suppose it really does not matter, I willhave to send it out for repair. Sounds like this fella Kord at panasonic has been taking care of everyone for $130.
Martin: My situation didn't start like yours did, but it sure came to what you are seeing now -- PLEASE WAIT -- and lock / unlock. After about two months of waiting, unpowering, powering back up, trying different keystroke sequences, etc., I took the advice of the guys who talked about the two capacitors -- 1270 and 1271. As noted in my earlier post, they didn't bulge or look any different, although I later noticed stains in the metal shield when I replaced it above them. As previous posts from others had pointed out, these two capacitors appear to be to 'small' anyway. I didn't bother taking before/after readings. I just did what the others had recommended: Went to Radio Shack and purchased the next 'larger' size that they had on hand and put them into the board. The thing fired right up and has been working perfectly since then. So, I'd recommend you just try that. I think they cost only something like $2.95 each. I also threw for a little smaller soldering iron than I had previously been using -- not having felt comfortable working on circuit boards before. In fact, I went to the web and looked up a few sites that discuss general soldering work on circuit boards, to help give me the courage to do the job. It took only a few minutes, and Voila! Works great. Try it and tell us all how it comes out. -Steve
Checked my original capacitors today(removed last night and replaced with factory replacements, to no success) - got my meter back from my neighbor- Both tested at 700 or so UF .So my bet is that I "most likely" have another problem. I am a little reluctant to desolder and resolder again to potentially no avail or screw up the board with more heat than it was meant to have from desoldering/soldering. I am not avoiding the superb advice of this great forum and individuals who have had great success with cap replacement and have advised me to go bigger. Any further suggestions would be much appreciated --thanks in advance. all the best Martin Gorman.
Upgrade to Radio shack 272-1019 1000uf @35v. I sat down and set about replacing the capacitors with the suggested replacements that have worked for others. Hoping that I would not have to replace them with the extra two that I purchased at the start of the week before I send the unit in to Panasonic. I plugged the unit in and same old s!!t. Please wait with the knight rider lights and no noise as usual. That ends my report on replacement. My conclusion. Do not waste your time changing capacitors that look ok. Do not waste your time replacing capacitors that have not created some brown stains on the bottom of the hdd assembley, above the capacitors. Do not waste your time replacing capacitors that have a 680uf or close to reading. They are good. I welcome any comments or suggestions before I put this unit in a box back to Panasonic. I would really like someone to answer my question about sequence of operation, that is what fires up first, second, third etc, etc. All the best Martin Gorman.
I sent mine back today - but couldn't find my reciept/proof of purchase to put into the box. I know it's not going to be a warrantee claim, I just want to get the flat rate $130 that Kord mentioned. Did you put a receipt/proof of purchase in the box? How long did it take before they called you? Thanks!
I did not have the reciept when I sent it back. He told me out of warrantee was still a flat fee of $130. It took about 4 weeks for them to call. I am using the unit as we speak!!
Cool - that was what I was hoping it was - I just got a little nervous when the letter I got said to put a reciept in the box. Thanks - sounds like it worked out for you. Hope I'm just as fortunate!
Just called Kord at Panasonic. Very painless. He is sending an RMA to send my unit back for the flat rate reapir of $130.00 with 7-10 business days turn around. Excellent service. I will report my outcome. All the best. Martin Gorman.
