LG DRT389H DVD recorder

[Greeno]

Hi


I realise it's not really worth the effort (I'm WAY past that point!) but I've started and I don't like to give up.

I was given this by a friend because it would no longer recognise discs - the problem turned out to be the motor that spins the disc.

Having resolved that issue, the player has quickly progressed to being essentially unusable.

It's usually painfully unresponsive when first plugged in - tray won't eject/close; does not respond to the remote - but usually recovers.

When watching a DVD or AVI (via USB or from disc) it will freeze/restart after anything up to an hour; sometimes it will display "Service is not running or scrambled" in place of the TV signal. After powering off and on, it might work again for up to 10 minutes before failing again.

Voltages appear to be OK but since the problem is intermittent this may not mean much.

No obvious capacitor failures.

It seems that this is not an uncommon problem but I haven't been able to find any suggested fixes.

I'm on the verge of replacing the main power supply capacitors, but the board is bristling with electrolytics and I don't really want to replace them all - especially since this may have nothing to do with the problem.

So I thought I'd see if anyone here has any suggestions?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.


Thanks

[stj]

Re: LG DRT389H DVD recorder

there are nly about 9 capacitors related to the psu.
the group under the transformer in the foto.

[multimeter]

Re: LG DRT389H DVD recorder

unlikely to be the capacitors on the psu because you have the correct voltages,are they printed on the trace side?

as it is an intermittent fault id be looking at a cold solder joint etc.

ideally you would need an ESR meter to verify caps are good also it may well be a MCU/CPU issue as it happens after an hour or so,do any chips get very hot to touch?,you can blast the chips with freeze spray while the symptoms are happening if it corrects then its a thermal issue

[Greeno]

Re: LG DRT389H DVD recorder

Hi, and thanks for your reply.

Yes, voltages are printed on the board (top) AND I have the service manual (for what it's worth). There was a tiny fluctuation on the 5v but probably small enough to be within the margin of error of my meter (I think it 4.99-5.00).

I have considered a bad connection and temperature (it has been relatively hot here recently). I have tested it with the case open and a computer case fan sitting above the board, with no noticeable effect. The "main" board in this recorder is actually part of the DVD drive module (so there's a lot of communication over those flat ribbon cables you can see in the picture) and it's not really possible to check the temperature of the main processor while it's running. I'll take another look.

I should have given up a long time ago.

Thanks for your time.

[SteveNielsen]

Re: LG DRT389H DVD recorder

Get a good picture of the bottom of the board and look for bad solder joints, etc.

I say if you're learning something and enjoy it then it is not a waste of your time even if you never get it working.

[ron77]

Re: LG DRT389H DVD recorder

I got in touch with LG regarding this model. Downloaded an update file, not a cure all, of course, but found it very useful. LG were very helpful, that was about a year ago. Still have disc, and have, as I have said, found it useful.

[fzabkar]

Re: LG DRT389H DVD recorder

Service manual:

[radioredcat]

Re: LG DRT389H DVD recorder

I know this is an old thread but I thought the info I am going to provide will help someone.

I have this model and connected it to antenna/HDMI and applied power and was greeted with a picture with a disk in top corner and no response from remote except power and mute button nothing else the DVD tray would not open it just says read that.s all.

I put it on the bench and took the lid off and what do I see Chang/Gluxon caps anyway applying just power lead it worked ok hmmm.

Took it back to TV applied just power all fine plugged HDMI in all ok then plugged antenna in it stops responding so it seems for some reason it doesn't like being earthed via the antenna lead.

As it happens I only want it for playing DVDs and files from USB stick.

Andy

[Dabbler]

Re: LG DRT389H DVD recorder

RADIOREDCAT.
OLD thread it may be, but still perfectly valid! I scratched my head for hours then tried here, found this and hey presto same condition!
Not sure there's an actual cure, but at least it's usable as a DVD!
Thanks very much, hope not too late to congratulate you, well done!
Alan (Dabbler, by nickname and habit!)