Panasonic DVD-S35K Ultra-Slim Progressive-Scan DVD Player (Black) – Electronics
Panasonic DVD-S35K Ultra-Slim Progressive-Scan DVD Player (Black)I too had the H02 error after about 18 months of flawless performance.
Since everyone is having the same problem at about the same time, is it reasonable to suspect engineered, PLANNED OBSOLESCENCE? Maybe just poor product.. Panasonic wouldn’t make so much money if you didn’t spend $100 every 1-2 years on another DVD player. Think about it..
Like a few others, however, I am again watching movies on my S35S after taking it apart, blowing in it a bit, fingering and jiggling the gears a bit, and putting it back together (we were going to throw it out anyway, why not play with it freely beforehand? Make sure to unplug it first!). This solved the problem, at least for the time being – may have to do it periodically from now on. I’m too poor to buy a new one every year, so I tinker.
The actual problem is that the spindle-motor stopped turning, thus the laser cannot read the initializing track of a disc to determine that a valid disc is indeed present. Hence, “H02″(Must be Pana-Geek-Speak for ‘farked up’..), and finally “No disc.”
To be accurate and honest, Panasonic should – instead of “H02” – have their DVD players display a scrolling marquee “P4n450n1k PWNES [email protected]!11one” because that’s what they’re doing to us with these cheap motors designed to fail at 1 to 1-1/2 years.
Upon opening and observation it was obvious that the spindle motor/flywheel thingy was unable to turn freely, too much friction to get started apparently, too “sluggish,” it just simply hummed before disengaging and giving up. Perhaps it needs a bit of re-lubrication; just lightly touching the top of the spindle housing/cover (specifically, the white round thingy that resides above the disc) made it start spinning again.
3 stars for the great flawless performance for 18 months, minus 2 stars for the cheap/underpowered/etc. spindle-motor that goofs up at this time making me spend a couple of hours toying with it just to watch my movies. Luckily I have a PS2/dvd to hold me over for a while if this DVD player craps out for good. Maybe I should try TOSHIBA next time?
