Onkyo DR-C500 "Disk Err" - Whats the fix?

[John Hudak]

Hi:
This 5.1 receiver/dvd/cd (5 disk changer) player has developed a
problem: displaying 'Disk Err' when changing to play a DVD or CD. Seems
to be more temperamental with DVDs (happening about 80% of the time) and
with CDs (about 20% of the time). Receiver is about 3 yrs old, and it
occasionally did this when new, now it happens a lot.
Can anyone relate with the fix is? or some things to check out? This
appears to be a chronic problem with units of this type - Are there any
'official' ONKYO fixes?
The laser diode and subsequent processing channels look OK - seems like
its an alignment problem when the disk is lifted onto the spindle...
Any help is greatly appreciated.
Thanks
John

 

[Meat Plow]

Hi:
This 5.1 receiver/dvd/cd (5 disk changer) player has developed a problem:
displaying 'Disk Err' when changing to play a DVD or CD. Seems to be more
temperamental with DVDs (happening about 80% of the time) and with CDs
(about 20% of the time). Receiver is about 3 yrs old, and it
occasionally did this when new, now it happens a lot. Can anyone relate
with the fix is? or some things to check out? This appears to be a
chronic problem with units of this type - Are there any 'official' ONKYO
fixes?
The laser diode and subsequent processing channels look OK - seems like
its an alignment problem when the disk is lifted onto the spindle... Any
help is greatly appreciated.
Thanks
John

It's a chronic problem. Read a bunch of people having problems with it not
reading DVD/CDR reliably. Google - Onkyo DR-C500 disk error and read some
for yourself.

As far as a solution goes, there may not be one. You could contact Onkyo
tech and see if there is.

 

[John Hudak]

It's a chronic problem. Read a bunch of people having problems with it not
reading DVD/CDR reliably. Google - Onkyo DR-C500 disk error and read some
for yourself.

As far as a solution goes, there may not be one. You could contact Onkyo
tech and see if there is.

Yes, I found that even before I did the post. I figured by now the root
cause would have been discovered and the 'universal' fix would be
floating around. Perhaps the fix is to deep six the unit...lol If I
were the owner, I'd be upset...$600 and about three years later its
garbage...There ought to be a law...lol
Thanks
John

 

[Mark D. Zacharias]

Hi:
This 5.1 receiver/dvd/cd (5 disk changer) player has developed a
problem: displaying 'Disk Err' when changing to play a DVD or CD. Seems to
be more temperamental with DVDs (happening about 80% of the
time) and with CDs (about 20% of the time). Receiver is about 3 yrs
old, and it occasionally did this when new, now it happens a lot.
Can anyone relate with the fix is? or some things to check out? This
appears to be a chronic problem with units of this type - Are there
any 'official' ONKYO fixes?
The laser diode and subsequent processing channels look OK - seems
like its an alignment problem when the disk is lifted onto the
spindle... Any help is greatly appreciated.
Thanks
John

The pickup either needs cleaning or replacement. Hard to get to.

They do seem to pick up a layer of dust on the objective lens.

Philips mech (yick).


Mark Z.

 

[John Hudak]

The pickup either needs cleaning or replacement. Hard to get to.

They do seem to pick up a layer of dust on the objective lens.

Philips mech (yick).


Mark Z.

Thanks for the reply Mark. Could you give me an idea where the pickup
is located?
Thanks
John

 

[John Hudak]

Thanks for the reply Mark. Could you give me an idea where the pickup
is located?
Thanks
John

I think I found it but not sure which phillips mechanism I have. I do
have some doc on OPU66.30. Is that the one used in these units?
Thanks
John

 

[John Hudak]

I think I found it but not sure which phillips mechanism I have. I do
have some doc on OPU66.30. Is that the one used in these units?
Thanks
John

I forgot to mention/ask, perhaps the tolerances that are set in the
controller software is too tight or maybe they just got it wrong. Can
the firmware be upgraded in these things?
John

 

[Mark D. Zacharias]

I forgot to mention/ask, perhaps the tolerances that are set in the
controller software is too tight or maybe they just got it wrong. Can
the firmware be upgraded in these things?
John

No upgrades for this model - I checked. Like I said, it's a pain to get into
one of these. It's been a year at least since I've been into one. As best as
I can recall and from looking at the service manual, you can't even SEE the
pickup without a pretty major disassembly. There's a circuit board over the
top of the mech, and the power supply at the rear needs to come out also.
Huge PITA, courtesy of Philips. The thing is, they don't want these things
worked on once they're out of warranty - we are just expected to replace it
with another piece of crap so that we can continue to keep feeding the
Chinese army.

I'm going to try sending you via e-mail a couple graphics lifted from the
service manual.


Mark Z.

 

[venturesome]

Solution Found (4 yrs late - i know.)

Hi All,
I took my onkyo cr-500 apart tonight.... finally got tired of it not playing... you'll very quickly find IM NO TECHIE - so you'll just have to deal with my jargon.

Took quite lots of screws - both black and silver - a bit of clipping the plastic wire ties so i could move the green boards around and lastly undoing the red glue that holds the circuits that can clip together, but I finally got it apart.

Reassembled it so that i had all the boards wires etc out of the way - (pulled off and lifted to the left) so i could watch a dvd play.

Once you get down to where the laser is (under the two main boards - look out for the hot & electricutor bits which are a shiny silver and attached to the back wall), there's a black plastic top piece - almost triangular like a piece of pie with three screws - it's job seems to be to "float" the DVD. This top piece has no mechanics simply a wheel that spins with the guide of the bottom. The bottom Laser mechanics push it up and seem to control the spinning of this top piece.

If i removed the top piece and let the DVD basically sit on the laser (grinding noise) - it played relatively well - 2/3. but obviously the dvd isn't supposed to sit there (grinding noise). -- So i re-attached the piece of pie, and found that when i get "Disk Err" - this float isn't Dropping down to push the DVD to the laser. -- It's like the laser mechanics underneath have lifted it too high and now it's basically stuck there.

If i push it down and turn to the left it clicks into place and plays the disk just fine.

Now I'm playing with weights onto the top piece spinny thing - maybe if it's too heavy the bottom piece won't be able to push it up too high anymore. Alternatively I'm also going to grease the wheel - although it has no real mechanics so i'm not sure that will work - lastly im going to try shaving down the clips a bit for this top piece (maybe it won't get stuck).

Anyways - its' all exposed to the world, but I can regularily play DVD's again.
If i find the permanent solution I'll post it.... Maybe there's someone else out there that just couldn't give up on that beautiful silver piece of equipment they spent their first 4 paychecks on.

Anyways I'm happy for now.
Gluck & Gnight