Marantz DV4100

[Richard Rhodes]

Hi folks,

This is driving me nuts, so hopefully someone here will be able to help
out.

Firstly, the main problem, the player plays perfectly from cold, for
about 20 - 35 mins and then it will stall, skipping
through all the chapters with a static image on screen, before
stopping completely. Any attempt to replay the disk will now fail with
a 'disc error'. I can leave the player for a couple of hours and it'll
then work for a while, before the same happens again. It won't work for
the full 70 mins again until the next day (2 nights to watch a movie!).

I've tried a cleaner to no avail. The drive mechanism does seem to make
a bit of a clunk before stalling, almost like something is moving over
time (with the heat?) and then causing the problem.
I really love this dvd player, and don't want to have to replace it
quite yet! Can anyone help!!?!?! The DVD player was one of the best in it's class when I bought it in 2002 i think, costing at least £400.00 - surely there is still some life left in it? Please email me at [email protected] with any solutions. Many thanks!

[grahamaaron]

If my unit was doing that I would pull it apart and have a look.
First thing I would try is to feel with my fingers (with the power turned off soon after it faulting), nothing should be to hot to touch.
I would not touch anything on the optical carriage assembly.
If you are sure it is temperature related, you could use freezer spray to rapidly cool down various parts of the unit. I wouldn't put it on some parts, i.e. the optical assembly. Try parts that feel warm/hot. If you can get it going
seconds after applying spray, that could indicate the fault component.

Checking the power supply rail(s) is also a good idea, when things are overheating.

A good site to help you with CD serving is http://www.repairfaq.org/sam/cdfaq.htm
Considering that a DVD player is in many ways similar to a CD player, it isn't a bad place to start.

Good luck,