Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Thread Like Summary - Meridian 800v2 CD/DVD Player Dead Power Supply

Hello,

For like the 5th time my Meridian 800v2 CD/DVD Player Power supply has failed once again. My 861 Processor isn't far behind with 4 total failures. I am so sick of the enormous fees to fix these old units so I am looking for a cheap way to source a new power supply.

I contacted Meridian and it's the same $1,000.00 fee plus ship it to us, we won't sell you any parts nor help you find any.

Does anyone know of a place that I can source a replacement for this unit to do the repair myself? I already have it apart and have the power supply removed. I've tested the fuse with a multimeter and it's working.

This will be my last attempt to fix this unit before it goes in the garbage. Between replacing the drive like 4-5 times and now the power supply as well it's a joke. I've never had any equipment malfunction at this level in my life and they cost 1/30th of the price.

Any assistance you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Hi Christopher,

If the blue LED is not lit, you don't have -12v from the PSU. If you have a meter, you can measure the output voltages of the PSU with it disconnected from the PSU board - Black is common, Red is +5v, Yellow is +12v, and Blie -12v.

It is most likely that there is a fault with the power board. You can confirm this by removing the CO00 card (carefully as it has a ribbon cable to the front display), if you pull it out a centimeter you shouldn't need to disconnect the connector. If the blue LED then lights, the fault is on the CO00 card.

If you need to completely remove the CO00 card, make a note of the orientation of the display connector - if this is wrongly connected, you'll blow the display and the CPU card!

Let us know how you get on. If you need any parts, please drop me a PM.

Cheers,

Steve

Hi,

There must be something causing the PSU to fail. I would think that you must have some failed capacitors somewhere within the unit, either on the power board, or possibly on a card that have bulging ends. I've seen it with some early players where the video card has a couple of bulging capacitors which have excessive load on the PSU, causing it to fail prematurely.

With regards to PSUs - do you know which one you have in there at the moment?

If it has been replaced before, it is most likely a XP Power ECM40UT31 or ECM60UT31
Or it could be a LPT42 (or similar)

Look for the label on the PSU board (inside the perforated metal case, inside the machine) - make sure you replace like with like - don't change types as the wiring of the connectors needs to be changed.

If you search for the above PSUs, you should be able to find a replacement for less than $100 from DigiKey. It should be fairly easy to swap without any soldering.

Look at ALL the cards and see if you can see any capacitors that are bulging (especially at the top - the top should be totally flat, if it is domed outwards, then it has failed) - You'll need to note the capacitance and voltage and source replacements, which will need to be soldered in.

Good luck,

Steve

PS - All units eat drives! Tip - turn the unit off at the mains when not in use and do not leave a disc in the unit when in standby as the spindle motor doesn't ever seem to stop...

I agree with Steve, there must be an underlying cause or environmental factor causing repeated failures. Are the items in a rack or cabinet without adequate ventilation?

Hi,

Something is shorting out the power supply.

When you turn the power on, you should see three colored LEDs on the internal power board (Yellow, Red, and Blue) - are they all illuminated?

Without the unit in front of me, it is hard to diagnose any further but I would suspect that a capacitor has failed on the internal power board.

You could remove the power to the drive (that plugs into the bottom of the internal power board) and see if that improves anything (just in case the drive has electronically failed), otherwise remove all the cards apart from the CO00 card and see if the unit powers up.
If it powers up OK (with errors as cards are missing), add each card in turn (with the power off), power up the unit, and see which card is causing the problem.

If you need any specific advice, drop me a PM.

Cheers,

Steve