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M700 Disc Read Problem

Derek20

Member
My M700 started prompting me to eject discs I had previously imported successfully. Apparently, each time the vault attempted to verify a movie, it couldn’t read the disc and, therefore, prompted me to eject it. Following guidance from tech support, I cleaned the rollers...that did not work. So then I purchased a new disc drive for $500 and installed it...that did not work. Now, I’m being told my only option is to purchase a refurbished unit for $2500. As a last resort, I have carefully observed the operation of the carousel. It appears the problem is that the drive rollers don’t grab the disc out of the carousel when the unit importing/verifying titles. The carousel appears to spin to the proper location facing the drive; the rollers spin; but the disc doesn’t make it from the carousel to the rollers. I gave several discs a little nudge with my finger to get them to the rollers, and each time that worked. The discs were pulled into the drive, recognized, and returned to he carousel without issue (or need of my finger). It seems like this should be such a minor issue, but I’m at a loss. Any ideas on how I could fix this before I shell out thousands to purchase a replacement unit?
 
This is usually caused by one of the "fixes" Support mentioned to Derek (discs get dirty just sitting in there, and they can also become damaged over time depending on how well they were made). The rollers are another area for obvious reasons, they do get dirty and this eventually affects operation.

I had one vault that experienced a problem with the small ejection arm that pushes discs out of carousel, it's just below the carousel adjacent to the disc feeder slot. If that doesn't "pop-up" the disc will not eject. (not sure that's relevant...)

Jim
 
This is usually caused by one of the "fixes" Support mentioned to Derek (discs get dirty just sitting in there, and they can also become damaged over time depending on how well they were made). The rollers are another area for obvious reasons, they do get dirty and this eventually affects operation.

I had one vault that experienced a problem with the small ejection arm that pushes discs out of carousel, it's just below the carousel adjacent to the disc feeder slot. If that doesn't "pop-up" the disc will not eject. (not sure that's relevant...)

Jim
Thanks Jim.
I noticed those when I was inside mine. I call them the Kickers, because they Kick the Disk out of the Carousel....
Can you think of anything that would cause them to fail repeatedly on a certain disk?
 
Cannot comment on the "Kickers" but I also had the vault ejecting suddenly many disks and would not recognise them when inserted again. Cleaned the disks with a fiber cloth and screen cleaner liquid, the vault recognised again all of them. Cleaned the rollers as well.
 
I do know that if that "kicker" fails there is no "in the field" fix, the unit would need to be replaced (that's what happened to the one I mentioned).

We all know that dirty or damaged discs may not pass the periodic inventory check in the Vault. Some disc pressings are poorly done and don't hold up long term, layers may separate just enough to cause problems, or dirt collecting on the discs slowly builds to a level that makes it more difficult to read the disc. Obviously the rollers being dirty can cause the same message because the Vault doesn't load the disc properly and therefore reports it as "missing." That's why a good cleaning is always the first step. You replaced the optical drive, so that should eliminate it as the problem.


Jim
 
I do know that if that "kicker" fails there is no "in the field" fix, the unit would need to be replaced (that's what happened to the one I mentioned).

We all know that dirty or damaged discs may not pass the periodic inventory check in the Vault. Some disc pressings are poorly done and don't hold up long term, layers may separate just enough to cause problems, or dirt collecting on the discs slowly builds to a level that makes it more difficult to read the disc. Obviously the rollers being dirty can cause the same message because the Vault doesn't load the disc properly and therefore reports it as "missing." That's why a good cleaning is always the first step. You replaced the optical drive, so that should eliminate it as the problem.


Jim
Do you know if the Kicker is the same in the M700 as the DV700?
It seems all of the internals are the same except the Computer Circuit Boards.
 
Sorry, I don't, but I assume they are the same.

Jim
 
Thanks John.


Jim
 
I wanted to check out a few things before writing a more comprehensive response.

If discs are failing to be ingested into the ODD because they aren't being pushed into the rollers, then the failure is most likely the kicker motor rather than the kicker itself. The kicker is just a metal-reinforced plastic arm that really shouldn't shift out of alignment or break. It could also be the motor control board but that is less likely given that the rest of the vault functions (carousel rotation, disc ingestion/ejection at the front panel, etc).

One quick check you can do is to power cycle the vault and listen very carefully as it reboots. Shortly after it starts up you can hear a "Grrrrrr" sound followed quickly thereafter by a "whirring" sound. The whirring is the vault carousel spinning and being recentred. The "grrrrr" sound that precedes the carousel spin are the kicker motors pulling the kickers down out of the path of the carousel.

With the vault's cover on, it's pretty difficult to determine if the "grrrr" is coming from the front panel kicker motor or the rear ODD kicker motor. However, if you do the same test with the vault's cover off you should be able to tell if both motors are operating.

Replacing the kicker motor itself is reasonably simple but getting to it is much more difficult (and you definitely don't want to try it if the vault is still under warranty). You have to just about fully disassemble the vault.

If you PM me the serial number of your server and a rough date/time when you tried to access some discs that failed to be ingested into the ODD, I can look at the logs for your system and get a better picture of what happened (or didn't happen as the case may be).
 
I wanted to check out a few things before writing a more comprehensive response.

If discs are failing to be ingested into the ODD because they aren't being pushed into the rollers, then the failure is most likely the kicker motor rather than the kicker itself. The kicker is just a metal-reinforced plastic arm that really shouldn't shift out of alignment or break. It could also be the motor control board but that is less likely given that the rest of the vault functions (carousel rotation, disc ingestion/ejection at the front panel, etc).

One quick check you can do is to power cycle the vault and listen very carefully as it reboots. Shortly after it starts up you can hear a "Grrrrrr" sound followed quickly thereafter by a "whirring" sound. The whirring is the vault carousel spinning and being recentred. The "grrrrr" sound that precedes the carousel spin are the kicker motors pulling the kickers down out of the path of the carousel.

With the vault's cover on, it's pretty difficult to determine if the "grrrr" is coming from the front panel kicker motor or the rear ODD kicker motor. However, if you do the same test with the vault's cover off you should be able to tell if both motors are operating.

Replacing the kicker motor itself is reasonably simple but getting to it is much more difficult (and you definitely don't want to try it if the vault is still under warranty). You have to just about fully disassemble the vault.

If you PM me the serial number of your server and a rough date/time when you tried to access some discs that failed to be ingested into the ODD, I can look at the logs for your system and get a better picture of what happened (or didn't happen as the case may be).
Where do I get/order a replacement rear odd kicker motor?

Thanks
Ian.
 
Where do I get/order a replacement rear odd kicker motor?

Thanks
Ian.

Unfortunately, unless something has changed (doubtful), the part you mentioned is not available from K. The usual answer when one of the Vaults fails while out-of-warranty is to purchase a -R (Remanufactured) Vault (if available, and it requires you to return the defective Vault.

Jim
 
Unfortunately, unless something has changed (doubtful), the part you mentioned is not available from K. The usual answer when one of the Vaults fails while out-of-warranty is to purchase a -R (Remanufactured) Vault (if available, and it requires you to return the defective Vault.

Jim
Jim,
For curiosities sake, what is the cost of a re-manufactured Vault with trade in?
Is there any cost savings for the DV700 vs. the M700?
Does K do out of warranty repair if there isn't a re-man available?
Thanks,
Chris
 
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