Before I get into the meat of my post I think I should warn those with units still under warranty that you'll likely have warranty issues if you crack the case of your vault (M700 / CV700) without getting prior approval from K. That said, if you have any malfunction while the unit is under warranty that necessitates you returning it for service, you'll need to remove the discs prior to shipping anyway. So one way or another you or your service rep will be opening the case.
Background:
Was walking past my equipment closet and noticed an error message (100) on my vault that indicates a blockage of the optical disc drive. I had not added a movie in awhile so the rotation of the carousel and loading of discs into the player was likely part of the verification protocol of B_R movies in the system. This wasn't the first time this had happened, but it was at least a year ago since the first issue and it cleared the blockage on its own. Fortunately, the rebooting of the vault contains a step where these blockages are attempted to be cleared. You may have had an issue like this yourself.
Procedure:
After a number of attempts this time around I knew I had to reach out to K. In my case that's done through Jim (Cinelife). K responded with a detailed explanation of the disc that was causing the problem. What I was surprised to learn was that the vault also had a number of "roller timeouts" leading up to this. So in other words, I was trending toward this malfunction. For those unfamiliar with the operation of the unit, there are two sets of vertical rollers that are tacky in nature. One set controls the feeding of the discs into the vault and the other set loads the optical drive. These are prone to getting dirty and thus lose a portion of their grip on the disc. Jim got me the disassembly and cleaning instructions quickly and after ordering some lint-free cleaning pads K recommended to use with isopropyl alcohol I got started. Cover comes off very simply and is an easy DIY project all around. I adhere to K's advice on vacuuming inlets to the server and vault and live in a smoke free environment so I was somewhat surprised by two things. (1) how dirty the rollers were and (2) how pristine the interior of the unit was otherwise. Not a spec of dust inside, but rollers that are supposed to be bright white being dark gray wasn't a combo I expected. I have no idea how I could have been more careful cleaning it.
Cleaning the rollers required you to make some space, so I removed about 50 discs if memory serves. As you can rotate the carousel, you just create one workspace and then rotate it in front of the two sets of rollers. Again, a very easy cleaning and reassembly process. Once you reinstall the vault you need to give it time to inventory the movies that remained in the carousel. When that's complete you can reinsert the discs removed for cleaning. The offending disc wasn't some multi-layer or warped disc. At first I thought the rebooting process to clear it had led to a large linear scratch, but it was only a line of dust. I could see no reason not to reinstall it after I cleaned it up and saw no defects. The malfunction in my unit can only be attributed to rollers so dirty that they lacked the "grip" to install / remove a disc.
Suggestion:
The process got me thinking that for a vault out of warranty, this might be a wise preventative maintenance step to perform annually. I've added a reminder in my calendar to do so and offer it up as a suggestion to others. Again, it's a simple process and it might prevent a vault malfunction for you.
Background:
Was walking past my equipment closet and noticed an error message (100) on my vault that indicates a blockage of the optical disc drive. I had not added a movie in awhile so the rotation of the carousel and loading of discs into the player was likely part of the verification protocol of B_R movies in the system. This wasn't the first time this had happened, but it was at least a year ago since the first issue and it cleared the blockage on its own. Fortunately, the rebooting of the vault contains a step where these blockages are attempted to be cleared. You may have had an issue like this yourself.
Procedure:
After a number of attempts this time around I knew I had to reach out to K. In my case that's done through Jim (Cinelife). K responded with a detailed explanation of the disc that was causing the problem. What I was surprised to learn was that the vault also had a number of "roller timeouts" leading up to this. So in other words, I was trending toward this malfunction. For those unfamiliar with the operation of the unit, there are two sets of vertical rollers that are tacky in nature. One set controls the feeding of the discs into the vault and the other set loads the optical drive. These are prone to getting dirty and thus lose a portion of their grip on the disc. Jim got me the disassembly and cleaning instructions quickly and after ordering some lint-free cleaning pads K recommended to use with isopropyl alcohol I got started. Cover comes off very simply and is an easy DIY project all around. I adhere to K's advice on vacuuming inlets to the server and vault and live in a smoke free environment so I was somewhat surprised by two things. (1) how dirty the rollers were and (2) how pristine the interior of the unit was otherwise. Not a spec of dust inside, but rollers that are supposed to be bright white being dark gray wasn't a combo I expected. I have no idea how I could have been more careful cleaning it.
Cleaning the rollers required you to make some space, so I removed about 50 discs if memory serves. As you can rotate the carousel, you just create one workspace and then rotate it in front of the two sets of rollers. Again, a very easy cleaning and reassembly process. Once you reinstall the vault you need to give it time to inventory the movies that remained in the carousel. When that's complete you can reinsert the discs removed for cleaning. The offending disc wasn't some multi-layer or warped disc. At first I thought the rebooting process to clear it had led to a large linear scratch, but it was only a line of dust. I could see no reason not to reinstall it after I cleaned it up and saw no defects. The malfunction in my unit can only be attributed to rollers so dirty that they lacked the "grip" to install / remove a disc.
Suggestion:
The process got me thinking that for a vault out of warranty, this might be a wise preventative maintenance step to perform annually. I've added a reminder in my calendar to do so and offer it up as a suggestion to others. Again, it's a simple process and it might prevent a vault malfunction for you.
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