Fixing A Durabrand PVS-1960 DVD Player
The Problem
OK, so you have a Durabrand PVS-1960 dual-screen DVD player, and one day, you turn it on, and the LCD screens have no power. Then you smell the smoke that's coming out of the player. Well, you may be able to fix this easily with just a soldering iron and a piece of wire.
Why Did It Burn Up?
I personally have watched one of these players smoke because of a bad cable. I bought a second dual-screen player set from an eBay auction that was advertised to be not working with no power to the LCD screens. When I got it, I plugged the new cables and screens into my old working player, and poof! Out comes a puff of smoke. I then looked at the new cables and saw that one cable had a bent pin which was shorting power to ground. Great, now I have two dead DVD players. Maybe this happened to you, but I also think that some electronic parts inside this player just weren't designed to handle the large amount of current that each of the LCD screens uses.
Warning!
Ok, first of all, these are quick-fix hacks that you can do to your broken Durabrand PVS-1960 DVD player to get it working again. They alter the original circuit a bit, but they have been working OK for me. I've done these hacks and my player has been running for months without problems. However, because your circumstances may be different from mine, I can't tell you if they will work for you. You be the judge. If you use this information to fix your player and it catches on fire and burns your car up, don't blame me.
Disassembling The Player
First, you need to remove the metal back of the player and the plastic trim ring. Just remove the screws to take the back off. You might have to use a small screwdriver to pry the plastic trim ring off, but it's not that hard. It should look like the picture below when you're done. Note that there are two circuit boards -- the main board, and an L-shaped power supply board.
Bad IC601
First, look on the top side of the power supply board for IC601. If often burns up. A bad IC601 looks like this:
I'm not into de-soldering and replacing surface mount ICs, and I don't have a quick-fix hack to solve this problem. And that's all I will say about that. Moving right along...
Bad Q601
This is the part that I've seen burn up the most. It's on the other side of the power supply board. Remove the two screws and flip it over. Q601 is near the inside of where the board bends. Here's what a bad one looks like.
And now for my quck-fix hack. As far as I can tell, this is used as part of the power supply for the LCD screens. When it goes bad, the LCD screens lose power. I don't know exactly what the purpose of this part is, but I have found out by reading information on the web and by experimentation that you can put a jumper wire in which supplies 12V directly to the LCD power lines and it works OK. This jumper bypasses Q601, so it doesn't need to be replaced. The easiest place I found to solder the jumper wire is on the top of the power supply circuit board in the place shown below. It's the blue wire.
Here are close-ups of the two ends of the blue wire.
Bad FL502
Here's another part that seems to burn up: FL502. It's on the top of the main board near the monitor jacks. Here's a bad one.
I stuck a multimeter on a good part and found that it had a resistance of zero ohms. Well, I can't think of a better zero ohm replacement part than a wire, so just clean off the burned part and solder a wire in its place. I use alcohol and an old toothbrush to clean off the burned stuff.
Conclusion
Once again, perform these hacks at your own risk. There are probably some saftey features that have been disabled by these hacks. If you can think of a good reason why you really shouldn't do this stuff, please post a comment. I would like to know. Also, if you try these and have success, I would like to know that too!
Donations
I'm glad to help everybody for free, but if you feel that you must return the favor, I'll take donations via PayPal. Any amount sure would be appreciated! Just press the button below.
posted by John Sevinsky @ 6:36 PM
75 comments
75 Comments:
I have a pvs1970 with the same problem. I opened it up and it has the pvs1960 boards but with no Q601. IC601 looks good and I have 12v at F602B( were your blue wire went to). Also FL 502 is good also. Nothing appears to be burnt up but, I have not desoldered the metal shielding plate yet, for obvious reasons, looking for a easy fix first. Any other ideas or solutions will be helpful. Thanks Jeff
anonymous,
Are you getting about 12V to the monitors? On my circuit board, it's labeled "TFT Power" or something like that.
Mine says "no disc" because the disc fails to spin. Any ideas on fixing this?
I found a fix for the "no disc" problem and the "no valid disc" problem on an ecoustics forum. It helped a lot of people including me.
Someone suggested that the lens assembly was getting "jammed". My disc was not spinning at all and said "no disc" so I took it apart and moved the gear on the lens motor a bit. This got the disc spinning but it still read "no valid disc".
The poster suggested moving the lens assembly to unjam it. This can be done without opening the case. Some people had it jammed in the middle of its run and forced it toward the center of the disc. Mine was stuck at the center and I forced it too the outside of the disc. I was trying to be gentle because I didn't want to strip the plastic gears. However, it took quite a bit of force and some grinding noise.
Once I got it to the outside the motor activated and returned it to the center. The disc played but froze on the menu so I had to repeat the procedure.
This appears to be a very common problem on the board so i hope it helps others!
This information was great. We were able to fix our DVD players that have not worked for about a year. We solder the wire and fixed the bent wire in the plug and now they work great. Thanks so much.
re: post from 22 Jan 2006
same deal with me... had ~12V to where the blue wires went. so i lifted half the shield (dvd side) and ran lines from where the blue wire was connected (nearest to the shield) to both "EZ View Cable" outs (upper, far right pin when looking at the unit as shown in photos).
i followed pin instructions from here (solder to pin #7):
http://forum.ecoustics.com/bbs
/messages/15118/92420.html
read post from Dallas C on 18 Jan 2006.
watched a dvd for awhile on it.. seems to work, nothing's getting too hot or burning. yet...
Hi there,
many thx for your great information and excelent discription.
Now we are able to watch dvd on our trip from Munich to Hamburg.
Greets
John,
I thought our dvd player was much the same as yours. So I had my husband to break into ours and to come to find out the ONLY thing wrong with our is a fuse going into the power supply is not allowing it to power up. We by passed it and the player worked perfectly. We have been to Radio Shack and Circuit City and ect.. for the fuse but can't find that type of fuse. So we are thinking of just soddering in a wire in and by passing the fuse. You can't leave it plug in and on to go into the store for the moment. (rwjm1998@aol.com)so if all else fails check the fuse.
Hello,
Not really a repair question but i need to find another "EZ view Cable" and have had no luck finding one. Any ideas?
Extra parts, including the EZ view monitor cables, can be purchased here:
http://www.18002526123.com/
John
Thank you very much for the fix. I was just about to throw mine away and was doing a last ditch effort online to find a fix for it. Mine was broken for about a year and was tired of keeping it in my house. The only problem was the Q601. It only took about 30 seconds to fix it. Again thanks!!!!!!
Ken
The screens on our Durabrand dvd player model pvs 1970 went out, I've done the fix for this and now the speakers on both monitors have stopped working Any fix for this.
Help.
Thanks
I just tried your fix and it worked, I am so pleased. Thank you ever so much. Had it not been for you, the dvd player would probably have ended up in the trash.
Dude, your the best! You just saved me $200. It works. Thanks so much!
Hello,
Still trying to find fix for pvs1970-no sound, did get screens to work after your fix. Any ideas. Thanks. K
John,
I have the PVS1960, one of the screens is white, the other screen tests out ok on the same lead port etc etc, any suggestions?
As for problems with the screens, I can't say too much. I've seen many screens in the last few months and never had a problem with any of them. I know you can sometimes get a good deal on a replacement screen on eBay.
FL302 in some units is a semiconductor fuse and in some it is a 4 amp TL4 soldered in fuse. If you chose to bypass the fuse with a piece of wire go to Radio Shack or someplace like that and get an in-line fuse holder with a 5 amp slow-blow fuse and put in in the + side of the power supply DC line between the power pack and the filter (that is the end that plugs into the player, NOT THE WALL). These things can short out and if plugged into a car can produce enough power to start a fire. Even if you don't succeed in starting a fire the slow burn by-products are toxic.
Hi John,
You are the MAN. It works like a champ. Saved my family $200. Owe you a beer. Thanks again:)
does anyone have a "pinout" for the ez view cable
Had a burnt Q601 after daughter unplugged the s-vid cable in third row seating and tried to plug it in herself. This resulted in two pins shorting. After asking my wife if she smelled something electrical burning, my 8 year old exclaiming she couldn't get her screen to plug back in and my 4 year old complaining her screen went dead (all occurring simultaniously) I quickly unplugged power to the unit and told all I would look at it at the end of our journey. After dis assembling the unit and finding a burnt q601, it didn't take but 5 minutes of googling to stumble upon your Blog. I did the fix for the Q601, straightened the pins and am currently wataching a dvd on the unit as I type this. Thanks for taking the time to post such a helpful blog. I'll have to pay it forward one day. Jeff in VA
More information on this and other Durabrand players can be found here:
http://news.ecoustics.com/bbs/messages/15118/92420.html
Here's a picture of the 9-pin jack on the back of the player.
http://freespace.virgin.net/matt.waite/resource/av/minidin9.gif
In case you can't view the picture, the pins are layed out:
987
6543
-21-
By poking around a bit, I think I figured out what the signals are.
1 - Video out
2 - GND
3 - IR signal - normally +5V, pulses low with IR
4 - Audio - not sure if L or R
5 - Audio - not sure if L or R
6 - GND
7 - GND
8 - Standby LED - 0V when player on, +2V when standby
9 - +12V power to monitor
Hi--when I try to hook the PVS1960 up to a tv, the screen rolls and zig zags, like an old VCR that needed to be fixed with the manual tracking. Any ideas why this would be happening or how to fix it? We've used this w/our tv before, it just started doing this when we turned it on one day.
Thank you
Hi John,
I appreciate the help you have provided for these units. My issue is slightly different than the other posts here. My unit (PVS 1966) won't power on. I have tried to run the unit from all 3 available power sources (Cig. lighter - new fuse, battery, and wall socket). Is there an internal fuse that I can replace?
Thanks.
Yes, there is an internal fuse, and you can replace it if you don't mind soldering.
John I have A pvs 1970 and my LCD cords got chewed up by our pet I replaced both LCD cords and found that the fuse for the power cord was bad also replaced that tried it found that the disc unit powers up but the LCD screens won't. I opened up the disc unit and in stalled the jumper wire that you showed but my screens still won't power up any ideas Please!! Jeff
Jeff, did you look at the FL502 part?
Great Fix. I am an electronics tech who fixes everything from communications equipment to radars and was looking for a schematic of the PS when I stumbled across your blog. The FL item is a filter and is no big deal to jump. Q601 is most likely a power regulator and should not affect anything when jumpped except that if the pins are shorted again with power on that the next weakest link will blow, possibly dammaging the entire unit beyond repair. It would be best to replace the transistor (Q601), but you need to know the specification for it, which I don't know and am still looking for. Again thanks for saving me the time to figure this out on my own.
Another common failure I have found on this unit is the video/PCb connection can crack causing some of the issues described here, fix by desoldering and resoldering or if necessary bridging the pin to the trace like shown in the picture for FL501 fix. Hope this helps someone else. I have had to fix mine twice.
Electronics Tech here again.
Here is some info for IC601.
The Texas Instruments part number for this is TL494, link to their web page:
http://focus.ti.com/docs/prod/folders/print/tl494.html
You can get one at Mouser Electronics for .52 cents. Web link:http://www.mouser.com/search/ProductDetail.aspx?R=TL494CDvirtualkey59500000virtualkey595-TL494CD
Hope this helps, agian thanks for your help.
My FL 502 is so fried I don't even know where to solder a jump wire. Pictures as with the other fix (which I also needed) would be helpful. Thanks again for this post.
Yeah, I should have taken a picture of the FL502 jumper wire. I guess mine wasn't so bad. After I cleaned off the black stuff, I could see the solder pads.
Thanks for the quick reply John. I can't make out anything. Could you describe where the solder points should be using the existing picture? I'm afraid the solder point my have been burnt off. Thanks for your help.
I have a pvs1966 - the main unit has the dvd/screen all-in-one. The screen has power, but no picture - and the dvd still plays video connected to the second screen. I've found the problem: R5 is burned and gone -- the board (don't know the name) is on the lcd side and accepts the 7 wire connector from the main. R5 is on the component side. Any suggestions for replacement? I don't know the value of R5...
my problem is a little different. The cables that connect the screens wont' stay securely in place so you have to try and bend the cords in all different positions to get them to make contact. Any suggestions on possible cures.
Thanks
I have a Durabrand PVS1960 and need to know where I can get the part that the audio video cable plugs into. It is a DIN type cable that has several pins. THe internal piece is medded up from the kids paying with it and I think I can easily fix it if I could find the part.
Burned up FL502: Unfortunately, I sold the player with the bad FL502 to somebody else, so I can't take another look at it.
PVS1966: I only have experience with 1960s, so I can't tell you what R5 is. I wish I could find schematic for these players, but the parts department won't help me.
Loose cables: I guess the older models had this problem, because the newer models have a sleeve that helps hold the cables in. Mine are the older screens, so I have a problem with them falling out too. Could you try a nylon tie to hold the cable to the headrest post?
DIN jacks: I haven't found those jacks either, so maybe you could buy a dead player cheap on eBay and un-solder the parts.
I have a pvs1960 that powers on, can get audio through headphones on the main unit, and the monitors get power. Neither monitor gets video or sound. Any ideas? levi_luttrell(at)yahoo.com
Hmm, not sure. Anyone else have an idea?
I posted the June 04, 2007 3:14 PM post. Just curious if anyone has heard anything yet?
I have a pvs1970 I got the disk to spin. But the eye will not return to the middle and the disk will not stop spinng without the power off. I an also not getting a picture to the monitors only the dvd video screen. The do have power going to them but no movie playing or sound.
thanks
Great post!
I've had a PVS-1960 for a number of years, and it just stopped working this past weekend. The player appeared to have power and was running, but both LCDs appeared to have no power. I tested the pins on the LCD cables and noticed that none of the pins was showing 12 volts, even though the LCD stated on the back that it was rated for 12 volts.
Then I came across this post. None of the parts appeared burnt like your photos, but I tested for 12 volts on the TFTV pin of the connector between the main board & power supply board, and it was only reading about 2v. So I soldered a wire to bypass Q601 as you had done, and everything is working perfectly again!
I'm sure that IC does some sort of power regulation, but I'm not about to hunt down a surface-mount part and probably burn it up in the process of trying to solder it down. The wire works great, and there's still a fuse at DC-in to protect things in case of a short.
Thanks again!
Thanks for this great post! I too have one of these DVD players that met the same demise. In my case, only the Q601 component, which I think someone mentioned, and I concur, is one of the power transistors associated with the Texas Instruments TL494 power supply PWM Controller chip. Bypassing the transistor with the jump wire is apparently a relatively safe fix, but just the same, I would like to try and replace the transistor. Does anyone have one of these players where the transistor Q601 didn't get fried, and could post the part number stamped on the part? If I had that number, it would then be a simple matter to find a replacement for that transistor or an equivalent.
Way to go!!!
Thanks for the info,
same thing happened to me, kids plugged in the cord, bent the pin, smoke came out, blew the fuse in the unit on the 12v, replaced fuse, used this fix and save a couple hundred buck on buying 2 portable units!!
Now do you have a fix for those pesky svideo wanna-be cables that keep falling out....
Thanks again!!
I see that the newer models have a shield that helps the plugs stay in and keeps them straight.
Fixed my PVS1960, bent plug damaged Q601 ran the jumper cable as posted on this thread. Worked great. Thank you very much.
John, You rock! I have a 7B dual DVD player, several years old, that still works OK. It skips enough that I'd prefer to just use teh extra screen with my iTouch (and its optional AV cable) WITHOUT the clunky DVD console.
If I'm interpreting your pin diagram correctly, I should be able to buy a female 9-pin connector, connect a 12 volt car adaptor's positive to the #9 pin, the negative to #2, #6, and #7 pins, and it should power the LCD screen - right?
That should work. Try it and let us know how it works out.
Hi all,
My player only plays audio CD's , When i try playing a DVD it says no disc.
Anyone who knows how to fix this problem.
Thx Johnny
Hi,
I try to repair the PSV1960 from a friend and maybe you can help me.
He told me that he try to use the PSV1960 with a selfmade power adapter and exchange the wires. He smells a electronic taste and unplug the adaper as fast as he can. The result is, that the PSV1960 doesn't work now.
I checked D602 and the fuse f601 both are fine. Does anyone know what are the FL601 and FL602 components are good for?
Does anyone can send me the service manual or schematic diagram?
Thx for helping and sorry for my bad english. I am german.
Regards Wolfgang
I have a durbrand dvd player with a short at the plug to the player. Is this an easy fix?
If you're talking about the power plug on the AC adapter, just go to Radio Shack and buy a replacement plug and solder it on.
Can the plug where the you plug in the electric power be replaced. It looks like a hollow circle with a post in the center I think.
Oh, the power jack on the player? I'm sure it CAN be replaced, but I'm not sure where you would find a part that fits exactly. It may take some creativity.
Well I was hoping for some really good news. Is there anyway to contact Durabrand?
Durabrand PVS1970-DVD Disc spins-LCD screens stuck on screen saying "DVD-Video" like it is trying to read the disc but is apparently stuck, any ideas?
I have done this jumper wire like as seen and my dvd work awsome again. thankyou so much for posting this web site. I have a new problem but, 1 of my screens is staying on standby mode. I have tried it with both leads and both dvd connections but it stays on standby but the other screen works fine. Any ideas what I can do to the screen so it never goes back on standby and just make it so its always on?
I guess the trick is to find out if it's the screen, the cable, or the output jack on the player that has the problem. Try swapping the monitors and/or the cables to isolate the problem.
Yes I have done that, Also when the screen that is working is connected and I can see a pitcure I have then disconnected the cable direcly from the screen and pluged it into my other screen but it still stays on stanby. so it cant be the player or the cord can it? it must be the screen it self. I found another site that explains how to add 5Volts to another part of the board and my screen is now displaying A picher but the contrust is to high and the standby light is still on. if there is a better way I would be interested in doing it. Thankyou for your post John :)
http://users.tpg.com.au/hzomer//index.htm
Hi there have read all the comments put here, as I purchased a pvs 1960 too, worked 1st time we used it, and then screens wouldn't power on the next time, dvd player seems to work ok. We have done the bypass as in Johns photo, but still the screens do not power on. Need some more help if any one has ideas, nothing on the board has burnt out either. Seems a waste to just dispose of when the damn things were so expensive any way, I couldn't return it as it was out of warranty when I came to use it next. I emailed the tech dept on the instruction manual, and all they could say was they don't do that model any more, so didn't fix them either. Any help would be good many thanks.
hy, how can i plug a daraband pvs1960 monitor to my pc ??
Great info, My wish is to use the monitors with a different DVD player. I know I need to split the current wires and solder on some RCA's for the videoa and audio, my question is has any one done this? I read the post on the pin location and was wondering if anyone has confermed this is accurate? Thanks
Lane Magers
PVS1970 service manual (schematic, parts, etc) document seems to be found here: h++p://www.arwcsw.com/ARWS/PVS1970.pdf
Schematics seem really, really helpful - esp. for screens.
Speaking of which, I've tried to re-purpose my screens, but the best I can get is the standby light to come on - can't seem to figure it out....any thoughts? 9 - 12V to Pin 9(grey wire) and Ground. Even with the schematics, I can't figure it out. Could it be I also need a 2V input to standby? Or a pull-down to ground? Or can I bypass it all and input directly to pins on CN905? Thanks
There are instructions here about how to re-wire the screens for your own purposes:
http://forum.ecoustics.com/bbs/messages/15118/92420.html
Thanks, I've tried these already - maybe I'm just missing something.
Thanks a lot man. Have this exact model Durabrand that I bought from a friend for $10 because they said it didn't work anymore. Was planning on doing a hack to add power and audio and video in (rca style jacks) to the monitors to use with another a cheap mini dvd player I had found. But after trying your simple repair of direct power to the monitors it works perfectly now. Awesome work. Thanks. :)
can anyone send me a pic of a good FL502 so I can see where the solder points should be? I think mine burned more than just the fuse? jdrankin1@yahoo.com this would help me immensely. Thanks!
"Invalid Disk" After calling the mfg and being told it would cost $80 to repair my 5-year old Durabrand PVS1970, I was able to fix this error and get the device to spin by following what Dave said awhile back. I just moved (forced) the lens assembly all the way to the back which enabled it to actually spin a disk again. It stopped and gave the error again so then I moved it all the way to the spinner (I'm real good with techie words) and tried playing a disk again and it seemed to reset itself and is working! For those (like me) who weren't sure what the lens assembly is it's the device above the spinner that looks like it's on a track.
Hi there.
I have a Durabrand Pvs-1960 dvd player with dual monitors. Everything works fine with power. My only problem is the actual dvd player. The componet where the lens is located does not read the disk and just keeps moving to the top of the dvd player making a clicking noise. The part where the disk spins works fine.
This comment has been removed by the author.
My PVS 1970 has a burnt power board component not mentioned anywhere in this blog. The item labeled L604 very near Q601 is my culprit. Not only do I not have power to the screens, but no power to the main unit either. L604 is a square black unit that reads "B1184 R" on part of it. The rest is burnt, so I can't read it. Any ideas? Can post pics if needed.
I have a PVS 1970 with only blue screens. I do have 12v to them. Any suggestions?
This comment has been removed by the author.
Hello,..I have opens up the case of the monitors an cut the video cords and 1 is the video & the other 2 thin black wires are a hot & ground. I just hook these up to my own personal DVD player.
Post a Comment
<< Home