Samsung n501 - Was working and now has no video/won't eject a disc.

[amerika]

Hello! This is my first time posting here and, of course, I have an issue and I was hoping some of you might be able to tell me how bad it is.

I recently purchased a very well kept Samsung n501 NUON unit for a pretty reasonable price (was $90 shipped). I hooked it up and it worked without using using composite, svideo and component out. I got the firmware updated to the latest that is mentioned on NUON Dome and I burned all of the games, some homebrew and I tried a few DVD's on it (including Buckaroo Banzai). Everything was working great so I decided to buy a controller. The Logitech controller with the analog stick seems to not be well loved due to a design flaw, but that controller is nearly identical to a common $5 PC Logitech Wingman. I bought one of those and modified the analog stick so that I had full motion with the analog. That worked great! I then fired up Freefall 3050 A.D. to try it out and it was working great.

I then hit the Stop button just to see if I could reboot the game. And the screen went squirrely and the sound started repeating. I immediately shut down my NUON and I tried to eject the disc. It won't eject. I also get no video out anymore on composite or component (haven't tried svideo but I can assume).

Does anybody happen to know what I can do? Is it maybe something like a factory reset that is needed? Or is my n501 toast?

Thanks all and I hope everyone has a wonderful New Years!

 

[midnight8]

tey get wierd, normall if i turn if off and hit the open close button while turned off it will power up and eject. If you are unable to get it to work, you could find and samsung dvd player and do a swap. There are a couple models that share the same laser assmbly.

 

[amerika]

Yeah, I noticed that it could get stuck in "loading" and not want to eject as the eject function appears to be driven by logic that wants it to finish it's current action before ejecting. I was able to resolve this by turning off the player and then hitting eject so that was the first action performed as opposed to just loading. However, that does not work now. It seems to ignore the eject and goes directly to loading. And, this time, I get no picture at all. Which is why I don't think just the DVD player itself died. I was hoping this was a bug and that there was some sort of full reset that could be done with a button combo on the player. But that is more of a hail mary attempt as opposed to what I think actually happened.

Thanks for the info!

 

[midnight8]

Yeah, I noticed that it could get stuck in "loading" and not want to eject as the eject function appears to be driven by logic that wants it to finish it's current action before ejecting. I was able to resolve this by turning off the player and then hitting eject so that was the first action performed as opposed to just loading. However, that does not work now. It seems to ignore the eject and goes directly to loading. And, this time, I get no picture at all. Which is why I don't think just the DVD player itself died. I was hoping this was a bug and that there was some sort of full reset that could be done with a button combo on the player. But that is more of a hail mary attempt as opposed to what I think actually happened.

Thanks for the info!

No reset that I know of

 

[The Helper]

You might want to re-flash your firmware update and do that again. Make sure you have the right firmware update to where did you get it? Or would that even be possible if it is not reading the CD?

NUON-Dome - www.nuon-dome.com

at the above link you can undo your firmware update I believe...

 

[amerika]

I got the firmware update from here: https://www.nuon-dome.com/n501firmware.html

I had a lower FW revision and it updated properly as I checked it after it ran. I can try to re-run it and see what happens. Due to the no video, I am not confident. But it's definitely worth a try at this point.

 

[The Helper]

Yeah try and reset the firmware and post back the results please. Actually after reading the post thread here I don't think this will fix it but worth a try. These players are old and the DVD Drives are the first to go. Like midnite said it might take replacing the drive there are other models that share compatible drives.

 

[midnight8]

it seems unlikely to me the video part is what would go out, drives typical, i don't know that i have heard of the video going out on one

 

[amerika]

I cannot get any video out nor can I get the drive to even budge a little when I try to eject. So I decided to take things apart and see where I stand.

Which models of DVD player share the same drive? Or I guess assembly is definitely the right word as it's not really a drive.

I took my n501 apart and I am not sure what the issue is. Weirdly, I cannot get the tray to eject more than part way manually. I don't know if there is something I need to do for it to fully go out or if it's simply busted. If busted, that might be the root cause of my issue. If that is normal, I did notice one of the chips getting extremely hot compared to one of the others but I couldn't find a data sheet on the chip at all to see if this was normal. But it was very hot to the touch and getting to be around 60c. Usually a very hot chip isn't a great sign. But that could also just be a red herring. Considering the unit no longer produces video, it's highly suspect to me. If it was common chip and didn't require flashing, i could find it and swap it just to test. But I simply can't find it.

So if anybody has info on how the drive eject mechanism works or about that chip and what it does or might do, I would greatly appreciate it!! Take care and have a nice weekend.

 

[midnight8]

i tink mine was a m101 i think

 

[mattymayatt]

Did anyone come up with a fix for this , my n501 is also stuck on loading and has no video.
Bought a working Samsung dvd-m105 cheap off eBay and took drive out and installed in the n501 but still no progress.
The drive I took out of the m105 is not the same as the n501 , the circuit board on the side of the n501 drive is different and the flat cable connecting the drive to the main circuit board is wider.
Would it be worth me importing an American dvd-m101 and using the drive out of that?as the n501 I have is from the USA.
Cheers for any info guys , I could import a n2000 from the USA but would rather get the n501 back up and running as its one if the family now.

 

[midnight8]

The 101 drive drops right in. It is even the same part number

 

[mattymayatt]

Nice 1 , I'll take a punt on the m101.
Cheers for the reply