LG RC389H Video recorder.

[Buggbear]

Well!

After getting my VHS tapes out of mothballs and failed trying to play on the Panasonic. I fired up the LG RC389H. Bought a few years back new and hardly used, it turned on showing "HELLO" and no response to any buttons or remote functions. Any ideas from you gurus out there please?

Thanks.

[John123]

I'd hazard a guess at bad power supply capacitors. If it has any of those surface-mount electrolytics on any of the control PCB's, then they are also prime suspects.

You could try leaving it powered up for a few hours before trying again, as you may find it springs into action. A tell-tale sign of bad electrolytics!

Dirty mode switch contacts can also lead to erratic operation on the VHS side of things, though the issue rarely causes the entire machine to lock-up.

[nickdoofah]

Very common fault with this series of LG machines! Warm up the PSU with a hair dryer & it may well spring into life! Replace the bad caps with 105C types & it should sort the problem! The LG DVD/HDD recorders from the late 2000's also suffered with this fault!

[patrickgnl]

Did you acclimatise the machine before powering it up? I did and it still happened, but VCRs are complicated mechanically, so weird things happen.

I had a similar issue with a Thomson VPH6950U after being in the loft for years. Just refused to work. I actually put it out back in its box and was ready to take it to the tip… but i decided to try it one last time and it worked. Fairly rare machine that will also record in NTSC 3.58 so glad it works for the moment…

By the way if you do get it to work, I would suggest winding forward and backwards any tape - that hasn't been played for years - before hitting play… just in case…

[Buggbear]

Thanks to all the suggestions. Will try and report back.

Cheers

[toshiba tony]

For a start the 389 does not have a tape deck in, PSU is posssible for a "please wait" fault. The 5v and 12v decouplers were also highly suspect. As were the interconnection ribbons between the loader mech (LG terminology) and the main board, these can be sliced to reveal good metal. as an ex LG engineer I got to know these machines very well and frequently attended their courses and got to know their oddities. Also try blue on the remote and eject on the machine for 15 seconds.

[toshiba tony]

Sorry, forgot to mention most likely issue. The flash ram.

[Buggbear]

Originally Posted by toshiba tony

Sorry, forgot to mention most likely issue. The flash ram.

In that case is it fixable?

[gallowfields]

you could also try a reset [if you havent already]
press and hold power button for 5 seconds [on vcr not remote] this will force power off and then on
unplug unit wait for at least 5 seconds and retry machine
brian

[toshiba tony]

Please wait on the 389 caused us a lot of issues, if you suspect it is the loader mech they will eventually boot up without it in place, (10 minutes)
I repaired nothing but these for 12 months and furnished LG with written, frequent reports on progress made, I was relieved when we parted company!
But looking back I had a soft spot for them, I got a weeks hotel and all the food I wanted out of them, in Milton Keynes. Back to yours, sure the +13 line is rock steady, and as I said it will eventually boot without the dvd in place, IF the fault is on the dvd. From memory the NVM can be accessed by holding the blue button and eject on the remote for around ten seconds.

[Buggbear]

Originally Posted by toshiba tony

Please wait on the 389 caused us a lot of issues, if you suspect it is the loader mech they will eventually boot up without it in place, (10 minutes)
I repaired nothing but these for 12 months and furnished LG with written, frequent reports on progress made, I was relieved when we parted company!
But looking back I had a soft spot for them, I got a weeks hotel and all the food I wanted out of them, in Milton Keynes. Back to yours, sure the +13 line is rock steady, and as I said it will eventually boot without the dvd in place, IF the fault is on the dvd. From memory the NVM can be accessed by holding the blue button and eject on the remote for around ten seconds.

I have 2 blue buttons on the remote. One is for power to the machine and one is for powering up a TV. Tried both to no avail. Any idea tt?

Originally Posted by gallowfields

you could also try a reset [if you havent already]
press and hold power button for 5 seconds [on vcr not remote] this will force power off and then on
unplug unit wait for at least 5 seconds and retry machine
brian

Press power button and it just goes off and not power up again.

Hi guys

Thanks for all the suggestions. Tried all but still greeted by this damn "HELLO". At wit's end.

[toshiba tony]

Just dug the service manual out, it's the blue text button, eject on the remote and blue button (machine showing please wait). But I'll bet anything its the flash.

[Buggbear]

Originally Posted by toshiba tony

Just dug the service manual out, it's the blue text button, eject on the remote and blue button (machine showing please wait). But I'll bet anything its the flash.

Thanks tt. I think my remote is different. There is no other blue button apart from the Power and Power for TV buttons. Uploaded a photo of the remote.

[toshiba tony]

Hello, wrong remote!

[gallowfields]

did you try it my way , press and hold power button on vcr [not remote] for at least 5 seconds . machine will power offf then on . unplug it from mains wait again more than 5 seconds and retry .
brian

[toshiba tony]

I'm almost ashamed to admit it, our firm was party responsible to the developement of the 389, fortunately only in a miniscule way. But failure to boot was usually due to the flash. Second favorite was the ribbons connecting the loader mech. (what us UK folk call the DVD mech,) and after a few years usual cap issues. Usually the +13v line decoupler, but all in all they were a good seller. They said of me I wasn't a normal engineer, but they got to like me, at the time I was offended, but there was some real donuts there. But once we overcame language problems (Korean) we were fine. All in all they were a decent machine, let down by premature laser failure and sled motor. If the original poster is so keen on this machine there is a glut of them on various sites. They did one with hard drive, the RHT range, again a few predictable issues but usually tamable.
Luckily I'm retired now with dementia but I had 20 good years with LG, nightmares is a good description (jesting!)

[Buggbear]

Originally Posted by gallowfields

did you try it my way , press and hold power button on vcr [not remote] for at least 5 seconds . machine will power offf then on . unplug it from mains wait again more than 5 seconds and retry .
brian

Hi Brian

I did but the VCR just turned off and never came back on again if I kept pressing.

[Buggbear]

Originally Posted by toshiba tony

Hello, wrong remote!

Sorry tt. I have only one LG appliance ever, and this remote came with it.

That being said. The number on the remote AKB35912906 correspond with that of LG's RC389H. I guess the remote they include in Australia is different.

Found the problem. It is different remote for OZ machines.

[Buggbear]

Originally Posted by toshiba tony

I'm almost ashamed to admit it, our firm was party responsible to the developement of the 389, fortunately only in a miniscule way. But failure to boot was usually due to the flash. Second favorite was the ribbons connecting the loader mech. (what us UK folk call the DVD mech,) and after a few years usual cap issues. Usually the +13v line decoupler, but all in all they were a good seller. They said of me I wasn't a normal engineer, but they got to like me, at the time I was offended, but there was some real donuts there. But once we overcame language problems (Korean) we were fine. All in all they were a decent machine, let down by premature laser failure and sled motor. If the original poster is so keen on this machine there is a glut of them on various sites. They did one with hard drive, the RHT range, again a few predictable issues but usually tamable.
Luckily I'm retired now with dementia but I had 20 good years with LG, nightmares is a good description (jesting!)

I understand where you are coming from. This VCR was probably used for less than 50 hours. It seemed to be such a waste to dump it. I cannot find reasonable same here in Australia.

[Buggbear]

Hi tt

By chance, is there reset of the NVRAM for OZ machine in your service manual?