Panasonic FZ-10 3DO just whined and died

Just turned on my FZ-10 after years of not using it. It turned on and spun up the drive (access light blinking too), but it was making a high-pitched whine the whole time.

I turned it back off after maybe 20 seconds (I was trying to find which damn input it is on the TV). Then I tried turning it back on and there was nothing except a whine. No access light or drive spinning.

So my guess is bad caps. Has anyone recapped the PSU in an FZ-10? There's only about 4 caps, but one of them is a pretty substantial 200uf 200v beast. Does that one die too?

Other possible failure, from what I read, is the transformer. But I don't think my failure fits the MO for that?

 

Maybe a voltage regulator.
But sounds like bad caps

 

Have you opened it up yet? They're pretty easy to get into. You'll notice a bad cap pretty easily enough. If that's the case, do you know how to (or know anyone who knows how to) solder?

 

I reckon I'll go ahead and order some replacement caps and go from there. Thanks!

I've opened it up and all the caps look good. I've dealt with a lot of bad caps over the years (mostly in PCs), and I did find it odd to not see any physical signs. However, I also suspect that if it is the caps, they failed from disuse rather than leaking during use, which I figured might not be as obvious physically.

I reckon I'll see if I can test some of them once I get them desoldered (but I'll wait until the replacements arrive -- if I'm going to desolder the old ones I might as well replace them).

Thanks for the input.

 

Not necessarily... in fact, more often than not, you won't.

They're old.. just change them. No point bothering to test them if you're doing that.

 

I hope is not the drive laser gear near the motor. It is a common problem with 3DO's where a gear (enclosed) becomes brittle and cracks, then the laser gets stuck or doesn't move along the rail properly . Although judging by your symptoms the problem relies somewhere else.