CM-7000PAL DVR Repairs

[Brian Florence]

pastors in harddrive arrived, swapped out the hard drive and soldered out the old capacitor and soldeted in a new one, and the box works amazingly!

If anyone has one of these boxes and is not comfortable doing this, maybe we can arrange something or if you cover the shipping to and from plus a little bit extra then I would be happy to take care of yours for you.

 

[Fringe Reception]

Brian,

Please share what YOU used to replace the original capacitor such as its uF value and voltage rating. Is it an Electrolytic capacitor and if so, is it polarized or non-polorized? If you're comfortable telling us/recommending to us who you bought it from, that could help others, too. Thanks!

 

[Brian Florence]

Here are the capacitors:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01DYJEVQM?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

 

[Brian Florence]

I didn't realize that you could run out of timers on this DVR. Now that I have so much space I've been telling it to record lots of stuff, and it told me I've reached a maximum number of timers. Who knew!

 

[CM7000PAL In Iowa]

04/20/2020 - A little more follow up on latest repair of two CM7000PALs. A.V.E (Advanced Video Electronics) in Davenport IA got the two units repaired a week later after drop off and I got them back with a ~$84 per unit repair charge. Have had one of them back in the equipment stack working like a champ once I got them home Mar 31. Both had funky looking slightly domes c34 capacitors and I think that was the only thing that needed replacement. Hope the shop is able to keep running and not a victim of the Covid19 Economic impact syndrome that is likely to kill off some smaller businesses.

 

[CM7000PAL In Iowa]

I didn't realize that you could run out of timers on this DVR. Now that I have so much space I've been telling it to record lots of stuff, and it told me I've reached a maximum number of timers. Who knew!

Think it's 24 timers available. Just did a quick scan of the user's manual and it does not seem to give the actual count - just mentions that there will be an "error message" when you get to the limit. Seen it quite a few times on mine !

 

[rfll]

Hope someone looks at this. My unit does not want to pick up tv stations. When I bought it from a neighbor, there were several stations set up in it and I was able to record by setting up a program and record it. It would then play back. However, I got into the setup wizard and now it will not pick up any stations and I can't get back to the menu. I have tried unplugging it several times. Any ideas on how to get out of this wizard. Thanks. I am located in Alamo, Texas and there are a lot of stations around.

 

[Kirbert]

OK, it's a year later, and my CCM-7000PAL has malfunctioned again. I opened it up and found a different blown capacitor -- this one within a metal shielded case surrounding the main processor chip -- and replaced it, but no joy. I *suspect* my problem this time is my HD has died. I see from another site that replacing the HD is pretty much a matter of just swapping it out, easy peasy -- and I can put in a 1TB instead of the inadequate 250GB while I'm at it.

Problem is, I really wanted to confirm the symptoms before I dedicate a HD to it. It quit working, and when I shut the power off and then power it back up, it goes through the boot process, but when it gets to the point where it's downloading channel information, that green line never starts moving. At that point, it won't respond to the remote other than the little green light flickers a little. Just have to power it down again.

So, anybody know what a HD failure looks like on these machines?

I may go on EBay and try to buy another couple of these things. Replace caps and HD, they still can't be beat by anything else I've found.

 

[Fringe Reception]

Kirbert,

Thank you for keeping us updated on the Channel Master capacitor saga. Is the original a SATA hard drive and will you replace it with a solid state device?

Jim

 

[Kirbert]

Answered my own question! Swapped in a known good 1TB HD -- which only takes about ten minutes -- and my CM7000PAL works perfectly once again! And as a bonus, it now has 146 hours of storage capacity instead of the 37 or so. The only downside: The 1TB HD I installed isn't perfectly silent, in a quiet room you can hear it rolling -- 24/7, because in a CM7000PAL the HD never stops unless you actually unplug it.

So, for the record: If you plug in your CM7000PAL and it goes through the boot sequence and then just sits when it's supposed to be loading the channel information, and will not respond to the remote, that means your HD is dead. And it's shockingly easy to replace, just buy a 1TB HD with the same type connectors, pop the top off the case of the CM7000PAL (three screws and four places where you have to insert a screwdriver and pry), and three connectors and three screws lifts the HD right off the top. Four screw posts secure the HD to the bracket, just swap and reassemble. Note that all three connectors -- including the ground connector -- have little buttons you have to press to release.

Might as well look around for capacitors that have little domed tops while you're in there. Replace those. That's harder, because you have to disassemble farther to get the boards out, and you have to warm up a soldering iron.

 

[Fringe Reception]

Answered my own question! Swapped in a known good 1TB HD -- which only takes about ten minutes -- and my CM7000PAL works perfectly once again! And as a bonus, it now has 146 hours of storage capacity instead of the 37 or so. The only downside: The 1TB HD I installed isn't perfectly silent, in a quiet room you can hear it rolling -- 24/7, because in a CM7000PAL the HD never stops unless you actually unplug it.

So, for the record: If you plug in your CM7000PAL and it goes through the boot sequence and then just sits when it's supposed to be loading the channel information, and will not respond to the remote, that means your HD is dead. And it's shockingly easy to replace, just buy a 1TB HD with the same type connectors, pop the top off the case of the CM7000PAL (three screws and four places where you have to insert a screwdriver and pry), and three connectors and three screws lifts the HD right off the top. Four screw posts secure the HD to the bracket, just swap and reassemble. Note that all three connectors -- including the ground connector -- have little buttons you have to press to release.

Might as well look around for capacitors that have little domed tops while you're in there. Replace those. That's harder, because you have to disassemble farther to get the boards out, and you have to warm up a soldering iron.

Kirbert,

Do you have any advice or tricks how to open the case of a CM-7000-PAL? Thanks,

Jim