Panasonic DVD/HDD recorder and U88 error

[Channel Hopper]

A customer of mine, with a DMR-EX768EB, fifteen months old and bought through Argos.

Apparently they started playing a disc, which stopped after about ten minutes. Machine switched off and gave the 'U88' message.

They managed to eject the disc after powering down for ten minutes but since then, no joy at getting the machine to start up. I do not have the machine here, this is all from the phone messages.

All it does is make some HDD noises as it starts up, then goes straight back into standby, no time for menus to appear so no chance of using the remote for a factory reset.

Is there a front button option for restoring it to shipping condition or does it have to go back to Panasonic ?

Another site claims this model is already relegated to the back catalogues.

 

[Topper]

Seems to be a common problem a reset by powering down for 10 to 15 minutes may solve it according to this thread
-http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=812525

The U88 is when the unit is in recovery mode but as it was switched of before completion the current state could be difficult to recover from

-http://www.fixya.com/support/t2597791-panasonic_dmr_eh56_permanent_u88_error

 

[Channel Hopper]

Already tried the power down a couple of times, which allowed removal of the 'dodgy' DVD.

No hidden front panel fixes ?

Still unsure how this might have caused the demise of the box though unless the data being read corrupted the firmware.

Looking further into it, the U88 error has been suggested as a RAM failure by a couple of posters, and requires a chip replacement ?

Tbh this is beginning to sound like a watchdog failure, something I last came across many years ago on some Korean analogue stbs.