memorex MVD 2040 just quit?

Mine unit had the same problems. My unit died. The power supply had a problem.

I am not sure if your unit is worth having it repaired. You can call the manufacturer and see if they have a flat rate for repairs. You can probably buy an off brand unit for about the same amount of money.

If you have experience with electronics, you can try this fix. Regarding the power supply problem . . . I opened up the unit and replaced the 1000uF 16V Capacitor on the power supply board. That is one of the capacitors closest to the bus wire (Gray wire) that goes to the main board. If you have a volt ohm meter you will see that there is only 2.4 volts on the one side of the power supply. It should be 5 volts. I just fixed my unit a couple of hours ago. I went to Radio Shack and bought a 1000uF 35V capacitor. The Radio Shack part number is 272-1032.

The tray / drawer issue is separate. Mine wouldn't open or close completely. After I fixed the power supply problem . . . the tray will open OK. It may not close completly. You can close it with your hand. Raising the front of the unit (slightly) might help the tray close.

Good luck!

Carl
March 2012

I have two separate Memorex model MVD2042 A DVD players. They both quit just like yours did. Being an engineer, I took them both apart to troubleshoot, and found that they had failed for precisely the same reason: optoisolator failure in the power supply.
For safety reasons, the power supply design totally isolates the primary side including the AC line cord from the secondary side including the chassis, the signal cables, and everything else you might touch. Power from the AC line cord goes through a regulator on the primary side, then through the power transformer to the secondary side and through a set of rectifiers and filters to provide all of the various DC voltages needed by the MVD 2042.
The windings of the transformer are insulated and isolated from one another, so no connection exists through the transformer between primary and secondary.
However, measurements of the secondary voltages must be sent back to the primary to control the regulator. This cannot be done using a wire, because then the isolation would be lost, so an optoisolator is used to send the voltage measurements back to the primary.
The optoisolator is a device into which you can put information on the secondary side, and the information will come out on the primary side. The connection is made using a beam of light, so the primary and secondary remain isolated. When the optoisolator fails, it tells the regulator to turn down the voltage all the way, and the DVD player quits.
You can download a PDF data sheet for the optoisolator here: http://www.cosmo-ic.com/object/products/K1010.pdf. I have been unable to find a place to buy just a few of these devices, and my two DVD players remain unrepaired. I have heard that the HCPL-817-060E optoisolator can be substituted; it is made by Avago, and sold by Digi-Key.

Noel
October 2010