DP-24SD Turning off & on by itself*

[Mark Richards]

@David Porter, I haven't been seeing those, David, but most of the time I log in from an android tablet at least 5 years old with ad blocker running. I can try on my win11 laptop later.

EDIT
Checked the Win11 Laptop (also running ad blocker). Not seeing those on the laptop either, David.

 

[tommywill]

@David Porter - Considering I use an adblocker and I do not see those links on my end, yeah - that's pretty egregious lol.

While I'm here - I'm waiting until Monday to call Tascam again, I missed their call while busy with work. But I have been thinking - I don't know if it can explain the strange behavior of the power button being suddenly inoperable, but perhaps the 2 SD cards I own have just gotten too old? It does seem like the main hang-up is taking place when I press the stop button while recording. I'm wondering if it's just having trouble writing to the card and throwing a conniption fit over it.

I'm going to buy a new SD card from the approved SD card list and see if that might, by some small miracle, solve my problem.

 

[tommywill]

Alright, so.. I left the machine unplugged for 24 hours after seeing other posts around the forum mentioning that solving their problems. Nothing else, just unplugged the power cable from the back of the machine and left it alone.

Plugged it back in this morning expecting it to turn itself on but no - I had to press the now working power button. I recorded different tracks for a long while without any hiccups, lags, or shut-downs and plenty of hitting the 'stop' button. All of the weird issues, at least for now, seem fixed.

So, after all that troubleshooting.. that was the solution - unplugging it and leaving it unplugged for about a day.

Thanks again for the suggestions, gang.

Happy music making!

 

[shredd]

Or have I misunderstood? Because that happens a lot.

That. Is. MESSED. UP.

I know >I< didn't put any of that stuff in my post...

I suspect this is the internet industry's A.I. hawrs "subtly" getting you accustomed to them using every microsecond of your time online to crawl up your tailpipe with a microscope, and sell you to every last hacker/scammer/spammer/etc etc in existence...

 

[Mark Richards]

...So, after all that troubleshooting.. that was the solution - unplugging it and leaving it unplugged for about a day...

@tommywill, this information tells me the likelihood that it will be a permanent solution isn't very high. Internal circuit components like capacitors can retain an electrical charge for many hours. A marginal capacitor in the power circuit would be a very likely source of unstable operation.

My guess is letting the portastudio sit for 24 hours allowed the capacitors to fully discharge/cool down. Only time will tell.

on the upside, you're back in business.

 

[tommywill]

@Mark Richards - duly noted, thank you for the heads up. Definitely makes sense.

I'm a little torn about what exactly to do about it right now. I'm in the middle of a project and it would be a huge bummer to ship it off to Tascam for a repair, not to mention the cost. Maybe I should order a new power brick before I ship it off, sort of a process of elimination.

 

[shredd]

Maybe I should order a new power brick before I ship it off, sort of a process of elimination.

Just thinking out loud here:

With the costs involved (not just the shipping of your large/heavy DP, and the cost of Tascam service - but ALSO being without it for ??)...
Getting a new power-wart as an "elimination" step starts sounding like a good idea...if it turned out that WASN'T it: you could sell the thing to someone who DEFINITELY has a bad p/s, perhaps at a minimal loss...but you'll then be no worse off than you are right now (AND there's a chance that if it IS your p/s, you could clear it up WITHOUT those costs of sending it off for service).

How much would it suk to spend all that doh to ship it Tascam, be without it for many weeks (at least!), and pay Tascam a truckload of bux, just to have them find out your p/s was toast???

 

[tommywill]

Too true, @shredd. While we're on the subject, I know Tascam recommends using their proprietary power cable - do you guys think it would be unwise to buy another brand of cable as long as the exact specifications are the same? $60 for a power cable from Tascam is a little much unless it's dangerous to use another brand.

​

 

[shredd]

Hey @tommywill -
Good catch! Yes - it’s been remarked on in quite a few threads that only an OEM p/supply should be used on a DP…

The reasons given are mostly about noise problems, not power quality.
And I’ll vouch that in my decades of using all kinds of music gear: I’d guess that I had or acquired the original/OEM p/s maaaybe 20-25% of the time, TOPS. The rest of the time I used off-brand/generics, including a bunch that were inarguably cheep chinese junque!, or were made for some other type of device/equipment altogether.

In most cases, they worked well enough; if they didn’t (like being to noisy) I’d just get something else, & use the noisy one to power something where noise wasn’t an issue.

That said: my DP-32’s p/s IS the originally-supplied Tascam-brand brick. Works flawlessly…

But if I had your problem (and being a man of pretty modest means) - I’d be inclined to ho the above-mentioned “process of elimination” route (even if it meant buying an ultimately unsatisfactorily noisy aftermarket cheapy p/s) just to see if it resolved the bee-zarr problem you’re having…again - cheaper than sending the unit in for service, and a chunk cheaper than the Tascam p/s.

Even if the cheapy one proves your problem was a wonky p/s, yet proves too noisy to use - you can still buy the pricey Tascam one, have your problem resolved AND have a nice quiet p/s…and STILL have spent 1/4 (or less) of what a Tascam servicing woulda cost. AND a spare p/s to run something else with.

That’s my $0.02; I just know I’d be crusheif I had to give up DO for a couple montjs and pay them hundreds of bux, just to have them tell me it was just a bad p/s! I’d sooner do some exploring/diagnosing myself…

Sorry for the long winded rant. Good luck - keep us posted!