I'm pretty sure it's dead.

We have a new Phillips Magnavox VCR, not top of the line, but nice. Well it WAS nice. Have had it for two months, were using nearly every night or so, until...

When we got around to resetting all the clocks in the house for end of DST, we were pleased to see that the newcomer was already reset, automatically. Hey, let's set it to 2000 and see if it dies! so...

Jan 18, 2000. No problems. Ran great. Probably would've kept running great if we hadn't turned it off! Since then, it will play, record, ff, reverse, you name it. For exactly fifteen seconds. Then it turns itself off, with the tape inside (it's supposed to eject on turn off).

After research & consults, it appears that it has an 'internal clock'. Phillips hasn't answered my letter yet.

-- Arewyn (nordic@northnet.net), November 14, 1998

Answers

Arewyn, Sorry that I chuckled at your story, but the truth is I had considered fooling around with the date on my VCR and then decided against it just in case it might kill it :-) Someone else mentioned that our cam-corder may die in 2000 also. So much for "modern" technology. Won't be watching much TV in a year anyway! Have a good one. Mary

-- Mary Howe (doesnotmatter@thistime.com), November 14, 1998.

I thought about setting the date forward on my Pentium II (guaranteed by the salesman to be compliant) home computer. My husband showed unusual reluctance to the idea. I finally decided that if it's TEOTWAWKI I won't need to worry about it anyway, so I'm just enjoying it while I can. If the salesman lied (pretty good assumption) and things aren't as bad as it looks to be (pretty unlikely assuption) then I will just have to go without a computer until either I can afford to get it fixed or get a new one (better than having to go without shelter {Canadian north will kill you before thirst}, water, food and clothing). As you might guess, I think having to worry about a non-compliant personal computer come Y2K would be bliss.

-- Lois Knorr (knorr@attcanada.net), November 14, 1998.

I killed my coffee maker about a month ago and decided that replacing it was worth it for a year. However, our TV died a while ago, and a friend loaned us an extra that he had, or we wouldn't have a TV. Currently, our VCR still works, but only on about half the channels we get and if we weren't saving our money for Y2K use, we'd probably replace it for Christmas. In fact there are several things we'd probably be spending our money on if it weren't for Y2K. Since I don't really feel deprived, it has made me reassess my priorities for post 2K, assuming a "bump in the road" scenario. Are you finding the same thing?

-- Tricia the Canuck (jayles@telusplanet.net), November 14, 1998.

Did you try unplugging it? Its possible that if you take away all power you may be able to program it on startup. Leave it unplugged for one hour then try it Not just on off.

-- R. D..Herring (drherr@erols.com), November 14, 1998.

About 5 years ago a friend bought a top of the line van with all electronic everything. Bad lightening storm - everything went nuts. Told me about it. I told him to unhook the battery, connect the positive cable to the negative cable to help drain any capacitors in the system, wait half an hour and then reconnect the battery. This forced the electronics and computer to reboot - and after that it worked. Went nuts again after another lightening storm, so he got rid of it under the assumption something or other in the system was not grounded or shielded properly. Open the VCR case and look for a flat battery - if you find one pull it for a while and replace it, then plug the VCR back in. Most don't have a battery, just unhooking power overnight will reset everything.

-- Paul Davis (davisp1953@yahoo.com), November 14, 1998.

"Most don't have a battery, just unhooking power overnight will reset everything."

Very good! This should be the answer to a FAQ on every Y2K web-site! This could salvage quite a few machines in the post-Y2K era!!

-- Anonymous (Anonymous@anonymous.com), November 14, 1998.

My guess is the power will be "unhooked" for us, and it may be for more than one night. I will sleep better knowing that my VCR will start back up flashing "12:00" sometime post 1/1/00!

-- Bill (bill@microsoft.com), November 15, 1998.

Well, thanks for the advice, guys.

We did unplug, in the hopes of resetting the programming, but NSL. Even after several days, she's a stilla no worka.

Took it apart, opened case, tried to find battery, but nothing that even resembled a battery lurking inside, cylinder or disc.

Tried disengaging the counter, too, thinking that it might at least work in a juryrigged fashion. Nope. I finally found a one-liner deep in the manual that referred to 'the VCR's internal clock'.

Until I hear from Phillips, it makes a good Y2K conversation piece.

Now I'm worried about the new Honda..... got it to replace a long past retirement Suburu. Got it JUST as we were becoming Y2K aware. In fact, when we went to pick it up, I had spent the night before reading Mr. Y's book. I asked our cheerful salesman if the shiney new SUV was Y2K compliant, and after explaining what I was talking about, he said "Oh, sure! Absolutely! All Honda's products are compliant. Besides, the computers systems in the cars don't use dates. No problem! :D

I've been eyeing an old 58 chevy truck that's got a for sale sign and gobs of rust....

-- Arewyn (nordic@northnet.net), November 15, 1998.