DCRH37E

[Sundowner1942]

I've not used the cam for 18 months, I charged it up then switched it on and opened the cassette compartment then placed a cassette in but the compartment won't close.

There's a symbol appears on the screen, in the manual it says to reinsert the cassette, this doesn't cure the problem, any help would be appreciated.

[Mick2011]

Hi Sundowner1942, welcome to the Sony Forums

Firstly make sure the tape is open end down, window facing out, when you insert it. If the door will close normally without a tape, it could be that the tape is not being properly seated.

If it's been out of use for some time the clock may have reset. If this happened to yours, you may need to do a hard reset: just remove the battery and any AC cord, press the power button, wait a few seconds then re-insert the battery.

It might also be the tape itself; try a new one and see if it's any better.

If the symbol is of a tape with a line through it, it may be locked. There should be a small sliding tab somewhere on the cassette which unlocks it.

If all that fails to improve things your best option may be to take it to a local specialist camera shop or an electronics repair workshop, or try the Sony repair service by following the instructions on this thread: https://www.sony.co.uk/discussions/message/651957#651957

In any event it's important that you don't try to force the door shut at any time as you could damage the internal mechanism. You may see advice online to whack the bottom of the camera several times... I would not advise it but there are those who claim it works...

Cheers

Mick

[Sundowner1942]

Hi Mick,

Thanks for the welcome,

I've tried all the possibilities you mention to no avail.

It looks like it's heading for the Sony dealer, thanks for the info.

Cheers

Sundowner1942