Hi Evelyn
The golden rule that none of us ever remember, is to unplug all appliances when there is a power failure. (Not easy if the power fails when you are out) If you can unplug everything, when the power company rectify the problem and the power is restored, your gear doesn't suffer with a mains spikes. Spikes are a momentary surge in power. The reason there is often a surge in power after a failure, is because nothing at all is using mains electricity during a power failure and for a split second when it is restored there is no load on the mains, so the voltage can be very high indeed until everyones appliances start drawing current and the voltage drops to what it should be. This happens almost instantly, but it is sometimes still just long enough to damage electronic equipment. You sometimes see light bulbs glow much brighter when the power comes back on but only for a split second. This is due to the same surge.
Now, what about your poor old DVD machine. The surge has more than likely upset the power board and has damaged a component so that the power is ok when playing DVDs, but is incorrect when you switch to record on them. Would be easy for an engineer to repair. In hope, you could try turning the machine off, unplugging from the mains and leaving it for half an hour. Then try again. If you're lucky it may reset itself. Good luck anyway - Tekbabe
Tekbabe, January 2008
