What does it mean when the display shows H02 or H05 for the Panasonic DVD Player; Model RV31?

Le, July 2005

For chemestry h20 +02=h02= water vapor

Aaron, December 2012

Followed the directions from Shamus, May 2009 above, worked great! Thanks Shamus!


I had H02 on my Panasonic RV31. I tried taking off the cover and giving it a manual spin for about 20 or so revolutions. It did spin up a little when I put the dvd back in, but it didn't help fix H02, so I decided to look underneath the dvd drive.(I had to take out four screws.) I could see where the motor was soldered to a circuit board and it even had a plus and minus printed on it. Since I read on either these forums or another place googling H02 took me, that the motor was DC, I decided to press a 9 volt against the solder points. The motor spun, and I let it do so for about 30 seconds. I put it all back together and it worked again! I'm not good at electronics and I'm not recommending anyone do this. But if you are going to throw it out anyway....then it can't hurt right?

DVD Fixed!, September 2010

I just had the same H02 problem. I opened up my Panasonic DVD player by unscrewing the screws behind it. By doing so i was able to see inside the player. I turned on the DVD player and put it in a DVD to see what the problem was. I noticed the DVD wasn't spinning so i just gave it a soft tap and then it just spun. Don't know what it was, but maybe it had something to do with one of the spindle motors being jammed. By tapping it, i think i managed to unjam it. DVD works fine now.

Shawn, April 2010

hey guys i have the same problem H02 and i wipe the lens of the player after opening up the casing after that i try, its works cus the lens is dirty.^^

Kelvin, September 2009

I had H02 on my Panasonic RV31. I tried taking off the cover and giving it a manual spin for about 20 or so revolutions. It did spin up a little when I put the dvd back in, but it didn't help fix H02, so I decided to look underneath the dvd drive.(I had to take out four screws.) I could see where the motor was soldered to a circuit board and it even had a plus and minus printed on it. Since I read on either these forums or another place googling H02 took me, that the motor was DC, I decided to press a 9 volt against the solder points. The motor spun, and I let it do so for about 30 seconds. I put it all back together and it worked again! I'm not good at electronics and I'm not recommending anyone do this. But if you are going to throw it out anyway....then it can't hurt right?

Shamus, May 2009

I had this problem with a SC-VK70D CD/DVD player. The defect was the spindle motor with worn brushes and collector. The motor driver IC BA5833 becomes hot too, due the excessive motor current. A new motor could fix the problem...

Alexandre Simionovski, August 2006

I borrowed this from another website. Worked perfectly. Had my player for 18 months, then H02 showed up. Here's what you do:
Unscrew & remove the back cover. Lift the "guts" off the eye of the reader. They will still be attached by a ribbon-like strip. You want to move the eye towards the center of the player. To do this, turn the spindle until the eye touches the center. Put the guts back in place & replace the cover. Works like new.

Annie, May 2006

I have the same error, H02.
The DVD rotates a few degrese and then it stops. The spindle driver becomes hot.

Is it the spindle motor or the driver that is faulty?
The spindle motor do not spin with top off and no disc inserted.

Lars, July 2005

Actually, i'll rephrase that, H02 is intermittent stopping/freezing during play (usually due to a faulty spindle motor). In your case sounds like it may be due to either;

1) Dirty or poor pick-up.
2) Sled motor sticking (bad sled motor or contaminated lubricant on the sled rails).
3) Faulty spindle motor. (especially if spindle motor is spinning with top off and no disc inserted).

DVD-RV31 also tends to suffer from dry joints to the surface mount IC's and that could cause all sorts of erratic operation.

Cobweb, July 2005

H02 is faulty spindle motor or faulty spindle motor drive.
H05 is seek error and/or due to faulty sled motor.

Cobweb, July 2005