Hello my dear fellow BeoWorld-members :)

I have not posted anything here before and just recently became a member but I have been reading the forum and product pages on BeoWorld for many years now. But today I am doing my first post here!

Yesterday I bought a used BS9000 mark2 and it was already powered down and they had all cables and such disconnected and put in a box for me when I arrived to pick it up. I got it for a fairly good price(I think) and the seller told me it was in excellent condition.

Unfortunately that was not totally true. It is indeed in good cosmetic condition BUT it seems to have one big problem and that is the glass door-motor (I think). They had it mounted on a wall (which I am going to do also). When I got home I took the wall mount of and adjusted the screws on the back to the mode for placing it on a table (just to try it out). I let it rest for a while and then powered up the Beosound. 

It behaved a bit strange.. When I tried to open the glass door it began opening and after a few seconds it fell down, like it couldnt drive it all the way up.

After that it behaved very strange(rebooting and such) and I realise it is probably because it didnt understand what happened. After a few hours and cleaning of the glass door and the complete BS9000 (took the glass door off, screwed out the two torx-screws and put it back together) I realised that it works only if I help with my hand to take som load of the engine. It can't even hold the door open by itself. 

Im not sure why this is and I have checked the screws that holds the glass door to the hinges and they are very tight now and it still does this. It seems like perhaps the engine is to weak or that something has broken inside. Very strange.

After the cleaning it did however work great when I helped with my hand. The player is working and moves fast between CDs, it was slow when I got it but I realise it was because of the dust on the optical sensors.

The selled DID tell me, when I was leaving to let it rest for hours after plugging the power in before using it. Don't understand why but he said so. They had it connected to a linksystem and I changed it to option 1 for now. 

Perhaps the engine can bear the weight of the glass door when it is put on a wall but not on a table and that might be why they didn't say anything? It seems like it could be possible to fix and I am _very_ technical and wouldnt hesitate to try and fix it myself but I am asking here first for help on the issue. Searching the forums I couldn't find any information on this matter.

That was my problem, now my question :). Since this is a Mark2 it doesnt have support for N.MUSIC/N.RADIO (I checked, it says phono etc.) so I was thinking about upgrading to a newer chip. Have looked at the guides and it seems quite simple to put a new chip in. Now the problem is of course to get the chip!!

I went to my B&O dealer and they are very helpful. I got a number to the service center they used and called them today. Unfortunately they was not as helpful, actually they were downright arrogant and extremely uninterested in helping me with this. Prehaps just a bad day for the guy I talked with but I was very disappointed when he told me that they didnt want to help me aquireing the chip itself (guess they want to charge for the job).

Of course I also want a new engine if that is the matter and he was even more uninterested in helping me with that.. 

Please, what should I do?

I have to say I don't think the seller was lying to me, he was very friendly and seemed very truthful. I might call him and see what he says about the issue but I want to check it up first. I am a geek and love to fix broken things (which I often do). Almost like it better to buy broken things than things that work :-).

I live in Sweden and I don't know the best way to buy the parts I need. Perhaps anyone here has/is a good contact or something that can help me. 

I was thinking about using a BeoPort connected to a mac-server for N.MUSIC and N.RADIO and I bought the BS9000 because it is so classy and flexible, which I don't think is the case with the BeoSound 5 unfortunately..

Sorry for the loong post but remember, it is my first! :D

Tjena Micke!

Sorry to hear about your problem(s). I have my self a BS9000 and like it a lot. I've never heard about a weak engine before, and don´t think it should be because orientation. The load should be the same.

As I understand it, it's possible to upgrade. Just do a search on this forum (upgrade and BS9000) to find many threads about it.

By the way: Välkommen!

Tjena! 

What a speedy response, thanks Daniel! I havent heard about a weak engine either, it was my dealer who said that probably was the problem and he had heard about it before. I have found nothing about it on the internet more than another guy asking for help in the same matter but no answers was ever posted.

I know it is quite easy to upgrade, I have read the FAQ and the guide so I now know exactly how to proceed without needing to look at the guides again :) But I must get my hands on the precious chip that has the newer firmware. 

I guess someone could read the software with a reader, post it here and that I could flash the old chip but I don't think anyone has done that :P

Thanks for the välkommen :) 

Michael:

The selled DID tell me, when I was leaving to let it rest for hours after plugging the power in before using it. Don't understand why but he said so.

That should have set off an alarm in your head.  You should have posted here and we would have told you that isn't normal - no warm-up time is required.  Sounds like a weak motor or damaged gear mechanism.  That's the problem with those earlier mark1's & 2's.  They're getting old and it's a very mechanical item.

You are right, I actually did hear alarm bells in my head :). Feel a bit stupid now.. It was about an hour away from me by car and we talked for about an hour also. It was first when the beosound was in the car he told me to wait a bit before plugging it in after hanging it up on the wall. I was so excited to bring it home by then that I didnt really think too much about it. I think you are right about the mechanical issue. I am thinking about taking it apart so I can have a look at it. Since it just drops it feels like it must be something else than the engine itself? 

I did get it for a fairly good price and I should probably contact him and see if he can offer me some money back if I have to take it in for service. What do you think? Otherwise in excellent consition, it is playing discs without a problem, I listened all night long yesterday.

You should of course get some refund, as it's clearly faulty, whatever the price was. You paid for a fully working piece. Please keep us posted.

I think so too. I had contact with the seller via sms on my trainride home to Båstad this evening. He says that he hasn't had any issues at all and that I must hang it on the wall before doing anything else. I think this sounds strange.. 

I have been home now for about 30 minutes now and I tested it as soon as I got home, of course it failed just the same.

I then tried putting it up like this http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2024235/BH9000.jpeg (glass up) and in that way the glass door worked flawlessly. Tried it probably 20 times in a row =).

A bit harder to try it with the glass down since it is quite big to handle standing on edge on a table, but I will try. I want it on the wall but I want it working perfectly so I can change my mind in the future, or if I sell it.

Not a funny situation because I really think he was very friendly and now this issues which he doesnt want to know about..

B&O said that it will probably cost about 1500 SEK to fix but I think it will cost alot more, but if that is correct I think it is a price that is OK and that the seller should take this from the sale price.

Makes sense it would work on the wall since gravity is doing all the work of opening the door.  Possibly the problem is stripped gears (missing teeth).  And if the seller told you the first thing you should do is mount it on the wall he might well have known about the problem.  1500 SEK = $225 USD.  Sounds too inexpensive.

I agree. I just tried holding it in the air with the glass down to simulate how he had used it but the glass door was not working properly in that way either. But as I said it worked perfect turned upside down, with the glass up. Tried this again just now without a problem.

I actually prefer it hanging with the glass up but I don't think my wall bracket will work like that, I believe I need another wall bracket that supports that.. 

I think you are right mediabob, stripped gears seems very likely. Do you think I can disassemble it so I can take a look at it? 

I have been looking at the service manual for BS9000 MKIII (can't find the one for MKII but hope it is about the same). Seems to be about 14 screws and alot of other parts in the gearbox assembly that drives the glass door. 

The whole package can be replaced as one item it seems, or per part. I am curious to see if something is wrong in there, I think so..

Is there anybody here who is an authorized service center-guy or know anyone who would be friendly enough to talk with me about this and/or help me to purchase theese parts? 

Quick update:

Called the service company today again and they were much more happy to help me today :). I talked for about fiften minutes about the issue and I now know that this sometimes happens. The engine, or actually the gearbox wears out and gets problem driving the glass door. Replacing it costs about 3000 SEK including labour. 

I have informed the seller but I have yet to hear back from him. 

I can try to catch a video of the problem an post on youtube for futher reference for anyone who might experience the same issue in the future.

good to know about this potential issue - thanks for the update :)

Quick update. Have not recorded the problem yet but I bought a floor stand and it works very well on it (less gravitational impact I guess). It looks better than I thought it would so I am happy with that, for now at least. 

Have also spoken with the seller and he offered me some money back towards the service cost.  

Update 2. Call me crazy but I actually bought a spare bs9000 that was freight damaged, which included a floor stand in good shape :). The freight damaged bs9000 has a glass door where the mounts have come lose(interesting to see that B&O has drop-proofed it with rubber-safetylines glued to the mounts so it won't fall down).  

Anyhow. Since it is sunday I decided to try the glass from my first bs9000 on the damaged one, just to see if it could rise the glass without a problem. It could not! 

This made me think and I have looked closely at the mounts. It seems that the metal mounts that fits into the bs9000 are disfigured after some time and I think this is the real issue. Perhaps a new glass panel will solve the problem? Not really sure. 

Perhaps I can glue the mounts back onto the glass door for the damaged bs9000 and se what happens? 

What would you guys do?

I should tell you that I am very tech savy =) and a bit odd.. perhaps :)