Amazing! I was just about to throw the camera through the window when I decided to look on here for a solution. A few love taps on the non-tape side....POOF! I have a working camera. Thanks!
If you read the zr200 problems there is one identical to this one. they said to hit the no screen side.
1. pulled big battery
2. pulled little waffer battery (under big battery)
3. waited
4. pluged in AC power
5. loaded tape with no problem
6. replaced both batterys with AC power still pluged
7. set time ect... done
Mine would take a tape but would not record or play back tapes (blue screen or flashes of distorted images).
Tapped it on on both sides and it would not accept tapes.
Removed the batteries (did not seem to help)
"Spanked" the 'Canon' on the LCD side, and it came back alive!
I don't really care why this works, but it did. If you are still reading about how to fix this, stop and hit the already broken camera.
I had the same problem and I whacked it a couple times like they said and it worked right away. Thank you for the advice
Today, my ZR100 began doing the exact same thing...rejecting tapes. I used it yesterday and it worked perfectly! Through reading another user's problems, i found that "Tapping it FIRMLY" actually did temporarily fix the problem! I dont think canon would recommend this though
The tapping worked for me but it was more like spanking the bad camera!! Thanks for info everyone!
I had the same problem, (I posted in Dec 07.) Looked at this yesterday saw the "hit on the side opposite the display" solution offered and all the responses that it had worked. I tried it last night. Tapped once, no affect. Tapped twice more and it worked for me too. Wow - thanks for the tip villagidit. I had bought a Panasonic to replace the Canon and I was frustrated because it would not reliably read the tapes I had recorded on the Canon. Now that the Canon is working again I can get my old tapes dubbed off to DVD. Yeah baby!!
FYI - I shared this with a co-worker that owns a Canon ZR900. He mentioned that he had taken a minDV camcorder apart in the past and that there are typically a number of plug/connector pairs inside these units. Could be that one of them comes loose and the tapping corrects this.
Tape was working ok, then I rewound it and stuck. When I open tape door it tries to eject, moves up about 1/32 in then gets stuck on something. I think spindles are not withdrawn? No amount of tapping is fixing it.
Wow, I thought you all were crazy spanking your camcorder, but I too did not want to throw out $150 2 get the darn thing working again so beat on my camcorder as well and IT WORKED :)! Thanks everyone 4 providing me with such a simple repair :)!
I had the same problem and hit the side and now it works!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I had the same problem that the unit would not take in a tape, but it would close without a tape. I tapped it a couple times on each side to the carpeted floor. I powered up the unit and it worked. I did notice that after I tapped it, the cassette side cover door opens farther than prior to the tapping. I am assuming that something machanically was blocking the cover from fully opening, and the tap free's it to fully open. Just an assumption?????
I tapped the side gently. Didn't work. I took all the batteries out and plugged in the power cord. The tape "started to go down" but then ejected. I diconnected power, whacked the side twice with palm, plugged in the power, still with no battery. It worked! Thank you all for your help!
Gave it a good open-palm thwack or two on the side opposite the LCD and it's fixed!
I had to do more than tap. It took about 10 minutes of light hitting but the darn thing finally submitted. Good Grief...
Mine had stopped working for over a year. Tapped on the opposite side a the tape went in no problem
Jesus tole me to change the waffer battery and it works better than your Network CRP SLZ Final Solution
JC The One and Ony
Interesting fix.
FWIW, I had issues with mine not accepting tapes. I'd put it in,
but when I went to push the carriage down, there would be a ton of
resistance and if I did manage to get it down, when it pulled the tape
in, it would screw up the part of the cover on the tape (the little
plastic part that goes below the tape itself would get derailed) and it
would really wrinkle the tape and basically destroy it.
Today, I figured out that the whole problem was being caused by the
hand strap being too tight and not letting the main door open
fully. I loosened the strap and it now takes tapes w/o any
problems.
Just thought I'd pass it along.
Mine stopped accepting tapes, took it to a shop for repair but decided against it since they couldn't guarentee they could fix it. On her return she dropped it (inside the camera bag) by accident. I was just reading this article and about to try the tap on the side and hey presto it was already working! Seems a tap or a gentle drop in this case did the trick.
Yep, I banged on the non-tape side and IT WORKED!
Wonderful, ain't the web amazing.
After trying all other recommendations to fix my "rejection of tapes" problem on my Canon ZR100, I did what one of the postings suggested (banged on the non-screen side of my camcorder) and it worked! My husband, who is a technician by trade, has suggested that if that is all it took to fix the problem, it is probably a cold solder joint due to poor manufacturing or a fractured solder joint, possibly due to dropping the camcorder, even on a carpeted floor. If you are technically-minded, you might want to try this fix on your own rather than send Canon the $150+ to service it for you. Thanks, villagidit, for your helpful insight.
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CASSETTE COMPARTMENT IS EITHER EJECTING OR RETRACTING. STEPS TAKEN : FULL CHARNGE. PLEASE ADVICE
Same problem as described. Any help?
when I put a tape in it beeps four times and ejects it. very frustrating. what do I do?
Same problem. We were taping when the message remove cassette came up. We removed it and put in a new tape. All we get now are the beeps and can't get the camera to accept the tape.
I have the same problem. I bought mine just in May of 2005.
The problem occurred recently on our visit to Disney World in Orlando for vacation over Thanksgiving break 2007. I had shot some footage from my daughter's talent show the week before, and the tape was still in the unit. I powered on the unit upon our arrival in the hotel room. Beeps and "REMOVE THE CASSETTE" in the display. I unpackaged a new tape and tried that, same result.
It seemed reasonable that it could be condensation (afterall Florida is fairly humid year round.) However now after being back in Colorado, and keeping the unit indoors where it is warm and very dry for a few weeks no change.
The camcorder has not been mishandled or abused in anyway. I had packed it away in a padded camera bag and the camera bag was packed inside my carry on.
I've noticed that when I open up the tape compartement with the tape extracted, looking down near the head, when I tilt the unit back and forth there are a couple of guide posts that move around freely (doesn't seem right to me - but since I never tried this prior to experiencing the problem, it could be normal.)
The posting on Canon's website (1 - Try a new tape 2- Allow condensation to dry) was no help. I won't pay $150 to get the unit serviced, that wouldn't make sense. I've seen units from JVC and Panasonic advertised for $190 ~$250 with similar or better features. I plan to pick up one of these, use it to capture the footage and archive onto DVD. Or perhaps I'll take my old tapes to a service and have them transferred to DVD (dependding on cost.) Then I'll put the mini DV format in the rear view.
The analog pass-through on the ZR100 still works, so I can continue to use it for capturing analog video sources. I guess I could use it for a web cam (if I ever have the need.)
I have the exact same problem. What good is a camcorder that can't accept tapes, regardless of their newness/cleanliness?
WON'T ACCEPT TAPE BEEPS FOUR (4) TIMES BUT CLOSES FINE WHEN EMPTY
take out batteries
tap on the side as suggested
still not working
I have had the same problem and get the 4 beeps and remove tape. Normally I do strike electric equipment when it doesn't work, not that it usually helps anything except my mood. But this time when I tapped it, firmly, it fixed the camcorder. Thank you!!
WON'T ACCEPT TAPE BEEPS I believe two times (2) BUT CLOSES FINE WHEN
EMPTY I tried quite a few love taps on and in compartment opposite side
from tape. I disassembled and tried tickling different ribbon tapes
leading from tape compartment with camera powered up, with no
luck.Camera appears to function properly otherwise. Any further input
on this would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
I had the same problem.... and THANX to all of you, I've solved it..... with tapping opposite side of display :) I was so worried.... and now I'm happy :))) Thank you very very very much!!!
Is your camera well-behaved? Or does it need like, a few light slams every now and then?
My Elura 65 needed a few light slams. After the slams, it had some gray bars when in playback mode. Gently squeezing the camera seems to have aligned the playback head and now it works as it did when I bought it.
You'd think that with the widespread problem of "Remove the Cassette" in all the Elura lines and also the ZR100, Canon would try to keep their customer base happy. I know I have a Canon DSLR body several lenses and was planning on getting a canon vixia hf-10 (hf10) or hf-11 (hf11) but I'm going to have to re-think that with Canon's inaction on this big problem. A quick google on that shows there are *many* people with the same problem.
same as all other notes. When I insert take it beeps and flashes in red, to remove tape
Had same problem. put tape in, beeps and displayed "remove tape". this had started when we were in cold outside environment. so i assumed it was the cold effecting it. Â weeks later, inside house, still same problem. fully charged battery (as handbook suggested) did not work. came online as last ditch effort and found your site. I can not believe that tapping on the camera would work but with so many reviews i had to try it. IT WORKED!! Thank you for saving us money.....love the internet.
I had the same problem and followed the tapping instructions. Â I was a bit skeptical but IT WORKED!!
Thanks for your help
Just give it a slight drop and works fine. :P
same  exact problem  with tape acceptance on my wife's  camera.  I  didn't believe the  love  tapping solution could be true,  but  tried it anyway without telling my wife.  IT  WORKED.  CRAZY, but  true.  Take  an expensive  electronic recording device  and hit it  a few  times to make it behave.
having the same problem took the camera and dropped it on a carpeted floor and presto it works!!!!!
I am not capable of inserting a cassette into the camera. The door retse not to close. However, she(it) closes well without cassette???
camera wouldn't accept tape, but closed fine without tape....I read the other posts about tapping (dropping) the camera. I thought what the heck. I gave it a couple of gentle taps and I can't believe it, but it works!!! Weird, but I'm happy for now. Thanks all!
My daughter brought over her Canon ZR100 with the same problem. Thanks to all of you, I am a hero for fixing it with the recommended tap on the side. It loads tapes and works as new.
On the ZR100 just for no reason at all it failed to feed in with a tape but without a tape it worked fine.I tried tapping on it but that doesn't make it go down .I hate to pay a lot of money for repair but what's left to be done?
Could somebody be more specific about this tapping (ZR100) because I don't want to make it worse?
I had the same problem and googled it and came to this website. I followed the instructions of hitting it on its side...it worked!!!! YAY!!!! Now I don't have to spend 150 dollars to send it to Canon! Thanks everyone!
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