never had any such problem....

not trying to sound like an ass ernie, but your sony sounds like a real POS from what i've read in your different posts, is it out of the 30day return window?? i got stuck with a POS LG dvd recorder that clunked out on me 45 days after i bought it. my local B&M still allowed me to trade it in for a new one. it then had the exact same problem, again past the 30 day window. but they were good again and this time let me trade it for a Pioneer unit. and i've been very happy with pioneers performance.

sorry for the no help post, man. good luck!