Hello and sorry if this is not the correct venue for this post, but have tried the consumer urc forum and the main, without a single response.
I have an old automator 200, which was working fine Saturday AM and then appeared dead that afternoon. Everything was still listed on the LCD screen, the signal icon would come on and I could see the light respond on the MRF 100A blaster, but no signal reaching the equipment-it won't do anything even when you're not using the RF. I can hold it right in front of the equioment and it is dead. I tried removing batteries a few times without a change, also replaced batteries. Then I erased the entire unit, or at least I think I did. It said initial, which I assume means re-initialize and then it said LCD good, System good.
Then I tried learning a few power commands and other keys. Sometimes thaey would be accepted, other times they would fail to learn. Even when accepted as good, no response from the equipment. During the learning, sometimes the screen would start to become very light, but then come back when I reverted to the Main screen.
My questions are: Mainly, is there any fix for this? Can the unit be self-repaired and what is the most likely cause for the failure?
Secondly, if it is to be considered a basket-case, I have seen the RF20, which looks like the same unit, but will it work with the old IR Blaster MRF-100A, I think the RF-20 is supposed to pair with the MRF-100B.
I would appreciate any thoughts.
Thanks

Yes, the urc200 has always been a basket case. If you do upgrade to the RF20, DO NOT clone the urc200 to the rf20, you'll brake it. You'll wipeout the RAM.

There is nothing different between the mrf100a and mrf100b.

Edmund, thanks for the information. One thing, I called URC and they told me that the RF-20 will NOT work with my MRF 100A.
Are you 100% sure that it will, otherwise I will order the combination of the remote and the 100B?
Thanks again.

Yes, I'm very sure. All non-addressable remotes in the URC line work with many different brands of IR extenders, even those twenty years older such as these:

MRF100 is not an IR extender but an RF base station.

I'd trust URC that its not going to work.

I am OP, you're absolutely correct, the MRF is the RF base (but is also an IR blaster), so that being considered, I guess I need the 100B unit.
Thanks

The above IR extenders were two piece set, transmitter and receiver. You point the non-Rf remote at the transmitter, which in turns send it to receiver and changes back into IR and controls the equipment.

When using URC RF remote with such sets, you have no need for the transmitter, URC RF remote communicate directly with x10/rca receiver, no need to point, the receiver picks up the rf signal from the remote, passes on IR to equipment.

There is NO difference in the URC Expander (sold separately to use with urc100, urc200, or urc-300 remotes), the mrf100A (which was included with mx-600 RF remote), or the mrf100B( which come in RFS-100 & RFS-200 sets and was sold separately). Had them ALL at the same time. Do whatever you believe will work.

The URC RF remotes mentioned in this thread would also communicate directly with 418mhz Next Generation Remote Extender without the need for battery gizmo.

[Link: amazon.com]

Edmund thanks very much, I'll order just the RF20 first, worse case it doesn't work and I'll order the 100B.
Thanks again