Can't change regions on a Sony BPD-S5500

[Bertaut]

A few years back, I purchased a multi-region Blu-Ray player, the BDP-S5500. Never had a day's trouble with it; everything worked fine.

Until today.

Long story short, it's locked on Region A and I can't change regions. I changed from B to A about a month ago and everything was fine and I've changed many times over the years with no issue. And now all of a sudden, pressing the blue button for region b does nothing (nor does the red for region c). I've tried a factory reset, checked to see if the firmware was up to date, and everything seems fine (I've made sure quick launch is turned off). I've also had a look around online and nobody else seems to have had this problem.

Any help would be immensely appreciated.

Thanks

[rdodolak]

What type of mod do you have? It's possible the mod went bad or it came loose.

[hariseldon]

Originally Posted by Bertaut

A few years back, I purchased a multi-region Blu-Ray player, the BDP-S5500. Never had a day's trouble with it; everything worked fine.

Until today.

Long story short, it's locked on Region A and I can't change regions. I changed from B to A about a month ago and everything was fine and I've changed many times over the years with no issue. And now all of a sudden, pressing the blue button for region b does nothing (nor does the red for region c). I've tried a factory reset, checked to see if the firmware was up to date, and everything seems fine (I've made sure quick launch is turned off). I've also had a look around online and nobody else seems to have had this problem.

Any help would be immensely appreciated.

Thanks

The easiest answer (though unlikely answer) would be if the remote itself was bad assuming you have a unit that is changed by pressing the Color Buttons. If you have a similar Sony Remote with the same key or A/B/C/D buttons you could try it.

If it was a hardware mod from Bombay or 220 electronics (or their Ebay store), they advertise a lifetime warranty of the region mod, so contacting them may be the next step since it sounds like you've done most of the usual easy troubleshooting things. If you're in the UK as I suspect maybe, then you may need to look at the Shop Policy where you purchased

Someone recently posted a similar issue and 220 sent them a custom firmware update that fixed their issue,.

It seems every few months one of these messages pops up mostly with the Sony units, but I think much of that is just the sheer number of Sony's that are out there. The Recommend a Region Free Player thread has a few of these reports scattered in the posts

[Bertaut]

Thanks for the replies.

Couple of things;

I'm in Ireland (so basically the same as the UK for this purpose).

I didn't mod the machine myself. I bought it directly from Amazon and it came as is.

I've checked the remote using the text entry thing and the colour buttons all work fine in there.

There was an instruction leaflet with the machine explaining how to switch regions - the letter head says Multi System Electronics.

[RFK]

Do you know if this was a firmware modification or a physical cable modification?

If this was a firmware modification, any update to the players firmware would delete the all region capability.

[Bertaut]

It must have been a physical mod as I've updated the system a few times in The years I've had it with no problems. Last update was well over a year ago.

I'm only realising now that the machine was nodded at all. I (naively) thought it was manufactured as region free. Just found a post on Sony's own forums where someone had the same problem and the only advice they gave him was "we don't make regionfree machines"!!

Not that that changes anything, I just didn't realise it was a mod.

[hariseldon]

MultiSystem Electronics could be one of 220Electronics 3rd Party Name. The address on the website certainly tracing to the same Chicago suburb as 220 Electronics.

The Ebay listing say they have a lifetime guarantee on the Region Mod so my suggestion would be let them know. Hopefully it's something they can help with remotely.

Looking for some information on names, I did run across a couple more posts from EU and Phillipines saying they received help in the way of a custom firmware though a couple people
had trouble getting them to respond via email, but direct Phone Contact worked well.

[Bertaut]

Alright, I'll give them a shout so, and see what happens. Appreciate the advice. If I hadn't just shelled out for a PS5, I'd just pick myself up a 4K region free player!

[chip75]

Originally Posted by Bertaut

Alright, I'll give them a shout so, and see what happens. Appreciate the advice. If I hadn't just shelled out for a PS5, I'd just pick myself up a 4K region free player!

Is Quick Start enabled? it can sometimes cause issues.

It might be worth opening the machine to see if all the solder joints are okay, they're simple enough to crack open and you don't have to touch anything inside.

[Bertaut]

Just to answer the previous question, no quick start is disabled. As for opening it up, I wouldn't know what I was doing so I'd rather not go that route, especially as it still works for region a.

As to contacting 220electronics, I did so and they sent me this reply: "We are not multi-system electronics and we are not able to help." Certainly to the point!! Lol.

[chip75]

Originally Posted by Bertaut

Just to answer the previous question, no quick start is disabled. As for opening it up, I wouldn't know what I was doing so I'd rather not go that route, especially as it still works for region a.

I wouldn't be too apprehensive about cracking it open, it's a couple of screws on the back of the machine and the lid pops off. You don't have to touch anything inside, just check for bad solder joints or loose wires.

[Alister_M]

Well I mean at least it's locked to Region A not B so you can still play your A discs. I have a modded 4K player and I've never bothered changing regions on it as I have two others for region B locked discs.

[Bertaut]

Yeah, that occur to me alright - if it was locked on B, I'd be screwed.