JVC Camcorder

My DV Camcorder which I got in 2000 has had periodic problems with the apparently infamous "E04 error: Unit in Safeguard Mode" problem after about 2 years of my 3 year warranty. I got it back to have it "serviced". Didn't see the error much after that for about a couple of months. Now it's back and happening with regularity almost everytime I try to use it. Usually "Remove the battery and re-attach" by itself doesn't work. I have to remove the tape, remove battery, re-attach battery, re-insert tape" and various combinations of that. BUt the error happens also when I am running from the AC Adapter.

A search like this reveals that this problem is rampant across JVC DV "GR" model camcorders. I tried the "smack it 4 or 5 times with the battery over the speaker area --which is on the side inside where the flip-out LCD screen opens. Mine seems to work after doing that. This I find after taking it with me to DC and having it refuse to work when trying to use it to shoot some mountain scenery on my way in to the DC area. I wish I had known then about the "whack it upside the speaker" trick. I had to settle for shooting Video with my Canon Digital Photo camera that shoots low quality, small size video avi clips of 3 minutes max.

In any case, I was looking at the new models, about to try to get a replacement (whcih I was loathe to do, but Thanksgiving and Christmas is coming up, so my wife asked me to see what we could get....then I decied to do this Google search. Really wierd)