Weird Machine behavior, please help diagnose

[AshG]

A couple nights ago my Philips Respironics CPAP started exhibiting some funny behavior. I won't be able to see my provider until Friday to swap it out, so I wanted to run what's happening by the experts here to see what recommendations you have.

The sequence of events works like this: I will be sleeping, and at about the 4 hour mark the machine will (for lack of a better term) reboot on its own. The sudden drop in pressure is enough to wake me up, plus the lights on the top of the machine. I'll restart the cycle, only to wake up about 10 minutes later to the pressure cut off again. This time, the Ramp Up light will be flashing vigorously and the machine will be emitting a rapid three-beep cycle. If I unplug it, wait five minutes, and plug it back in then that typically works - until last night, when it started the reboot & beep cycle shortly after power cycling the setup.

House power is clean, CPAP is hooked up to a power filter, air filters are new... This has me stumped. And if I have to go until Friday without the machine, I don't know if I'll keep my sanity.

Thanks for any help or advice you can provide to get me through to the weekend (and a new machine!)

[Pugsy]

Have no clue but which model machine is this? Someone who might have an idea would need to know exactly which model.
Phillips Respironics CPAP covers a lot of model ground.

The machine is seriously ill, why so long to see provider? It can't be used like this, why can't they see you tomorrow?

[Slinky]

Make sure SmartStart and SmartStop are turned off. Some of the early PR SystemOne PAP devices are having a problem w/stopping and/or starting on their own during the night. PR is standing by their 2 year warranty and replacing them. Take it back to your provider ASAP.

[AshG]

From what I can tell from the bottom sticker, it's a RemStar Auto Rev.00.

I decided to see just how messed up it was this afternoon. I pulled the unit up on the bed, made sure the settings were as Slinky recommended, and put my mask on. I started Therapy mode and within 30 seconds the pressure dropped, the lights flashed, and a message popped up reminding me not to remove the SD card while data was processed. Pressure started, ran for under 30 seconds, and the cycle repeated. To steal a phrase, "She's dead, Jim." There's not a firmware update that can be flashed, is there?

As for why I have to wait so long - I live in a rural area that is only serviced by my provider on Fridays. I'm a teacher with limited sick days, so taking a day off to drive an hour and a half each way to the provider's main location is not an option right now as I'm banking sick days for the birth of our daughter. I'm going to see if they can send an emergency shipment our via FedEx and then bring the busted machine in on Friday to complete the swap.

I have not missed a single night since I got my machine last June. I could tell a massive difference today having only used it for four hours last night. This is not going to be a fun week.

[HoseCrusher]

Perhaps you should consider a CPAP machine for your CPAP machine...

[Slinky]

A situation like this is EXACTLY WHY I bought a lightly used PAP out of pocket from a fellow forum member. I was really sweating it when I was switched to a bi-level. Buying a lightly used bi-level as an affordable price is no where near as easy as finding a lightly used CPAP or APAP!!!! Thank goodness I found one I could afford!!! Its scarey to be w/o a backup. We are so dependent on our local DME providers.

When my first PAP had to be returned and I was still stuck w/my first local DME sheister my doctor actually had to write a script before they would provide me w/a loaner and because he didn't include the loan of a humidifier on the script they didn't and wouldn't provide me w/one. The loaner model was a different brand than my PAP that was sent in for repairs. When my bi-level was sent in for regular maintenance my current local provider delivered a bi-level and humidifer W/O the need for a script from my doctor w/o my having the opportunity to tell them I did have a backup.

[physicsbob]

It sounds like a power supply problem, one thing I would try just to get you by until Friday is to unplug the humidifier and just use the cpap and see if that helps.

[archangle]

Try pulling the plug, removing the SD card, and seeing what happens if you try to run it without the SD card.

[robysue]

When I reported the same problem about my PR S1 BiPAP Auto (woke up with to witness the machine rebooting itself with no sign of a power failure), I called the DME immediately. The manager of the store (who's the one who has been handling my rather complicated billing) told me she'd get a replacement BiPAP ordered that day (they don't stock the BiPAPs) and complete the paperwork for the return to PR. When she called back the next day to let me know the machine had been ordered, she did say that when she talked with PR they asked whether I'd gotten so uncomfortable with the machine that I could not/would not use it until the replacement came in and also asked about whether "the patient had been harmed."

Replacement BiPAP has been here for about a half a week. So far so good. For those of you are interested in such things: The firmware on my new PR S1 is Version 2.02 instead of 2.01. Manufacture date is sometime in April 2011.

[AshG]

Well, I've decided that I'm miserable enough to take a sick day and get the machine swapped early. Thursday morning at 8 I'll have my new machine in hand.

I've got two problems now...

#1 - My warranty runs out in July; after that the equipment failures become my financial burden. With teacher pay being scaled back in the midst of this economy, buying another one outright is going to be a challenge.
#2 - Since this will be my 2nd exchange (my first CPAP started sounding like a blender after about a month of us), the office is insinuating misuse or mistreatment. This is my second piece of high-dollar medical equipment (I have a $10k set of pneumatic leg pumps that have worked flawlessly for 6 years) and I work with computer hardware extensively as a hobby, so I know how to treat sensitive electronic. That insinuation really doesn't make me happy.

Fun! Now to wait anxiously until Thursday morning...

[Slinky]

I would think that each PAP comes w/its own warranty whether a replacement or not and thus the new PAP should have a full two year warranty. You want to be sure to send in the warranty card to PR. It wouldn't hurt to ask PR about the length of warranty on this new PAP. It could well be your DME provider blowing smoke up your nose. Altho, as I remember it, whilst Resmed's warranty runs from when the patient receives the PAP, the PR warranty did read the warranty starts when received by the DME provider. READ the warranty to see what it says.

[Gerald?]

events works like this: I will be sleeping, and at about the 4 hour mark the machine will (for lack of a better term) reboot on its own. The sudden drop in pressure is enough to wake me up, plus the lights on the top of the machine. I'll restart the cycle, only to wake up about 10 minutes later to the pressure cut off again. This time, the Ramp Up light will be flashing vigorously and the machine will be emitting a rapid three-beep cycle. If I unplug it, wait five minutes, and plug it back in then that typically works - until last night, when it started the reboot & beep cycle shortly after power cycling the setup.

Apparently this is a known problem. I had exactly the same thing happen and my DME said they had seen it with other older PR System One machines. Sent it away to be investigated and was issued with the latest model.