My BM-23 will PLAY a tape for a few seconds then stop. As it stops there is
a high pitched signal that will continue until I put it on STOP. Sometimes
it will stop playing and I can hear the motor spinning, and after five or
ten seconds the high pitched signal will come on. Sometimes it won't play
(the tape won't move) but I can always hear the motor spinning. Often, when
it won't PLAY at all, if I put it in rewind then release the slide, it will
play for the above mentioned 5-10 seconds before stopping and signalling.

At the same time I notice the LCD counter is blank, no readout at all. The
batteries check out with 1.28v in each. When I listen to the motor
spinning, it seems strong. I know nothing about this, but sounds like a
belt slipping, though I don't know if that would cause the LCD counter to
stay blank. (even when I can get it to play for 10 seconds, the counter
stays blank, no blinking, no flashing, no text.

If this is a belt, is it easy to disassemble this small dictator to replace
it? This is a real good dictator so I'd like to figure out how to fix it.

Can somneone give me advice on this...


Thanks, John