Here's one.

Onkyo cassette deck, circa 1986. Perhaps a TA-630 or some such.

Played just fine in PLAY mode.

In REC mode only, the auto-stop would trigger at random times.

Partially open bridge rectifier. One of those little black round ones. In
PLAY mode the voltages held up, but in REC mode the additional load of the
bias oscillator dropped the voltage enough to cause the problem.

Ripple waveform was definitive. Showed 1/2 wave pattern where it should have
been full-wave.


Mark Z.