Hi,

MY VCR is playing up ! Its been working fine for years (this model was
made in 1991 !) what happens is that when a tape is inserted the
machine does one of three things.

1. plays the tape, but only displays maybe 1-2 seconds of film on the
TV, (with no sound) and then returns to the blue screen. It then might
stop playing, but then won't do anything else, only let me eject the
tape or switch the unit off.

2. plays the tape, but the counter won't advance past 00 00000, the
tape is being spooled, but again, only a second or so of film, and
then blue screen.

3. tape will play, (as before) but won't rewind or fast forward at the
correct speed, just very slowly.

I've had the lid off and had a poke around, there's nothing obvious
amiss inside of course. The only thing that is baffling me is that I
cleaned the heads and that seemed to fix the unit for a day, and then
I used it again and it was faulty. Then I also had a poke around
earlier today and it sprang back into life again (counter advanced,
play and fast forward and rewind were ok) - but now when I ejected the
tape, it mangled the tape and trapped it ! Now I've got the tape out,
its back to doing one of 1, 2, or 3 !

Its a shame to bin it, as I'm sure its something trivial and probably
not expensive.

many thanks for any pointers, thanks Simon

Simon Richardson wrote:
MY VCR is playing up ! Its been working fine for years (this model was
made in 1991 !) what happens is that when a tape is inserted the
machine does one of three things.
1. plays the tape, but only displays maybe 1-2 seconds of film on the
TV, (with no sound) and then returns to the blue screen. It then might
stop playing, but then won't do anything else, only let me eject the
tape or switch the unit off.
2. plays the tape, but the counter won't advance past 00 00000, the
tape is being spooled, but again, only a second or so of film, and
then blue screen.
3. tape will play, (as before) but won't rewind or fast forward at the
correct speed, just very slowly.

You might want to check the P5 lever, this is a spring loaded lever that
pulls the tape toward the audio/sync heads on the RHS of the cassette.
It should snap back into place when you try to move it by hand. If it is
very heavy to move, the grease is dried out. In that case you need to
take it off, clean it with alcohol and apply some new grease.

---
Met vriendelijke groet,

Maarten Bakker.

firstly, (if applicable) try moving or reinserting any ribbon cables. i
had an early sony which had erratic picture and this cured it.

The mode switch may need cleaning or replacing - I have not needed to
do this so cant be more specific.

And as Maarten says, do check the A/ C tape lever - very common problem
on sonys. make a note of how far down the retaining nut is screwed, as
if the lever is put back at the wrong height it will crinkle the tape
down the edge. It sounds like this may be a cause of your woes, since
if the counter wont move then the pulses aren't being picked up at the
AC head.

good luck
Ben