Have had the case off, everything looks clean, eveything seems to appear working (rotating smooth etc), but no sound or picture. Auto tracking and manual tracking makes no difference either, just a black screen with no sound (TV is correctly tuned in, as can watch TV channels via the VCR.

Any clues? Thanks.

(Aiwa VHS player)

Chris, February 2007

Hi Chris,

Your welcome.

To get the best quality picture and to ensure reliability, you should really open it up and clean with alcohol when you have time.

Regards,

Noddy, March 2007

Thanks fpr all the responses, it ended up I just ran a 1988 Scotch head cleaner tape through it and bingo! Works!
Cheers all.

Chris, March 2007

These can also be symptoms of dirty control head.
(The fixed audio/control head is to right of cylinder - clean lower head surface).

Cobweb, March 2007

The best way to clean the video head manually is to use Isopropyl Alcohol, use a piece of folded paper not tissue note paper, turn the head with your thumb and fore finger holding the paper against the head and twist gently back and forth you will feel the head rubbing through the paper.

nick

nick, February 2007

Thanks Nick, no the screens just black. Didn't get a chance last weekend to look at it unfortunately, but will drop results on here. Thanks for help all.

Chris, February 2007

The sound is muted if there is no video picture the sound and video are sent seperately to the modulator rf out. A blank screen could mean an open circuit on route to the modulator
a crack or dry joint. If the head is damaged no pic no sound but fuzzy picture like the aerial fell out but not blank.

nick, February 2007

Wow, thanks Noddy, that's quite some answer! Prob not going to have a proper look until the weekend now but will keep you updated, many, many thanks for your advice,
Chris

Chris, February 2007

Hi Chris,

Could be the head it's self or asscoiated circuit gone faulty.

But I think it's worth sticking with the cleaning first, as it's 6 years old and if its had normal usage, it needs more than a quick wipe, even if you can't see any dirt.

To be sure, you would need to clean the heads with some sort of alcohol e.g. IPA, or surgical spirit or maybe after shave if you were very stuck. There are special cleaning sticks ( from Maplin ), but I found cotton buds will do the trick. *NB* You need to clean any part that will touch the tape, heads, rollers etc. Play a tape with the cover off and watch what comes in contact with the tape. When you start cleaning, you will see black on the cotton bud, keep aplying more alcohol/fresh buds until the black stops coming. Then you dry it off with fresh cotton buds. leave it with the cover off for a few minutes for it to dry.

Leave off the cover, so you can watch whats happening to the tape, but be carefull of power.
Now power it up. What I found is that no matter how carefull I was cleaning, the tape mechanisem would have to re-adjust itself, so don't put in your best tape, as it may damage it. You may have to switch it on and off a few times before you can play the tape, it will make all sorts of strange sounds, but it should come right.

If the cleaning fails, you could try recording a program with it, and try playing the tape on another machine to rule out a few things.
If it records the program you might be looking at a faulty play head or near by circuit, but if it doesn't record, you could be looking at some thing further on, commomn to both heads.

Good luck.

Noddy, February 2007

Hi Noddy,
prob bout 6+ years old, never cleaned the head (apart from yesterday when I had the case off, and gave it a quick wipe with a tissue). Couldn't see any dirt or dust within the player.
Cheers.

Chris, February 2007

How old is it ?

Have the heads ever been cleaned ?

Noddy, February 2007