Ampex ASR 100 problem

I have an Ampex ASR 100 serial no. 5100141 that suddenly stopped working. One minute it was working and suddenly the circut breaker at the rear broke the current.

Now the circut breaker breaks whenever it's powered on. If I hold the breaker in, a hum can be heard on speakers but the dial lamps remain out.

I looked inside, but my limited knowledge of electronics make it unlikely to be able to fix it. The only visual damage I can see are two white things that look like resistors but aren't. They are marked "M2 0.5 k 09" (with, what I think is the omega symbol in front of the k).

Both of these things have green colored corrosion at their leads are into the circut board, and one of them is cracked. They look has if they both got too hot at one time(s) and one got so hot it cracked. There is no damage to the circut board and these are the only ones with any corrosion at all.

I don't know if it's worth fixing or if I should throw it out.

Why do you think that the "two white things" are not resistors ? It's not a model that I am specifically familiar with, but I would have said that there was a better than even chance that they were ceramic cased wirewounds. These could be either to do with an output stage, or in the power supply. In any event, if your electronic experience is as limited as you tell us, it is unlikely that you will be able to fix this item without at least a schematic to guide you. The fact that the front lamps don't come on either might be an indicator that the trouble is in a simple part of the circuitry such as the power supply, but to be sure, you would need to get it at least looked at in a repair shop, I think.

Arfa