Sony SLV-N71 VCR Repair?

playing,

'scratch-scratch'

Cleaned the heads. Twice.

No help.

"Take Yo' Hand Out My Pocket (I Ain't Got Nothing What Belongs To You)!" - Rice Miller, who probably never even _heard_ of GW Bush, Paulson, etc

Most often the control-track head is a bit dirty. This is the lower gap on the audio-control head. Seen it on this series often.

BTW this was considered a throwaway model. Sony never had parts or service literature on the SLV-N series.

Mark Z.

I've checked and cleaned it 3 times. It's clean as a whistle.

As I've discovered in recent days.

I've got the front and back off the unit. Inspected the bottom of the main board. No burnt components, visably cracked solder joints, etc.

I'll keep looking, 'though I don't know what I'm looking for. :-(

Thx, P

"Take Yo' Hand Out My Pocket (I Ain't Got Nothing What Belongs To You)!" - Rice Miller, who probably never even _heard_ of GW Bush, Paulson, etc

I'm wondering if your scratch-scratch sound is similar to my poping noise. My noise occurs while the VCR is in a standby power state. It makes a "pop-pop" noise in the TV speakers. Which I have assumed is the VCR power supply shutting itself down, then re-powering itself up. I can actually watch the motors rotate after the power appears to return from the short shutdown. (I can see my clock display return at approx. the same time.) Of course mine only happens when it is in the stand-by (off) power.. it works fine when playing tapes. The pop-pop occurs about once every two or three seconds... I'm working on a SVL-N750

Not certain why it would do that ...

I doubt it's the same problem, but I wouldn't be surprised to find that it's the same component(s) causing the problems. My N71 seemed OK until I switched to "video" or tried to record.

"Take Yo' Hand Out My Pocket (I Ain't Got Nothing What Belongs To You)!" - Rice Miller, who probably never even _heard_ of GW Bush, Paulson, etc

You know, if it was me, I'd be looking in thrift stores for a 'new' VCR. I've bought a couple lately for less than $5. At that price, if you run into a problem unit, you either chalk it up to bad luck and buy another one; or you fix it...provided you were able to find one of the better-made models.

Seriously, they're practically dime-a-dozen these days. Unless you're determined to fix this one, a better one is probably less than $10 away.

jak

Thanks, but I was aware of all that.

SLV-N71's have the feature set I need. I have several of them. This is the 2nd that has failed in precisely this fashion. If I could learn to repair this problem, they'd likely work 'till I'm in the grave.

And I hate cheap VCR's. And the last thing I need is another remote.

"Take Yo' Hand Out My Pocket (I Ain't Got Nothing What Belongs To You)!" - Rice Miller, who probably never even _heard_ of GW Bush, Paulson, etc

Actually, I hold out for more expensive VCRs; but I'll take a cheap one if it's for a secondary system. The thrift inventory is such that the good ones come along with regularity. You can even specialize in particular brands--even specific models--if you're patient.

Oh, and don't worry about another remote. Likely you won't get one....

jak

Hi!

'TV',

Well, with many things that don't work properly...I'd look for something that would be common to large areas of the circuitry. Have you checked the voltages coming off the power supply to make sure they're stable? The voltages may be printed on the circuit board, if the power supply is on a separate board. If they're not, you'll have to guess. That won't be as bad as it seems, since the voltages should be stable when you measure them. Unstable output means a problem or poor design.

Just about every VCR power supply I've ever seen runs hot when the unit is on and doing something. This can take its toll, especially on components like electrolytic capacitors where heat will dry them out.

If you're willing to try, I see no reason not to. Try to figure out exactly what functions don't work, and look for things in the circuitry that would be common. You might draw a map of how things interact with one another if you can figure that out.

If you do find that the fix won't be cost-effective or easy, I second the recommendation to look for other VCRs in secondhand stores and thrift shops. Older ones in particular are well built, some have impressive features and capabilities, and more of the components are separate, which makes figuring out which part does what that much easier. Newer VCRs tend to have very integrated assemblies, and may even have only one circuit board with a few ICs on it. In fact, if you want, you might buy an old broken VCR and build your skills by fixing it first. It would only cost a few dollars to find out.

William