Finally got my 1998 Sony Walkman to play again after a month of trying

I was sure the belt was gone, but a guy at the local repair shop in Tacoma said to clean the pinch roller with a cotton swab and some isopropyl alcohol first. I did that, and the old tape actually started moving. The sound was wobbly for a second, then it cleared up. Has anyone else fixed a tape player by just cleaning it when you thought it was a lost cause?

2 comments

2 Comments

tyler6143d ago

My old Panasonic deck sat dead for years until a simple head cleaning brought it back.

phoenixh743d ago

Cleaning the pinch roller is such a classic fix that gets overlooked. I mean, I had a similar moment with an old boombox where I was ready to junk it, but a good scrub of the capstan with some alcohol made it run like new. It's wild how often gunk is the real problem, not some broken part.