MD4ME

I have a Sony MZ-R501 which when pressure is applied to the casing, it switches itself off. This only happens when using a AA battery. The casing is in decent condition, is there anything I can do ?

Thanks NGY !

I’m having to swap some old ribbon cables from a donor unit, what tape do you use to replace the black strips that lose adhesion when removed ? Cheers.

Back in 2011 (i checked my emails !) I bought two 480 decks for £10 the pair. Both were battered badly, how I’ll never know, and I wasn’t going to ask as the guy at the time as he was the most disagreeable character I’ve ever come across on eBay, I’ve just checked his feedback again and he apparently hasn’t changed ! I knew one had to be in the loft somewhere and was surprised how internally it was in such good shape.

So far so good with the transfer ! I was rummaging around in the loft and found another, rather battered, 480 deck, so I’ve substituted the drive out of this into my back up deck. A couple more things to mention, whilst scrutinising the various drives, with my untrained eye, for differences I noticed the one 480 had what appears to be a ‘plastic’ component on the circuit board whilst the 480 and the 980 had a metal equivalent ! (See photos). Also, is there any reason, other than ease of manufacture, for the original belts to be square cross section whilst the replacements are round ? Thanks for all the help !

Thanks Kevin, I’ve swapped the drives over and the 480 drive works in the 980 whereas the 980 drive displays the same faults in the 480. So the problem is definitely in the 980 drive somewhere. I’m happy to leave the 480 drive in the 980 if there’s no difference to the performance, but why is there 2 little red (earth cables ?) on the 980 drive whilst only 1 on the 480 ? What I should I be looking at next regarding the fault in the 980 drive ? Cheers.

I’ve tried cleaning the ribbon cables with alcohol and an eraser but alas I’m getting the same erratic behaviour. As I mentioned earlier I also have a MDS-JE480, would it be possible/wise/a good idea to swap over the whole laser & loading assembly from either the 480 into the 980, or vice-versa ?

Thanks for the tips guys, I’ll perhaps try some newly acquired hand sanitiser if that’s ok (over 70%) ? Here’s another short video, whilst playing a track the laser loses its way and finally gives up. BD1E44EF-862E-4A11-95BE-ED4A4D125274.MOV

I don’t have any isopropyl alcohol, is there another equivalent ? (Excuse my ignorance, I’m more mechanically minded than electronic !)

I’ve just tried reconnecting the ribbon cables, it’s throwing up the C13 error message now ! I do also have a MDS-JE480 if it’s worth swapping components over to try them out.

It’s not playing the recordable discs at all at the moment, continually searching for the start. Another day it will, even an hour ago it was !

All thoughts are welcome ! It locates and plays the prerecorded discs (for a while) but struggles with recordable discs.

Unfortunately the laser of my beloved MDS-JB980 seems to have a mind of its own at times and is losing its position whilst reading the disc, as well as making a clicking noise. It reads and plays a prerecorded disc for the most part but even then wanders off course sometimes. The unit hasn’t had a lot of use. Any thoughts ? 2DA274CF-485A-4127-9C12-05550C1A2A6F.MOV

Hi all ! Is there any functional difference between the USB transfer cable of a MZ-N10 and the one supplied with the MZ-NH1 ?

Thanks Azureal for the reply. It's a blue Hi-MD disc, I tried it on the MZ-NH600 no joy, played ok in the MZ-RH910 ! Strange that neither MZ-NH 600 unit would play it, it's only got a dozen tracks on it. Just wondered if there were any subtle differences between the early/later HI-MD units ?