Hello to the Forum
Few months ago I got a Fostex D-15 reported as dead, coming from a building clear out. Only recently I had some spare time to look into it.
Once opened It showed some signs of hard impact: the bottom of the case was deformed near the feet and the control panel PCB was cracked on one corner near a fixing screw. Even the VFD pins was slightly deformed downward. The cassette door had both the hinges broken but still in place. The device had clearly fallen down on its feet during moving operations...bad start...
I fixed the control panel PCB (no lines was actually interrupted), unsoldered the VFD, straighten up its pins and put back in place.
I then removed all the PCBs and did a very careful inspection of all the components and lines, looking for craks, cold soldering or any other visible damages caused by the mishandling. Everything looked fine.
While everything was disconnected from the power board, I turned the power on and measured all the regulated lines. All the voltages are as espected and stable.
Put back everything, reconnected all the cables and powered on again...no signs of life.
The only things that seem to work are:
- VFD cathode lines: they heat on normally
- cassette vane light
- a red LED on the video sync board. It flashes few times after poweron and then shuts down permanently.
At this point I am stuck.
I don't have any experience with this these decks and I don't even know exactly where to start looking from.
Hints are really welcome.
Thanks for reading
Raffaello
Few months ago I got a Fostex D-15 reported as dead, coming from a building clear out. Only recently I had some spare time to look into it.
Once opened It showed some signs of hard impact: the bottom of the case was deformed near the feet and the control panel PCB was cracked on one corner near a fixing screw. Even the VFD pins was slightly deformed downward. The cassette door had both the hinges broken but still in place. The device had clearly fallen down on its feet during moving operations...bad start...
I fixed the control panel PCB (no lines was actually interrupted), unsoldered the VFD, straighten up its pins and put back in place.
I then removed all the PCBs and did a very careful inspection of all the components and lines, looking for craks, cold soldering or any other visible damages caused by the mishandling. Everything looked fine.
While everything was disconnected from the power board, I turned the power on and measured all the regulated lines. All the voltages are as espected and stable.
Put back everything, reconnected all the cables and powered on again...no signs of life.
The only things that seem to work are:
- VFD cathode lines: they heat on normally
- cassette vane light
- a red LED on the video sync board. It flashes few times after poweron and then shuts down permanently.
At this point I am stuck.
I don't have any experience with this these decks and I don't even know exactly where to start looking from.
Hints are really welcome.
Thanks for reading
Raffaello
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