[hawkman]

I have a Sony FH-7 MKII mini component system that I'm attempting to repair/restore. After lucking out in a huge way and finding the missing system cable on eBay, I have been able to power up the unit and take stock of what's working and what isn't.

The tape deck is my current task. This unit came with no belts so I had to figure out from the service manual what was missing, a total of 5 belts including one large capstan belt. I cleaned everything with alcohol.

After belt replacement, I powered up the unit. It now exhibits the following defects:
- Rewind: working but seems quite weak. This part of the mechanism doesn't need any other parts to move, the unit simply engages the motor in reverse.
- FF: starts to work, raises a part of the mechanism internally, then drops it, then starts again to raise it. From the front of the machine, the tape jumps forward a bit, stops, then jumps forward again repeating until stopped.
- Play: Never even really gets going. Makes a small amount of motion but the tape head does not raise.

There are three working parts within the mechanism: the motor and two electromagnets. The first magnet is for "FF, Reverse, AMS" and the other for "Head" according to the manual. All of these probably use a fair amount of power to engage and operate.

My current thought process is that this is an electrical issue - there isn't enough power getting to the mechanism to engage it properly. Let me know if this doesn't sound reasonable.

Question then is, where would you recommend checking and what could possible culprits be?

Thanks in advance.