Hello, I would just like to know if anyone recognises a certain problem I've had and if the problem can somehow correct itself.

One of my VCRs - an AKAI model - (as I said in previous posts, I've got several) started giving me a picture with wavy coloured lines, mostly diagonal across the picture, however the sound was fine.

A repair guy took the VCR away to work on it and he told me the problem was the Upper Drum Assembly was worn out and it couldn't be replaced because AKAI had stopped producing them (understandable considering it's age).

However, this VCR has been stored in my cupboard for a couple of months, and I had decided to keep it just for spare parts.
Then I remembered the instruction manual mentions that you can use it for recording music onto VHS tapes, so I thought I'd give a new lease of life and hook it up to my stereo amplifier.

To get it's external speakers working I had to connect it back to the TV to follow the setup menu.

Just to check it could still load and play tapes, I tried a prerecorded tape in it.....and it worked giving me not only great sound but a perfect picture!

I tried 4 more different tapes in there and it still worked, with no sign of the wavy coloured lines problem.

I wondered if the problem before could have been caused by a loose connection or some other problem, rather than the upper drum assembly?

Since it came back from the repair shop it's been lifted and moved around, tilted on it's side, and I can't help thinking maybe the vibrations have moved something back into place?

Anyway, I was just wondering if anyone here recognises the problem I had, and can offer any explanation as to why it's started working again.

Jack