Philips VR685/02 tracking problem

[Jorn99]

Hi, I'm having a tracking problem with my Philips VR685/02 VCR. At the moment I can't get a clear picture on any tape. I got the VCR a few weeks ago and had the same problem in the first week but after the first week it seemed to have solved itself and played every tape perfectly with a few seconds of auto-tracking when I pressed play. It still does auto-track now but I either get no picture or a very fuzzy picture. Manual tracking with the P+ and P- buttons also doesn't solve this.

I used two tapes today, on tape 1 I got no picture and the same happened with tape 2 but after rewinding it to the beginning I got a fuzzy picture and when I put tape 1 back in I got a fuzzy picture as well there, but after rewinding it I got no picture again.

Does anyone know what causes this and if this can be solved with a good clean of the head drums and control tracks?

[davexnet]

Have you checked the tapes for edge damage (creased) ?

[Jorn99]

Have you checked the tapes for edge damage (creased) ?

Yes I checked them but the tape looks completely fine. I will give the VCR a clean tomorrow and will see if that solves it, I'll give an update tomorrow