Vintage Panasonic M5 camcorder wont eject tape

[coffee_king]

Hi Guys
Total long shot here, but I cant find anywhere else online worth asking this question.
I thought I'd have a punt on a Panasonic M5 that I managed to pick up for £10....You know, for sh*ts and giggles like

http://www.radiomuseum.org/r/panasonic_nv_m5.html

Prior to putting a tape in it all was fine. Then I put a VHS tape in and it first of all seemed like it was going to play/do something with it OK, but it kept on powering down. When I tried to eject it it sounded like it was going to do something, then again, it powered down.

But as luck would have it after unplugging it for a bit, then plugging it back in I managed to get it to eject 2 or 3 times OK.
But now again it wont eject the tape again.
Any thoughts on how I can get the tape out of it?

Cheers in advance.

[redwudz]

I would probably see if you can get access to the drive internals. Look inside if you can't take it apart. It may have slipping belts or glazed drive rollers or just a lot of crud inside.

If you can't pull off the door over the tape to help remove it, not easy to release the tape. Maybe let it set for a day or two and try eject again.

It takes a fair bit of power to turn a VHS tape and any drive slipping may cause it to power down or not eject.
If you can't clean it, you may be out some Euros as it's not likely to be worth a professional servicing.

You might also do an internet search for the model and see if there might be a manual available or some other decent instructions for fixing it.

But others here may have some specific advice.

And welcome to our forums.