"Philips VR 512/02" VCR makes no longplay.

[CYBERYOGI =CO= Windler]

Please help me.

I just repaired a German Philips VR512/02 hifi video recorder (bought on eBay); it now mechanically works well and everything behaves correct, but it makes no longplay.

It completely ignores pressing the "SP/LP" button (on control panel and remote control) and when I attempt to play a longplay recording, it shows a black screen and sound is distorted (however the "LP" indicator on the display is lit). When I remove the sync head cable, it plays the longplay recording at normal (i.e. twice) speed and then makes a picture (distorted like in search winding mode, but even in colour).

I can only imagine that it is either a software problem that makes the CPU think that the hardware can not do longplay (the button cell looks badly rotten, which may have deleted SRAM contents) or that a reference oscillator for longplay is faulty, which makes the CPU automatically disable that button.