G.E. 3-5259 Blockbuster FM Stereo

I got my Blockbuster from d8614ss (LAV LOO on stereo2go) yesterday, and I had it open last night attempting to fix a problem with the deck. When I received the box, the deck would fast-forward and rewind, but not play or record without auto-stop intervening. I made huge progress with that. The deck needed loosening up, which I did, and I found out that all it needs now is a little belt replacing, as one is very slack. When I had put the box back together last night, I tried it out to make sure everything works, and FM Stereo had stopped functioning. I looked for wires that may have been pulled off, but I couldn't find anything that looked as if it was causing a problem. Any help to fix this problem would be greatly appreciated. Has anyone else had a similar problem with the blockbuster? What steps should I take to hunt down the source of the problem?

I haven't tried this box on batteries yet. On further inspection, it appears as though the wires which come from the terminals in the battery compartment and attach to the power supply, have been snipped off. Someone has been messing around inside this boombox before I owned it. :annoyed:

When I switch the function to tape for a few seconds, then back to radio, the FM Stereo light flashes on for a millisecond, then off again. I really don't know what to do. I turned the VR1 last night thinking it might be that, but it made no difference. I put it back to the same position it was originally and left it. The stereo light still lights when I switch to radio, but then goes off immediately. Any ideas anyone?

RA im in the same boat. All I can suggest is checking continuity on the tuner circuit board from the antenna through to the IC chip. Get a magnifying glass out and check the joints and check the integrity of the capacitors. One of the main capacitors to check is the FM tuning capacitor a well as the 10.7mhz ceramic filter. There are quite a number of other capacitors that could be shot, some of which you might notice from visual inspection.

Thank you very much for the reply, docs. Out of interest what box do you have this problem with?

The problem is, I'm not sure where the IC chip is (I'm assuming it's a normal flat black chip with multiple legs), and I don't know what the ceramic filter looks like. I will search the net. Thanks again.

The problem for me is with the tec 878rr.
The IC chip is indeed a multiple legged chip like on a pc motherboard kind of looking. The ceramic filter looks like this:-


Check here for a little info about how they are pieced together.
Sorry i can't help you any more than this as this is where I'm up to myself.

BTW you can visually check for broken capacitors, a little google on that one might give you an idea. Usually the tuner board is seperate to the rest of the circuits and everything radio related is on the one board. If you trace the antenna wire back from the antenna it should connect into the tuner board or tuner section on the circuit board.

Thank you very much for the detailed post, docs! With that post in mind, I will ask my mate's dad if he can have a look at it, he's good with electronics apparently.

RA-
Sorry to reviev a really old thread, but I have a "very" similar issue and I'm interested to know if you ever got the stereo light issue worked out?

trip2way said:

RA-
Sorry to reviev a really old thread, but I have a "very" similar issue and I'm interested to know if you ever got the stereo light issue worked out?

Click to expand...

Possibly... There is a variable resistor pot next to tuner on pc board that can be adjusted to solve problem with the stereo and led.... Take close up pics of tuner area and post so I can see which pot it might be


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trip2way, not sure if this will help you, but I just received an original service manual with schematics for the Blockbuster. I'm going to scan it in the next few days and will post a PDF up for Boomboxery. I'll drop a message in this thread when it's available.

baddboybill - Been busy and out of the loop...I'll get some pictures posted soon.

kraftmatic - you ever get the PDF uploaded? (I don't have enough post to DL yet though...maybe soon)

trip2way, not sure if this will help you, but I just received an original service manual with schematics for the Blockbuster. I'm going to scan it in the next few days and will post a PDF up for Boomboxery. I'll drop a message in this thread when it's available.


That would help to see which pot it is for sure


Bad Boy Bill