Hi, everyone.  Cool forum you've got here!  My name's Tyson and I'm just getting into vintage home audio gear.

It just so happens that I need help repairing a boombox, and you seem like the people to ask.

Today I bought a GE Blockbuster from my local thrift store.  It sounds great and it's in amazing shape, but there's a few problems, and I'm wondering where I should start with trying to sort them out.

I'll get the minor problems out of the way first -- some of the pots are a little scratchy (no changing the volume without CHHHCHCHHKCKCKHHCH) and the panpot doesn't do much unless it's in certain positions (pretty sure it's just dirty like the volume pot).  It shouldn't be difficult to give these a good cleaning, right?  Any advice on the subject of cleaning pots?

Okay, here's the serious business:  the tape deck doesn't want to function.  At all.  Apart from ejecting the tape, pressing any of the tape buttons doesn't do anything.  I can hear a motor start up when I hit the FF/RW/etc. buttons, but nothing moves.  It just sort of sits there and hums.  The speakers let out a soft pop when I press some of the buttons -- not sure why, but if I had to guess I'd say it's because it's trying to read the tape even though the tape isn't being wound.

I've heard that a lot of old tape decks need to have their belts replaced, but that's about the extent of my knowledge when it comes to repairing these things.  Should I pop it open and have a look?  If so, what should I be looking for?  Would it be as simple as clearing some kind of jam or swapping out a band of some sort?

Basically, I just need help with where I need to start.  Any guidance or resources you guys could provide me would be greatly appreciated!

i clean my switches with a sray cleaner i buy at a store who deal's with electronic stuff and when i deal with a cassette deck i go the a tech person who know's how to repair such thing's . i suggest looking in your local phone book and start by ask the tech people question's, such as have they any expierance in repairing 80's boombox, and if not do they know anyone who does ? if your able show us some pic's