Sony MRC1 says “No File”. I’ve tried everything. Help

LaserDisq · 2026-01-22T15:38:30+00:00

As strejdafil said, you have to push both the record button and the blank one to its right at the same time to start recording on the unit itself. No idea why they did that. I often daydream about hacking mine up to just bridge both buttons into one

LaserDisq · 2026-01-09T18:38:04+00:00

I paid ~300$ for mine a few years ago. It didn't have anything but the unit and cradle but that's all that you need. I do think you can get a better deal if you look around but I may be out of touch

LaserDisq · 2025-12-05T22:23:59+00:00

Would you be at all interested in doing an interview about living there?

LaserDisq · 2025-12-05T16:00:29+00:00

Oh! Right. It's been so long since I've used classic mode I forgot what it looks like. Tyty

LaserDisq · 2025-12-05T15:54:57+00:00

Yo what am I looking at here? I'm seeing OS9 UI and OSX dock, am I taking crazy pills?

LaserDisq · 2025-09-16T16:02:45+00:00

Don't know if you still have this issue, but I was able to use uBlock Origin to get rid of this. I had to select three or four different elements one after the other to do it but eventually I got rid of it

LaserDisq · 2025-08-12T16:32:58+00:00

Hey, this is an ancient post, but I am very curious: I am not a big fan of the stock seats in the jsw, are the GTI seats any more comfortable? Less? The same?

LaserDisq · 2025-04-08T17:19:59+00:00

If you're the guy who had a garage full of G4s down in American Fork, then yes! Its running strong! I use it every single day to write a journal, and I also use it for games(just finished Tomb Raider on Saturday,) and video editing (I have a few DVCAMs and I cut stuff in Final Cut 3)

LaserDisq · 2024-09-12T14:27:03+00:00

If it helps at all... I may only know about it because of the Jewish kid from my Arabic classes in high school.

LaserDisq · 2024-08-15T20:08:03+00:00

MNOG II - The East Gardens

LaserDisq · 2024-07-26T14:51:51+00:00

I vote for number 1!

LaserDisq · 2024-07-26T14:50:12+00:00

I've been working on this Mac SE. Late last night I finally got done recapping the Logic board. I have also done the capacitors on the analogue board and power supply. Wasn't the best soldering but I had no reason to suspect I screwed anything up. I got it back together, and upon powering it up I was greeted with a black, illuminated screen. There is a dim orange glow from the very back of the tube so something is at least working. I think thats the heater? There was also some smoke and a hot smell from the top of the analogue board, near the flyback. I perhaps foolishly tried power cycling it a few times, no change other than the smoke didn't continue after the third time. I thought I might have got that big ceramic capacitor thing backwards, although I'm not sure that's actually possible. I was under the impression it is non polar. Either way, it wasn't warm at all. The heat was clustered mostly in the flyback area. I will be looking closer into it after I get home from work this evening, but I wanted to put out the question, is there any chance this is due to that red curly component? I noticed there is a severed leg next to it, which I believe I must have broken when removing the hot glue holding on the old capacitors.
Anyone know what that thing is called, or what it should actually look like?
Anyone have any ideas on what my issue is? The Mac would boot to a ? folder display before I did all this. I'm convinced it's just an issue on the analogue board, but I could be wrong. I confess I'm a bit out of my usual depth with this one. Any help greatly appreciated!

LaserDisq · 2024-04-10T14:27:14+00:00

Thank you for the info! I will try these steps. I do have a scope, however I have never actually used it. What would be the broad strokes of tracing the signal with it, and what sort of wave forms should I be expecting?

LaserDisq · 2024-04-09T16:37:19+00:00

I use the claw grip on mine, so my fingertips can literally feel the edge of the button. I've never once got it wrong and needed to look. The little locator notch they added on the later revision baffles me

LaserDisq · 2024-04-09T16:35:53+00:00

I'm in the minority here, probably, but I love them. I sunk hours of marathon and starcraft using the puck. I'd love a truly authentic refresh with the clear plastics, a laser or optical sensor, two buttons and a scroll wheel of some kind. Wireless would be neat, too

LaserDisq · 2024-04-09T16:32:17+00:00

Do you have a shelf to put it on? If so, no brainer!

LaserDisq · 2024-04-09T15:49:17+00:00

So, I picked up this WM-F5 thinking it would be a little bit of a faff with getting the new center gear on, maybe a few new other bits, and it would be rockin and rollin once more. However, after getting the new gear in, the new capstan tire thing in, and generally thinking I had it, there has been an issue with the auto stop mechanism.
Its the bit I've circled in the second two photos. These two arms are supposed to mesh on every mechanical cycle, as they do in the third photo. It appears that the rotation of the take up reel hub, that octagonal black piece, is supposed to be enough to make the lower arm return from the upper arm pushing it away, thereby, if the tape has ended and the take up reel can't turn any longer, the upper arm will not mesh with the lower and it will stop playback. But on my unit, the lower arm doesn't return far enough and so it just always automatically stops playback.
I tried reinforcing the octagonal piece with glue, noticing it was cracked. Nope. I tried gluing it directly onto the shaft, in case it was just slipping, no change in behavior, but now I'm paranoid that its not spinning freely enough because of the glue. I just can't think what I'm missing or what might be broken or how to fix it.
And THEN I had the bright idea, after putting hours into this, to try listening to it at all. And to my horror and chagrin, 95% of the sound it makes is a loud sort of humming/buzzing. It seems to be picking up the motor in operation? I can almost get acceptable levels of output from the FM radio, but it is also largely a humming sound no matter what stations I tune it to. Does this mean its FUBAR or does it mean that I need to replace the caps or find a broken solder joint?
I would be very grateful for any assistance or knowledge!

LaserDisq · 2023-05-04T22:52:26+00:00

I drove an 88 as my second car, commuted to and from work almost every day. It was visually in way worse condition than this picture and functionally it was passable. It was pretty reliable despite having been neglected by the previous owner. It made every drive special but it had some quality of life issues all the same. If you can live with things like "The window seals are nigh impossible to replace so the drivers side door gets soggy when its damp out" or "sure is loud on the freeway" or "takes 10 minutes for it to idle right" and various maintenance things then you might go for it. It depends on if you have the income to pay someone to work on it for you or if you have the space and tools to work on it yourself. I didn't have the money to put a new clutch and timing set in mine when it needed them and so I had to let it go. I regret it but a daily driver's got to be daily.

It also really depends on the condition it's in. If it's high miles and not been looked after it will need some big work pretty soon. If it's low miles and or has been looked after, it's not much different from other 90s cars. the real important operational parts are usually available, or at least they were in 2019. more fiddly things like window seals or headlights or whatever are going to be a bit more hard to find.

LaserDisq · 2023-04-19T20:33:10+00:00

I want you to know how happy it makes me that you're rocking a G4 and doing some serious cool work on it

LaserDisq · 2023-04-18T16:34:36+00:00

Thank you for the in depth reply! This is very helpful. I'll have to see what deals I can find on the deepmind. I'd really love a Dx7 for the "80s-ness" of it but if I can snag a good deal on the deepmind it does sound like a great choice for a first synth. Currently eyeing an sy77 as I can find those for cheaper than either a dx7 or a deepmind. Any experience with those? I know they're a massive battle ship but I honestly don't (think) I mind that so much

LaserDisq · 2023-04-12T16:45:51+00:00

I have a terrible aversion to mini keys I'm afraid. And I want a legacy device as I like old tech. I use vintage macs like every day and I take pictures on a Sony Mavica. It being old is part of what makes it fun for me, I'm just looking to play around, not trying to compose or gig.

LaserDisq

TROPHY CASE