Help with Panansonic sv3700?

[memphiskat]

I used to do a lot of live taping but haven't in a long time. I now want to get
my DAT masters onto my MAC for archiving. So I purchased a used Panasonic sv3700.
I don't have the manual. Here's my probelm. The deck came on Friday. I can't get it to play
any of my tapes. I can't figure it out. It appears to be working
fine. It powers up. It will fastfoward and rewind tapes. It won't show any abs time though. The only
counter mode that works is the four digit PNO mode. When I hit play that counter shows the tape advancing
but the meters show no music. I plugged in headphones to see if it's just the meters but no sound.
I've tried 60m, 90m, audio, data, every type of tape I have and none will play. It's as if the machine just
can't read the tapes.

Anyone have any ideas?

[direwolf-pgh]

what was the original DAT deck model used to tape ? all the info to 'mount the tape' is at the beginning.

http://www.tape.com/resource/datcomm.html

get a cleaning tape. try recording with a new tape - the deck was purchased used..who knows.

thats all i have for ya. good luck.

[memphiskat]

Problem seems to be solved. I took the top of the deck and manual cleaned the drum/head. I used Qtips and some Intraclean S-711 that I used to use to clean my cassette deck heads and it seems to have solved the problem. The (well one so far :-) plays without drops or static and the deck displays abs time. WHEW!

Thanks.:)