Tiger, If I'm interpreting your msg correctly, you're saying that the threading motor - sits horizontally next to the threading ring on right side with gear to drive threading ring - isn't running. Is that correct? Couple of things to check first: When you first put in a tape, does it start to go down (watch with the cover off) at all? If not, try a different sized tape and see if the reel tables move to the correct place for the tape you're putting in - forward for the small tapes, back for the full sized ones. Does that occur? If none of those things happen, remove the carriage, open the tape lid manually and set it down on the reel table with the power off. Set something fairly heavy on it to hold it down firmly and turn the power on. Does anything happen then? That's as much as I want to tell you now. Let me know the results and we'll go from there. Email me directly. Mike VSSCinSoCA@att.net