# Repairing a portable DCC 170 (player only plays the B-side)

**URL:** https://forum.dccmuseum.com/t/repairing-a-portable-dcc-170-player-only-plays-the-b-side/1564
**Category:** Recorders, Players, etc.
**Created:** [September 3, 2024, 7:42pm UTC](https://forum.dccmuseum.com/t/repairing-a-portable-dcc-170-player-only-plays-the-b-side/1564 "2024-09-03T19:42:13Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![Jurjen](https://forum.dccmuseum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/c68b51/32.png) [@Jurjen](https://forum.dccmuseum.com/u/Jurjen)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2024, 7:42pm UTC](https://forum.dccmuseum.com/t/repairing-a-portable-dcc-170-player-only-plays-the-b-side/1564/1 "2024-09-03T19:42:13Z")

</div>

I am a little bit lost in the repair project i started a while ago.  
Hopefully i will find someone here who can help me out a bit.  
I have swapped the belt and not yet the caps of a portable DCC 170 player.  
After the replacement, i normally first test the player without recapping to see if it has any other issues apart from the belt.  
This time the player is behaving strange. Normally when it is a SMD Capacitor issue the headphone is causing issues with the audio or something similair.  
Now the player only sometimes plays the B-side, never the A-side and sometimes it starts playing without audio and then suddenly begins to play with audio drops. (also only side-B)  
It looks like it has maybe something to do with head alignement or something like that. I will attach a photo of the head to see if you see something strange. I can’t find anything unfortunately about this topic on the DCC forum.  
Thanks already for the help. 🙂

 ![DCC head issue](https://forum.dccmuseum.com/uploads/default/original/2X/4/4641bacd82dc01489d076bf4195bead159b26763.jpeg)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![drdcc](https://forum.dccmuseum.com/user_avatar/forum.dccmuseum.com/drdcc/32/9_2.png) [@drdcc](https://forum.dccmuseum.com/u/drdcc)
#### Post date: [September 4, 2024, 6:26pm UTC](https://forum.dccmuseum.com/t/repairing-a-portable-dcc-170-player-only-plays-the-b-side/1564/2 "2024-09-04T18:26:27Z")

</div>

Best action is to download the service manual from our site and go into “service mode” of the player.  
That way you can test all tracks of the head. The head either might have lost quite a few tracks or the pinch rollers are bad. Start with the head.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![Stefan](https://forum.dccmuseum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@Stefan](https://forum.dccmuseum.com/u/Stefan)
#### Post date: [September 5, 2024, 7:31pm UTC](https://forum.dccmuseum.com/t/repairing-a-portable-dcc-170-player-only-plays-the-b-side/1564/3 "2024-09-05T19:31:15Z")

</div>

I have a 170 too but it is not playing side B. I have faulty channels 5 and 6. So I think the head is broken.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![copymaster](https://forum.dccmuseum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/ea5d25/32.png) [@copymaster](https://forum.dccmuseum.com/u/copymaster)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2024, 9:31am UTC](https://forum.dccmuseum.com/t/repairing-a-portable-dcc-170-player-only-plays-the-b-side/1564/4 "2024-09-08T09:31:00Z")

</div>

Did you clean the head with IPA?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![Stefan](https://forum.dccmuseum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@Stefan](https://forum.dccmuseum.com/u/Stefan)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2024, 10:01am UTC](https://forum.dccmuseum.com/t/repairing-a-portable-dcc-170-player-only-plays-the-b-side/1564/5 "2024-09-08T10:01:40Z")

</div>

Yes. The problem is not the head but the flexcable. There is a glue to reinforce the cable and the glue damaged the cable. I have seen that under the microscope.