• Does the arm swing across the record after the stylus (needle) is lowered onto the record ?
• Is the stylus jumping out of the record grooves ?
• Is there a stylus to be seen ?
• Is the tiny, delicate stylus rod there ? (Stylus rod is about 1mm diameter, protruding about 10mm horizontally from the cartridge, at the end of the arm). It may have been broken off, or it is there but bent badly, or the tiny diamond at the end is missing, and the sound is dreadful.
• There is often a tiny rubber ring, witch locates the stylus in its holder. It is prone to warping and hardening with age.

There may be a replacement stylus available for the old cartridge you have. If not, there is a large number of new cartridges available.

Is the turntable turns on and the platter does not turn?  Most turntables have rubber drive belts, which degrade over time. Replacement belts with a range of belt lengths are available.

A lot of turntables have been in storage for long time, and are not working properly. Servicing them usually brings them back to working order. Old grease and dust stops them from working good.

TURNTABLE SERVICE AND ADJUSTMENTS

Service incudes

Clean, grease and oil all mechanical parts, clean the stylus, check and clean the 4 wires from the cartridge to the 4 contact points on the headshell for possible problems (they can become brittle with age and thus give very poor connections which will result in noise and intermittent signals.

Adjustments includes the following

• Speed with digital stroboscope
• Vertical Tracking Force (VTF) with digital stylus force (pressure) gauge
• Overhang with alignment protractor
• Vertical Tracking Angle (VTA). Proper VTA will be achieved by trial and error through listening tests
• Azimuth with a mirror
• Anti Skate Bias with a blank record

Some turntables are direct drive type, and may have more complicated problems. They have a complex electronics board and special motor to spin the platter. A number of these may not be repairable.