How to fix "blank screen syndrome" on Sony Walkman WM-F2085
November 29, 2023Revised July 24, 2025
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Today, I woke up and tried listening to FM radio on my trusty Walkman only to find the LCD blank and the tuning/band/preset buttons completely inoperable (the "Mega Bass" switch still worked, as well as cassette playback). Changed the batteries, no dice. Then fearing a torn ribbon cable, I carefully removed the four tiny screws that hold the Walkman together, then took off the plastic shell.
Thankfully the ribbon cable to the Walkman's front panel was alright. What could be causing this?
I immediately began thinking caps. This Walkman is from the 90's, when electrolytic capacitors were at their worst. Electronic equipment from that era will often suffer from caps that leak, releasing acid that can eventually dissolve copper traces on circuit boards.
I began discharging caps at random using my screwdriver, and found the one [leads circled in photos] that keeps the memory powered when the batteries are temporarily removed. The Walkman's memory stores the time and station presets but is also volatile, which means its contents will be lost if left unpowered. After discharging this cap the LCD lit up with the time as 12:00 AM, and everything worked fine after that. This means the Walkman's memory might've been corrupted. If this syndrome occurs and you're unable to disassemble the Walkman I think you could try removing the batteries and waiting for the capacitor to empty.
This fix should work for similar models.
Update 7/24/25: This behavior has not occurred again.
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