I was never able to make the one on the left side unclip, no matter what I did. I sat and pushed on it for hours at work, nothing would make it unclip, so I eventually just pried that corner open. The area of that clip is absolutely mangled inside, but the unit still works.

What are the odds? I came here to figure out how to pry open my EX-122! 😄

dear sir.with the help of watchmrepairer's screws just scratch any visible place slowly extentions in all sides wil open!but can you tell me whether ex122 has 1belt or 2belts and the routes it tales inside spools?please reply!

There was only 1 belt. The path it took I think is in an L shape. I ended up throwing it out. Whatever issue it had, it got way worse and died. Gonna guess it was an issue with the motor. Because I switched belts and it still wasn't playing right. Figured it was time to give it up. Which is sad. I only had it for maybe 4 years, and who knows how much play it got before me. But I found mine in a thrift store for 50 cents.

I've had lots of Sony electronics since 1968, reel-to-reel tape, cassette, CD, radio and TV... all still working. I played cassettes at home and only used my 1980s Walkman for radio commentary at race tracks. It is now 2023 and out of curiosity I tried the cassette player for the first time and it wasn't working. I found your video and felt confident to open up the Walkman. The belt was off and jammed under a pulley wheel so it was a very simple fix. Thank you for your superb video.

I have the WM-EX116 and the same problem - did you manage to get yours open? My clips won't budge!

I did remove the door of a different walkman, if I remember correctly I just used a flat head screwdriver to unhook the hinges and it popped out. You do have to open the walkman and remove the mainboard ofcourse. I hope this helps you

@@myprofilenameis Thank you for your timely reply. It is authors such as yourself that make youtube learning invaluable.

I don't personally have one of those so I don't really know, but a youtuber called mymatevince uploaded a video fixing one of those. Maybe that helps

Usually it's the belt that needs to be replaced. However if the belt seems fine you could try messing around with the potentiometer.

It could be the belt is too tight or too thick, but you could also see if adjusting the potentiometer for the speed helps. I think the potentiometer is located next to the dc jack on the board looking at pictures online.

Push the tabs towards the battery compartment side, the 2 bigger ones should stay but the smaller one pops back. I had to work a plastic plectrum opening tool around the seam to pry it open. Start prying at the corner next to DC in. You should hear lots of cracks as you work it free from the claws. WM-EX116 has the same service manual as WM-EX120 freeservicemanuals.info/en/servicemanuals/download/Sony/wm-ex120.pdf

I personally never opened any of those before, there are no little arrows visible when you look inside like I did in the video?

You could gently try to pry along the seams with a plastic pry tool, the tabs could be hidden there. Other than that I'm not sure since I never opened that type of walkman :c

You push it in too hard? Might have lost control and slipped

I don't :( I have no experience with those models.

@@myprofilenameis No prob. Last night I managed to access it and successfully replaced the belt drive. Your video helped me feed the belt on correctly. Many thanks.

I used some white lithium grease

Unfortunatley I only have one camera so that's why it was off camera (out of view) All I did was push with a screwdriver. It takes a bit of practice though but the case should just pop open. What model walkman do you have?

Actually, it's not ENTIRELY idiotic. The problem is that those plastic clips can break. But on bolts alone it's not enough. Bolt holes are drilled in plastic, they can break too. You need a combination of sorts. Also, the more complex it gets the more expensive it becomes.

I often get them from a website called webspareparts

@@myprofilenameis Thank you. Will try to see if I can find something. I also have a Sony, but a slightly different model. The belt is still there, and still has SOME spinning capability to it, although it is a a bit stretched out. I got another weird problem. I press play, i hear the motor spinning but it is as fi there's a tape in there at its end, and the auto reverse (the equivalent to flipping the cassette over) kicks in and tries to spin it the other way around. When the system gives up on trying to spin, the pulleys spin for a a couple of revs before stopping. I'm hoping it's just the belt. AAAnyway, thanks for the vid.

​@@DrunkHog That could have to do with the belt yes, but I would also recommend cleaning the pinch rollers and capstan. While you have the walkman open it might also be a nice idea to replace the old grease with new grease to make everything run smooth again.