One other thing - when I first plug it in, the platter spins backwards for about 3 seconds before stopping. Happens every time I plug it in.

Hi Jacope Did you renew the cap on the prcessor-board (47uF if I remember) in the uPC - can?, quiet important. Usually there are two flat wires to the front panel. One is just for the display , the other for the buttons. The flat wire for the buttons is only sticking in the mainbords connector, so high risk of pulling it out a little bit while handling the boards and there is no connection to one of the outer wires, so please recheck these. Another fact is when already pulled out to missalign the wires while sticking back into the connector so there are maybe two of them in one hole. Don´t ask me why I know this ;-)) Did you measure the voltage for the LDR in the frontpanel? This could cause lot of funny problems if not aligned according the SM. So first is to bring the Beogram back to life, after that we could look for the backspinning, which is quiet usual a little bit as the the unit is plugged in, but not for 3 seconds. Mine makes just about a 1/4 to 1/2 round backwards when plugged in. Kind regards Christian