Sorry to hear about your player problems. I am in Auckland and have a MkIIa player working fine. I have only opened a player to replace a defective HD cable. Fortuntely I have not needed to be so adventurous or brave as you in soldering loose pins!

In any case, I would be glad to help if I could. I am not much at hardware repair but if you need a unit to compare yours to let me know.

Michael