Reply #8: If it has a tape in it...

[HamstersFromHell]

I'd suspect the tape's twisted, broken or jammed.

When you power it on, if it senses a tape present it'll try to pull a length of tape from the magazine. Sort of a stand-by mode. If it doesn't detect that the tape properly loaded, or if there's too much current being drawn by the motor driving the mechanism, it'll cut itself off as a safety precaution.

Unplug it, pop the cover, remove the tape by rolling the drive (usually a belt on one side or the other of the loading slot) so that the tape is ejected.

Once tape is removed, power it up and see if it'll ramain powered. If so and tape's damaged, you *might* try another tape. I'd recommend a good cleaning...quite often kids handle tapes with "icky" fingers, and that rubs off the tape and into the VCR.