Singer 9217, stitches aren't catching?

A friend of mine bought me a sewing machine at an auction. It didn't come with a manual, so I'm not sure if I'm threading it properly. But I got it all threaded and the bobbin in there, but now when I try to sew, most of the stitches don't catch. I've adjusted the tension and rethreaded a few times, but nothing seems to work. Could the machine just be a dud?
Julie, September 2009


done
I just fixed my own problem, but I thought I'd put the answer here for anyone else having the same problem. I read through some of the other questions and saw that sometimes this problem can be fixed by replacing the needle. So I tried that and voila! It works perfectly now!

Julie, September 2009
link Click here to see other fixes for Singer 9217.