Problem(s) Encountered:

The very first target of the night was a standard star (BD +28 4211) at +28 degrees, and the telescope refused to settle -- it oscillated in dec maybe a few arcminutes, hunting for the target.  While it was doing this the dec readout was frozen — it wasn't following the telescope. I stopped the set and tried to move it with the paddle, with the same result - no dec readout. 

Solution:

I pulled apart the casing for the renishaw tape and found it to be quite dirty.  Head indicator was GREEN (optimal is BLUE).  I wiped down the entirety of the tape which significantly improved its appearance.  Buttoned everything up and SET through the problematic area.