The feed dog will not advance the material

The fabric does not advance... you need to observe the motion of the feed dogs (sawtooth strips of metal).

Turn machine on. Select a straight stitch with length 4 or 5. Then with foot lever up, manually rotate hand wheel and watch for feed dogs to raise up (above the needle plate) and move toward the rear and then lower (below needle plate), move toward the front of machine and then repeate the cycle for every stroke of the needle bar.

You may want to remove the needle plate for a better view of the feed dog movement and the rotary hook.

I suspect you will find either the feed dogs are not raising high enough or not moving at all.

Comment for further assistance.

Do the feed dogs move above the surface of the needle plate? If not, then the feed dogs have been dropped for darning or they have seized from lack of oil.


Wheel on right side that controls the needle up and down is very tight...

Confirm the feed dogs are raised. Make sure the feed dog teeth, area under the needle plate and the bobbin area are clean of any debris, thread, or buildup. Some machines also have a presser foot pressure adjustment that increases the pressure the presser foot applies to the feed dogs. The feed dogs could be worn (never run the sewing machine without fabric between the presser foot & feed dogs).

https://www.manualslib.com/manual/508740/Singer-Athena-2000.html

Or, the machine has not had a thorough cleaning and oiling recently and the feed dogs are sticking from old oil.

Wheel on right side that controls the needle up and down is very tight...

May be an issue with the feed dogs, or possibly a burr on the hook. Lay a peice of scrap material under the foot as if you were going to sew, remove needle, then run machine in reverse to see if it feeds material backwards as it should

try using maximum stitch length, if still not working try removing needle plate and clean you teeth

here is a link for a free manual, check to see if the feed dog lever is up in the sewing position, if the feed dog lever is down then try to raise it up. if it will not raise then the machine needs to be check to see what's wrong with the feed dog.
http://www.singerco.com/uploads/download/6dc4cd61b0c61a5fc13e60785f01d29199328059.pdf

Make sure feed dogs (teeth in needle plate beneath needle) are showing. Flip switch to UP position to "feed" fabric. Sometimes control fir this located on back of machine lower left side and " hidden" by your extension table, so remove that table and you'll find the switch! Jimmy

check in the needle plate area to see if the feed dogs are up,,you be able to see them & touch them with your fingers.
if you can see & feel them, then check the manual for where the feed dog lever is & move it to the opposite position, & then if that doesn't make the machine sew better then it will have to be fixed at a repair shop

the feed dogs in the needle plate area move the fabric while the presser foot holds the fabric against the feed dogs, the operation manual should show where the feed dogs switch is

Is the feed dog pushed to the up position? How about selecting a stitch length? I have a feeling watching the dvd and instruction manual will do wonders for you, If you lost your manual, go online to www.singerco.com and download one for free,