Arcade & Retro Repairs & Mods, all new recipe, with no added MSG...

o1s1n

This is the lad I got my Vectrex cap kit from. Might be worth sending him an email

http://console5.com/store/kits.html

anthonyross

i was wondering what is the best way to clean a amiga 500 keybord and how can ya tell if the motherboard is fryed any help please thanks

Dr Bob

anthonyross wrote: »

i was wondering what is the best way to clean a amiga 500 keybord and how can ya tell if the motherboard is fryed any help please thanks

if its any use I've an amiga 500 plus up on adverts for spares
http://www.adverts.ie/1642118

anthonyross

alright its alright got it done last night just working on another one thanks

Retr0gamer

US versions of Castlevania, Simons Quest and Castlevania 3 I was watching went for a little of $22 and $8 postage. Balls. I was working at the polls so couldn't bid

safetyboy

o1s1n wrote: »

This is the lad I got my Vectrex cap kit from. Might be worth sending him an email

http://console5.com/store/kits.html

I need to get a complete gamegear cap kit, is this the best place to get it from?

Steve X2

Just finished working on the insides of my Vectrex to try and debuzz it a little as it was slightly louder than even a Vectrex should be.
I didn't do a lot except move a few wires around and use some electrical tape to tidy them up a little but it is a little quieter now and probably on par with how other units sound.

I'll get the prober debuzz mod done at a later date by myself or someone else but for now its a bit better.

.

o1s1n

I'm just after coming across a Demon Front cart on ebay which wont boot up going for a bit cheaper than normal (still comes to 62 euro after postage though:()

Those carts have two PCBs inside and then the eeproms. I wonder could I combine the two to make a working cart?

Just messaged the selling asking if he'll come down in price at all seeing as it's broken.

Dr Bob

Rightio , good news first , picked up a boxed US SNES from a certain dublin shop.Boxed but no psu or leads .I have spares and the bits to make up an adaptor cable via mmmonkeys site.
http://www.mmmonkey.co.uk/console/nintendo/snes-power.htm
Grand , tested the polarity with a multimeter , double checked it was right, tried SNES .
Nada, no power no picture.
So I've just ordered a gamebit screwdriver from retrobits as the old biro/lighter trick does not work on this baby.The wait is killing me though as I'm itching to open it up and hopefully fix it.

I reckon its either a/ the 1.5 amp pico fuse or b/ a blown voltage regulator (given its a US one I'd say this is more likely)
Any idea's where to get either of them lads though?

Retr0gamer

Send it back and buy it from somewhere that actually tests the console first?

Dr Bob

ah..not an option here ,I actually got this at a reasonable enough price and to be blunt I simply cant afford to buy one elsewhere

anyway tbh I need the practice fixing consoles!

Steve X2

Anyone know which chip inside the C64 controls input? It's to fix that joystick issue on my original c64 as I've just got a free c64 and want to use it for parts.

The Last Bandit

Joystick ports are connected to U1 - MOS 6526 CIA according to this schematic

Steve X2

The Last Bandit wrote: »

Joystick ports are connected to U1 - MOS 6526 CIA according to this schematic

Cheers, after replacing the MOS 6526 chip (I have 2 socketed 6526 chips on my c64 and only 1 socketed and one soldered on the donor c64 and both are the same c64 revision??) I got the joystick working.

Only problem now is that my display is a bit weird. It boots up in colour and then goes very weird and the colour sort of leaks off the screen and it stays in black and white until a reboot (I'm using a c64 video cable going to my c64 monitor, it has chroma and luma etc and worked fine up til now. Monitor is fine as NES plays perfectly). Also some sprites in carts and tapes are corrupt but play ok.

I did swap over the display chip into the donor c64 as that was supposedly the only issue with it and I was hoping for a quick fix. It did fix the display on the donor machine but it had other issues so i swapped it back.

Now I have this colour and corruption issue :(

The Last Bandit

The VIC is working then, you confirmed this is with the other C64.

The color signal is feed thru the RF modulator (Pin 3 input) and outputted on Pin 7 to the monitor connector. Try hooking up the RF output and see if the signal is any better ?
I suspect something bad in the RF unit might be bleeding the colour.

Steve X2

The Last Bandit wrote: »

The VIC is working then, you confirmed this is with the other C64.

The color signal is feed thru the RF modulator (Pin 3 input) and outputted on Pin 7 to the monitor connector. Try hooking up the RF output and see if the signal is any better ?
I suspect something bad in the RF unit might be bleeding the colour.

The video is coming out via the A/V port on the back with a proper C64 Luma/Chromo cable. I'm in London now (Japan tomorrow) so will have another look when I get back but if you do think of anything else let me know a I'm determined to have a perfectly work C64 sooner rather than later.

If I find a perfectly working one for a decent price I might grab it and install it inside the case of my current machine as its nice and clean with no yellowing(or very little at least).

Steve X2

A pic of my C64 from earlier today which has had a bath in my custom Retr0brite formula next to the donor C64 which has not.
Can you tell which is which?




Also, got this C64 hard plastic cover. It needs some Retr0brite love but I've not seen one like this before.

a5y

That reminds me. I've an Apple keyboard II from 1991 that needs a retr0Brite bath. BADLY.





It must be rare though, because they misspelled "China" on the back. :pac:

Steve X2

Yeah, I've a Macintosh that was built in Ireland as well. They made them down in Cork I think.

Dale Parish

I've really only begun starting work on my Apple collection (having put the IBM one on hold) but I've gotten ahold of a Mac Classic (as pictured) and SE/30; working on getting another SE signed by Steve Wozniak so hopefully that one will go through :pac:
I've also a Apple IIc and Apple LC (all with keyboards etc bar the IIc which has it built in) and they're all made in Ireland

The Last Bandit

Tried to change the laser in my 3DO recently, bloody thing only last a month or so before dying and drive spindle motor is knackered as well by the sound of it.

Anyway, the Sanyo 92.5 11/4 pin long lead laser which is 'compatible' is not actually all that compatible after all.
The 4 pin connector is a different size and the laser assembly needs to be drilled out to 3.5mm before the worm screw will fit.

All online suppliers I've tried only seem to stock the 'newer' long lead version of the laser assembly.

Doge

Steve SI wrote: »

A pic of my C64 from earlier today which has had a bath in my custom Retr0brite formula next to the donor C64 which has not.
Can you tell which is which?




Also, got this C64 hard plastic cover. It needs some Retr0brite love but I've not seen one like this before.

Was the hard cover + c64 aquired recently from an ebay auction?


If so then I think you outbid me, and I forced you to pay a higher price than I was comfortable with!

Steve X2

waveform wrote: »

Was the hard cover + c64 aquired recently from an ebay auction?


If so then I think you outbid me, and I forced you to pay a higher price than I was comfortable with!

Nope, free of charge for the donor C64 and hard cover from the guy who sold the the original C64 that I have the issues with(originally from adverts). He also dropped them to the house free of charge the day before I was heading off to Japan.
He had a rather interesting computer hobby kit from the 70's or maybe very early 80's to show me as well.

How much did the ebay auction go for?

Dale Parish

Steve SI wrote: »

Nope, free of charge for the donor C64 and hard cover from the guy who sold the the original C64 that I have the issues with(originally from adverts). He also dropped them to the house free of charge the day before I was heading off to Japan.
He had a rather interesting computer hobby kit from the 70's or maybe very early 80's to show me as well.

How much did the ebay auction go for?

An Altair? :D (highly unlikley but you never know...)

Steve X2

Dale Parish wrote: »

An Altair? :D (highly unlikley but you never know...)

RSA 8000 or something like that. I asked him to post here as I know a certain Dale that might have more info on it
He has a few rare mainframe things as well.

Dale Parish

Steve SI wrote: »

RSA 8000 or something like that. I asked him to post here as I know a certain Dale that might have more info on it
He has a few rare mainframe things as well.

Jebus. I saw 1 or 2 on adverts and thought they must be the only big iron left in Ireland but I guess not...
Very difficult to find these days..

Doge

Steve SI wrote: »

Nope, free of charge for the donor C64 and hard cover from the guy who sold the the original C64 that I have the issues with(originally from adverts). He also dropped them to the house free of charge the day before I was heading off to Japan.
He had a rather interesting computer hobby kit from the 70's or maybe very early 80's to show me as well.

How much did the ebay auction go for?

About £60, although the international shipping seems a bit low, so maybe the seller misquoted....


http://www.ebay.ie/itm/251094635754?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2648



Now that I look its a different hard cover to yours, instead of a logo it has "commodore" written on it!

Glad we didn't step on each others toes!

the groutch

quick question

is it even worth trying to get an original Xbox with a disc read error fixed, or would it cost more than it's worth?

Dr Bob

Dr Bob wrote: »

Rightio , good news first , picked up a boxed US SNES from a certain dublin shop.Boxed but no psu or leads .I have spares and the bits to make up an adaptor cable via mmmonkeys site.
http://www.mmmonkey.co.uk/console/nintendo/snes-power.htm
Grand , tested the polarity with a multimeter , double checked it was right, tried SNES .
Nada, no power no picture.
So I've just ordered a gamebit screwdriver from retrobits as the old biro/lighter trick does not work on this baby.The wait is killing me though as I'm itching to open it up and hopefully fix it.

I reckon its either a/ the 1.5 amp pico fuse or b/ a blown voltage regulator (given its a US one I'd say this is more likely)
Any idea's where to get either of them lads though?

rightio, finally got my gamebit set today (which means I now have a spare 3.8mm gamebit for trade), opened it up , continuity tested the fuse , continuity tested the switch , continuity tested the pins on the PSU socket, all fine.Cleaned it , retested the power .
Nothing.
Finally on a whim I did something I'd deliberately avoided doing , swapped the polarity on the PSU adaptor pins.
And.
It.
Worked!
No idea why , it should be neg on centre pin , so it should be the opposite to the megadrive , yet it works.Either:
a/ I'm reading the multimeter wrong (which is odd as it was originally giving the opposite polarity to the meg no matter what way I tested.
b/ the guide I was using (mmmonkeys ) was wrong
c/ the SNES had a weird mod done pervisouly to reverse the polarity of the pins and nothing else?!?
d/ witchcraft.

I still need to get the right RGB cable as AV is giving an ntsc signal , which my portable doesnt like , (main TV is working fine)

Retr0gamer

SNES RGB cables are strange beasts. Check out MMMonkey to see how to mod a RGB cable for SNES. Sometimes you have to remove the resistors in the cables to get it working.