Greetings from Wiltshire, UK

[nigcube]

Hello all, I'm Nigel and I'm here because my childhood 520STFM hates me...

No, it doesn't, although I can understand why if it does. You see, I abandoned it in the early nineties and became a hardcore Amiga user (with a fully pimped-out A4000, but that's another story) leaving my ST stored in various lofts until I finally resurrected it a few years ago.

Luckily, unlike other vintage computers that seem to dissolve in long-term storage, my ST worked perfectly when I first switched it on after a thirty-three year slumber. For safety I replaced the PSU (with a Meanwell unit) before I continued on my merry way playing my old games and wincing at the terrible Degas Elite pictures and TCB Tracker modules the teenage me had created...

...until the keyboard failed. Mouse input was fine but the keyboard was not recognised and clicking a mouse button caused the machine to freeze. I searched the web for a solution, I reflowed the solder points on the joystick ports, I replaced both ICs on the keyboard but alas, no joy. In the end I purchased a replacement keyboard from Ebay and the problem was solved. I resumed my journey back in time and laughed at my old rubbish GFA BASIC programs...

...until the floppy drive died. And I mean properly died, making evil noises and gouging grooves into any floppy disk I inserted. No messing around, this time I went straight back onto Ebay and bought a replacement drive. The 'Ship of Theseus' ST was alive once more! I played Captain Blood, Xenon, Oids, oh I was having so much fun...

...until it crashed, two maybe three bombs. Okay, I could boot into Desktop but the moment I ran anything memory-intensive the machine would crash and greet me with two bombs. Why do you hate me ST, why?

RAM tests and diagnostic carts lead me to believe my ST has a failed RAM chip but I'm unsure how to read the information correctly (I'll post in the Hardware section and plead for help later). In the meantime the ST sits in a plastic box in the office amongst the remains of its former innards, staring at me with vengeful intent. I want it to work. It doesn't want to work. I will win this battle.

Anyway, thanks for letting me join and thanks for all of your posts on this forum, you've helped me nurse my way back into the wonderful world of the Atari ST.

[exxos]

:welcomewave:

Yes these machines are a nightmare once they get in a "sulk" unfortunately.

[JezC]

:swave:

Welcome to the forum!

Hope you get some helpful suggestions to resurrect your ST - maybe start by looking at the mandatory fixes and run a RAM test - a diagnostic cartridge might be a worthwhile investment.

[rubber_jonnie]

:welcomewave:

[alexh]

Welcome. I'm based in Oxfordshire but I'm in Wiltshire (Swindon) every other weekend. I hope you kept your pimped out A4000?

It was the other way around in my house. I was an Amiga user as a kid with an A500 and later a pimped out A4000 who became an Atari enthusiast having worked with Dave "Spaz" Moss and James "SainT" Boulton at Argonaut in the late 90s.

[Steve]

First things first, take out any socketed chips (including plccs) spray sockets & chips with contact cleaner and replace. Inspect legs of any plcc chips for corrosion/greying, if required, can be cleaned up with a fibreglass pen. This is to make sure you don't get any false results. ie; you might think you have bad memory, but could just be a bad contact for the mmu/glue. Remember 'back in the day' the Atari was famous for the 'drop it on the desk' fix? :)

[stephen_usher]

:welcomewave: