A full Spectrum of emotions

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rubber_jonnie
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Re: A full Spectrum of emotions

Post by rubber_jonnie »

Both Z80s are good and the soak tests worked fine, I just need to fix the 'muddy' colours, which the manual suggests is an issue with TR2.

But not now, back to bed, see if I can sleep at all.
Collector of many retro things!
800XL and 65XE both with Ultimate1MB,VBXL/XE & PokeyMax, SIDE3, SDrive Max, 2x 1010 cassette, 2x 1050 one with Happy mod, 3x 2600 Jr, 7800 and Lynx II
Approx 20 STs, including a 520 STM, 520 STFMs, 3x Mega ST, MSTE & 2x 32 Mhz boosted STEs
Plus the rest, totalling around 50 machines including a QL, 3x BBC Model B, Electron, Spectrums, ZX81 etc...
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JezC
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Re: A full Spectrum of emotions

Post by JezC »

rubber_jonnie wrote: Mon Oct 02, 2023 5:18 pm Both Z80s are good and the soak tests worked fine, I just need to fix the 'muddy' colours, which the manual suggests is an issue with TR2.

But not now, back to bed, see if I can sleep at all.
I think it's the lack of sleep which causes the biggest problem for me.
Get better soon!
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rubber_jonnie
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Re: A full Spectrum of emotions

Post by rubber_jonnie »

JezC wrote: Mon Oct 02, 2023 5:25 pm
rubber_jonnie wrote: Mon Oct 02, 2023 5:18 pm Both Z80s are good and the soak tests worked fine, I just need to fix the 'muddy' colours, which the manual suggests is an issue with TR2.

But not now, back to bed, see if I can sleep at all.
I think it's the lack of sleep which causes the biggest problem for me.
Get better soon!
And for me. I had virtually none last night, and although I did get some this afternoon, it wasn't much.
Collector of many retro things!
800XL and 65XE both with Ultimate1MB,VBXL/XE & PokeyMax, SIDE3, SDrive Max, 2x 1010 cassette, 2x 1050 one with Happy mod, 3x 2600 Jr, 7800 and Lynx II
Approx 20 STs, including a 520 STM, 520 STFMs, 3x Mega ST, MSTE & 2x 32 Mhz boosted STEs
Plus the rest, totalling around 50 machines including a QL, 3x BBC Model B, Electron, Spectrums, ZX81 etc...
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HigashiJun
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Re: A full Spectrum of emotions

Post by HigashiJun »

Yes, a good rest is a must when you are ill.

So a day without tinkering with your retro stuff will be very helpful for you.

:lol:
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rubber_jonnie
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Re: A full Spectrum of emotions

Post by rubber_jonnie »

HigashiJun wrote: Tue Oct 03, 2023 10:35 am Yes, a good rest is a must when you are ill.

So a day without tinkering your retro stuff will be very helpful for you.

:lol:
It's been kind of forced on me, I just had to go to bed, felt so awful. Up, showered and dressed today, but it only made me feel better briefly, wanting to go back to bed now...
Collector of many retro things!
800XL and 65XE both with Ultimate1MB,VBXL/XE & PokeyMax, SIDE3, SDrive Max, 2x 1010 cassette, 2x 1050 one with Happy mod, 3x 2600 Jr, 7800 and Lynx II
Approx 20 STs, including a 520 STM, 520 STFMs, 3x Mega ST, MSTE & 2x 32 Mhz boosted STEs
Plus the rest, totalling around 50 machines including a QL, 3x BBC Model B, Electron, Spectrums, ZX81 etc...
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HigashiJun
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Re: A full Spectrum of emotions

Post by HigashiJun »

I understand you...
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rubber_jonnie
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Re: A full Spectrum of emotions

Post by rubber_jonnie »

Feeling better this morning, so after I found a new PSU for the CPC, I had a look at the original Spectrum + board to try and figure out what the video issue was. A bit of scoping and all the signals looked good at the LM1889, so I then wondered if there was a cold joint on one of the CHROMA pins where I'd removed the LM1889 and fitted the socket.

It turns out there wasn't, but I noticed pin 1 looked like the track over to C39 had a break. Sure enough, doing a buzz test and cross referencing to my spare board, and there was indeed a break, but very difficult to see. I can only assume I did it desoldering the LM, it's a super fine track, so it wouldn't take much.

Bodge wire time:

PXL_20231004_111418524.jpg
PXL_20231004_111418524.jpg (365.68 KiB) Viewed 511 times

And it is working again. The + is now reassembled and running a soak test:

PXL_20231004_113503088.jpg
PXL_20231004_113503088.jpg (391.29 KiB) Viewed 511 times

So far all good :) EDIT - 0ver 200 iterations later and all is well.

So it looks like this is the end of the Spectrum saga. I thought it would be just the one machine to begin with, but it ended up as 3. As a bonus, I now have a fully working spares board just in case, that turned up dead from eBay (I expected it to be dead) and I was able to revive.

It really has been a full Spectrum of emotions!!!

On a side note, doing all this stuff this morning has just made me feel ill again, so back to bed for me, at least I can write this and then go have a nap...
Collector of many retro things!
800XL and 65XE both with Ultimate1MB,VBXL/XE & PokeyMax, SIDE3, SDrive Max, 2x 1010 cassette, 2x 1050 one with Happy mod, 3x 2600 Jr, 7800 and Lynx II
Approx 20 STs, including a 520 STM, 520 STFMs, 3x Mega ST, MSTE & 2x 32 Mhz boosted STEs
Plus the rest, totalling around 50 machines including a QL, 3x BBC Model B, Electron, Spectrums, ZX81 etc...
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JezC
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Re: A full Spectrum of emotions

Post by JezC »

@rubber_jonnie Glad that you are starting to feel better. The lack of energy is what's causing me the most problems too, so hope you get a good rest!
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stephen_usher
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Re: A full Spectrum of emotions

Post by stephen_usher »

Good news on the health front, for both you and the speccy. :-)
Intro retro computers since before they were retro...
ZX81->Spectrum->Memotech MTX->Sinclair QL->520STM->BBC Micro->TT030->PCs & Sun Workstations.
Added code to the MiNT kernel (still there the last time I checked) + put together MiNTOS.
Collection now with added Macs, Amigas, Suns and Acorns.
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rubber_jonnie
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Re: A full Spectrum of emotions

Post by rubber_jonnie »

JezC wrote: Wed Oct 04, 2023 2:27 pm @rubber_jonnie Glad that you are starting to feel better. The lack of energy is what's causing me the most problems too, so hope you get a good rest!
Thanks. In bed now after lunch, very tired despite sleeping well last night.
Collector of many retro things!
800XL and 65XE both with Ultimate1MB,VBXL/XE & PokeyMax, SIDE3, SDrive Max, 2x 1010 cassette, 2x 1050 one with Happy mod, 3x 2600 Jr, 7800 and Lynx II
Approx 20 STs, including a 520 STM, 520 STFMs, 3x Mega ST, MSTE & 2x 32 Mhz boosted STEs
Plus the rest, totalling around 50 machines including a QL, 3x BBC Model B, Electron, Spectrums, ZX81 etc...
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