Mega STE and some needed ugprades

General discussions or ideas about hardware.
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olivier.jan
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Re: Mega STE and some needed ugprades

Post by olivier.jan »

UnderTheRain wrote: Thu Jul 14, 2022 6:46 pm
Thanks UTR, a few people have mentioned that and I'm chatting with Frank on this. The big cost is shipping and import duty potentially.
Are these external graphics cards e.g. the can't sit in the Mega STE case so they sit outside?
Yeah they are external it put me off at first but there are very few options these days if you can find a VME card I imagine it will be $$$ that being said isa mach 64's aren't cheap. I was thinking of making a 3d printed case for my et400 if I do I'll post it here.

UTR
It can be fitted internally, but it’s very very very tight. I installed my ET4000 like this using Franck’s adapter, but the ribbon cables needs to be folded. When I replaced the ET4000 with a Mach32, I printed an external case from thingyverse: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3638032
Retro stuff
520 STF/ 1040 STE / Mega ST / 2 Mega STE / 2 H5
2 x 600XL with U1MB /SOFIA 2/ AVG CART / and a few 1050
Apple //c, Commodore 128, Mac Classic, SE/30, LC, IIvi and PB G3 (Clamshell)
Amiga 600 and a few 486 and 386.
Many Nintendo G&W and other electronic games from the late 70s/early 80s.
UnderTheRain
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Joined: Sat Apr 03, 2021 2:08 am

Re: Mega STE and some needed ugprades

Post by UnderTheRain »

Thanks for the link :) although that's just added another project to my ever expanding list lol

UTR
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viking272
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Location: Reading, Berkshire, UK

Re: Mega STE and some needed ugprades

Post by viking272 »

rubber_jonnie wrote: Wed Jul 13, 2022 11:13 am Worth also checking if you have a 1.44MB floppy, as depending on age you could have a 720KB device, though it is easily upgraded.
So I checked the drive and Ajax chip against the Atari 1.44 Mb doc and it all checks out fine, with the drive being the Epson SMD-340 high density drive.
The sad news is that the drive doesn't work...it gives an error immediately it tries to read a disk (it doesn't even crunch away for 5-10 secs). This is the same for DS and HD floppies.
The same disks can be read fine elsewhere. I then swapped the floppy drive from my Falcon (the Epson SMD-300 model) and the Mega STE could read the floppy disks perfectly well - both DS and HD floppies.

I've cleaned up the heads with IPA but that didn't make a difference.

I'd like to repair it but it sounds like it might not be possible otherwise I'd look at an Alps or a Sony 920 disk drive and change the facia over. I got some nice suggestions from DoG on AF but any other thoughts let me know.

I was pleased to see the Mega STE also had TOS 2.06, 4 MB of RAM and a ASCI/SCSI v3 card with a SCSI drive. The motherboard is immaculate also, like someone had just cleaned it!
Random pictures / photos of the Mega STE are here:
https://1drv.ms/u/s!Am-dp61QGb-3hbMdjzI ... g?e=dDsUcz

One query is how do the red and black wires attach into the top case corner, they came off and its all rusty/corroded so not sure.
See attached photo.

red-black-wire.jpg
red-black-wire.jpg (184.79 KiB) Viewed 927 times
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olivier.jan
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Re: Mega STE and some needed ugprades

Post by olivier.jan »

The red and black wire connects to the power led but it rusts over time, killing the diode at the same time.
Best option is to replace the diode at the end of the wire and re-attach using a 3D printed part like this one: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2817996

Check the hard disk diode as it usually also suffer from the same issue.
Retro stuff
520 STF/ 1040 STE / Mega ST / 2 Mega STE / 2 H5
2 x 600XL with U1MB /SOFIA 2/ AVG CART / and a few 1050
Apple //c, Commodore 128, Mac Classic, SE/30, LC, IIvi and PB G3 (Clamshell)
Amiga 600 and a few 486 and 386.
Many Nintendo G&W and other electronic games from the late 70s/early 80s.
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viking272
Posts: 130
Joined: Mon Aug 10, 2020 11:32 am
Location: Reading, Berkshire, UK

Re: Mega STE and some needed ugprades

Post by viking272 »

olivier.jan wrote: Tue Aug 23, 2022 6:40 am The red and black wire connects to the power led but it rusts over time, killing the diode at the same time.
Best option is to replace the diode at the end of the wire and re-attach using a 3D printed part like this one: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2817996

Check the hard disk diode as it usually also suffer from the same issue.
Excellent, thanks for that info.
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stephen_usher
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Re: Mega STE and some needed ugprades

Post by stephen_usher »

Actually the bracket doesn't look too bad in the photo. Remove the (now hard) PVC grommet from it and treat with car anti-rust treatment to stabilise it and then give it a coat of paint.

A replacement LED would be a 2mm one, the replacement grommet is 2mm internal diameter for a 3mm hole and 6mm external diameter. I got a load from RS Components for not a lot of money.

You should check the hard drive bracket/cage as that suffers from the same problem.
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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viking272
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Location: Reading, Berkshire, UK

Re: Mega STE and some needed ugprades

Post by viking272 »

stephen_usher wrote: Tue Aug 23, 2022 10:05 am Actually the bracket doesn't look too bad in the photo. Remove the (now hard) PVC grommet from it and treat with car anti-rust treatment to stabilise it and then give it a coat of paint.

A replacement LED would be a 2mm one, the replacement grommet is 2mm internal diameter for a 3mm hole and 6mm external diameter. I got a load from RS Components for not a lot of money.

You should check the hard drive bracket/cage as that suffers from the same problem.
Thanks Stephen! Yes the bracket is fine, just needs cleaning up a little with a wire brush.
With the grommet can I get a 6mm one with internal 3mm hole for a 3mm LED? The 2mm LEDs and internal holes seem pretty rare.

Just out of interest was the power LED green and the hard disk LED orange? Both have stopped working.
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stephen_usher
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Re: Mega STE and some needed ugprades

Post by stephen_usher »

2mm LEDs are readily available from RS Components and Farnell.

Actually, now you mention it it may be 3mm LED with 3mm internal, 4mm + 6mm grommet too. I may be mis-remembering.

Yes, it's green power and orange drive.
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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viking272
Posts: 130
Joined: Mon Aug 10, 2020 11:32 am
Location: Reading, Berkshire, UK

Re: Mega STE and some needed ugprades

Post by viking272 »

stephen_usher wrote: Tue Aug 23, 2022 12:10 pm 2mm LEDs are readily available from RS Components and Farnell.

Actually, now you mention it it may be 3mm LED with 3mm internal, 4mm + 6mm grommet too. I may be mis-remembering.

Yes, it's green power and orange drive.
Cool, thanks.
I'll take a look at the bracket but I found these on ebay:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/263025515372 ... media=COPY

and the 3mm LEDs are on Farnell.

Being a novice I'm thinking I need a 3mm inside hole on the grommet if the LED is 3mm although you say a 4mm grommet? Won't the LED fall out :)
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stephen_usher
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Re: Mega STE and some needed ugprades

Post by stephen_usher »

viking272 wrote: Tue Aug 23, 2022 12:53 pm
stephen_usher wrote: Tue Aug 23, 2022 12:10 pm 2mm LEDs are readily available from RS Components and Farnell.

Actually, now you mention it it may be 3mm LED with 3mm internal, 4mm + 6mm grommet too. I may be mis-remembering.

Yes, it's green power and orange drive.
Cool, thanks.
I'll take a look at the bracket but I found these on ebay:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/263025515372 ... media=COPY

and the 3mm LEDs are on Farnell.

Being a novice I'm thinking I need a 3mm inside hole on the grommet if the LED is 3mm although you say a 4mm grommet? Won't the LED fall out :)
I'll try to find the part number for the grommets when I get home.
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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