Falcon Restoration Project

[HigashiJun]

Is it the board that was on sale on Evilbay last week ?

It really looked bad...

[hunsra]

If I were to guess, somebody attempted to replace the NVRAM IC and messed it up. The wires to the CPU doesn't look like a good sign either.

In the meantime you can check connections between NVRAM and the other components, most likely there will be broken paths.

I guess you are aware of the fact that GALs have to be programmed, you can't just purchase and use them. :)

Thanks. I'm hoping the removed CPU mod isn't going to be a show stopper, but we will see once I check the connections and also try to power up. Yes, I have a programmer for the GAL and the appropriate files from the Atari Age forum. Hopefully the GAL IC I purchased is the correct part.

[hunsra]

Is it the board that was on sale on Evilbay last week ?

It really looked bad...

Yes it is! It looked bad, but I really wanted to try restoring it. After receiving it, I don't think it's as bad as I thought, but time will tell.

[hunsra]

I'll be searching for a case and keyboard, or suitable substitutions. If anyone knows of anything that can work, please advise.

The Falcon030 can use an ST keyboard. They are the same and the same connector just different colour keys. You'll never get a Falcon030 one through the main channels they almost never come up and when they do they go for $$$.

Cases are the equally unobtainium. They almost never come up for sale and when they do they are usually so expensive you could almost buy a Falcon030 for that price.

https://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?t=42980

Your only option really is to make your own. Find a PC tower case with a removable tray that is big enough to take the Falcon 030 motherboard and then build a tray to fit it. There have been lots of attempts to do a replacement Falcon030 tower case but usually the case chosen becomes EOL before the project has finished leaving them as one-offs.

I've tried for a long time just to get the bottom half of a Falcon030 case. The tops are similar enough to Atari ST ones that you might be able to modify it to fit (well that was my thought) but they don't come up either.

Lots of Falcon030s were rack-mounted in the 90s and their cases thrown away which explains why there are more motherboards than cases.

Thanks. That's good news about the keyboard, and I was wondering about that. I do have a 1024 STfm that I can use to supply the keyboard. I'll also look into modding its case to fit the board. I've seen some posts about the original PlayStation case being based on an unreleased Falcon successor case and thought about making one inspired by that shape. We'll see how ambitious I am after getting the board to work.

[HigashiJun]

@hunsra

Just hope the Videl chip isn't fried...

Of course, you can replace it, but its price on Evilbay is prohibitive.

Anyway, good luck with your repair !

[Rustynutt]

Here's a troubleshooting tip I discovered by accident. I'd left a removable NVRAM out of it's socket when testing EmuTos. And it boots!
While TOS can hang not receiving a signal back from the NVRAM at boot, apparently EmuTos doesn't use the same checks when it boote the machine. This was with EmuTos burned into an EPROM.
So if after reworking the other items and still staring at a black screen, something to keep handy, at least if there is indeed an NVRAM solder issue.

BTW, Best Electronics sells the VIDEL, COMBEL or SDMA for $45 each.

[hunsra]

Here's a troubleshooting tip I discovered by accident. I'd left a removable NVRAM out of it's socket when testing EmuTos. And it boots!
While TOS can hang not receiving a signal back from the NVRAM at boot, apparently EmuTos doesn't use the same checks when it boote the machine. This was with EmuTos burned into an EPROM.
So if after reworking the other items and still staring at a black screen, something to keep handy, at least if there is indeed an NVRAM solder issue.

BTW, Best Electronics sells the VIDEL, COMBEL or SDMA for $45 each.

Awesome advice. Thanks! I'll keep all of this in mind. I'm glad to hear the VIDEL chip is available for $45. I saw one on eBay for $2,400 and I was a little panicked!

[Rustynutt]

That's for a bulk lot :)

[sporniket]

Awesome advice. Thanks! I'll keep all of this in mind. I'm glad to hear the VIDEL chip is available for $45. I saw one on eBay for $2,400 and I was a little panicked!

Most likely, for that price, what you saw was a pack of 90+ Videl chips (but you have to read the description to see that it is not a sell for a single chip)

[mikro]

No no, that's price for one unit. BEST doesn't mess around (EDIT: Ah, you mean the $2400 sum, yes, that's for a pack).

As for the NVRAM outside Falcon, IIRC TOS behaviour depends on the version. Like 4.01 and 4.02 boots without NVRAM while 4.04 doesn't, something like that. AF is full of messages "it works for me" and "no, it doesn't", I think it was Pavel from Centuriontech who cracked this difference.