exxos's Atari, Amiga & retro forum

A final positive note regarding the PS3, the fan is 100% working, I played a demo of Uncharted and the more I played the faster the fan got :D

The bloody thing is a bit like a space heater 🤣

Little bit of lunchtime tinkering today, installing the new battery contacts in the GBA.

Here we are disassembled:


First thing I replaced was the case contacts, you can see how much better the new ones were:


Then I started the clean up, as you can see, despite a good cleanup previously, corrosion had returned and it was looking rough again. It had been washed with white vinegar though, and I think that helped minimise it:


I cleaned up with my fine fibreglass pencil and removed the old contacts so I could get in and clean up properly:


And once clean and scrubbed with IPA, I installed the new contacts:


Then tested to ensure it still turned on OK, then gave both areas a covering of conformal coating, zapped with UV, so I could be sure that the corrosion wouldn't return:


And all reassembled and tested just fine:


Of course removing the batteries before placing in storage in the first place would have been the better option, but at least it's all repaired now and I won't make that mistake again!!!

@rubber_jonnie Removing battery acid (alkali) yet again Jon? :D

mrbombermillzy wrote: 30 May 2023 15:08 @rubber_jonnie Removing battery acid (alkali) yet again Jon? :D

Its one of his less lethal pastimes :lol:

mrbombermillzy wrote: 30 May 2023 15:08 @rubber_jonnie Removing battery acid (alkali) yet again Jon? :D

Indeed I am, but a bit easier to deal with than the A5000, which is running still :)

My only issue with the A5000 is that the SCSI drive I have is not great, it's sticking, requiring a technical tap on the case to unstick it, so I do need to find a replacement, perhaps a BlueSCSI or something similar and get rid of the spinning rust altogether.

PhilC wrote: 30 May 2023 15:12

mrbombermillzy wrote: 30 May 2023 15:08 @rubber_jonnie Removing battery acid (alkali) yet again Jon? :D

Its one of his less lethal pastimes :lol:

Indeed it is :)

rubber_jonnie wrote: 30 May 2023 15:13 Indeed I am, but a bit easier to deal with than the A5000, which is running still :)

My only issue with the A5000 is that the SCSI drive I have is not great, it's sticking, requiring a technical tap on the case to unstick it, so I do need to find a replacement, perhaps a BlueSCSI or something similar and get rid of the spinning rust altogether.

Glad to hear it's working fine now. :)

As for those spinny things; I've been slowly transitioning from platter to digital drives over the last few years.

This retro computer collecting 'game' is far to fraught with failures already, without floppys moulding or HDDs seizing up. :lol:

However, having just a GOTEK in the Mega ST now does sometimes stop me from loading the odd random floppy that I find on my travels (like last Saturday's ST game find at the car boot sale).

mrbombermillzy wrote: 30 May 2023 15:24
Glad to hear its working fine now. :)

As for those spinny things; Ive been slowly transitioning from platter to digital drives over the last few years.

Yep, the IDE drive is a Transcend digital IDE drive, but the main SCSI drive definitely needs to go digital. Pretty much all of my retro machines are digital these days.

I do still worry about how long the SCSI drive in my Mac classic will last.

mrbombermillzy wrote: 30 May 2023 15:24 This retro computer collecting 'game' is far to fraught with failures already, without floppys moulding or HDDs seizing up. :lol:

It certainly is!!!

mrbombermillzy wrote: 30 May 2023 15:24 However, having just a GOTEK in the Mega ST now does sometimes stop me from loading the odd random floppy that I find on my travels (like last Saturdays ST game find at the car boot sale).

My MSTE does have an original 1.44MB floppy drive, and I'll be keeping that as long as possible, but it also has a CosmosEx attached as both a HDD and 2nd FDD, so I have lots of options with that. I do need to get the 2nd CosmosEx hooked up permanently as well, probably to my Mega ST4.

As far as I know (which is hard, because I always seem to find something in a different part of the house), I've got one 1.44 Atari Drive with a TT light cream bezel, which doesn't seem to read disks. I may need to bring it to the next meet for someone with the matching machine who wants to have a go at repairing it.

While we are on the subject Jon, any chance you will make it to the next meet up?

I'm sure I can speak for several of us here in saying you were missed last time. :)

mrbombermillzy wrote: 30 May 2023 15:38 As far as I know (which is hard, because I always seem to find something in a different part of the house), I've got one 1.44 Atari Drive with a TT light cream bezel, which doesn't seem to read disks. I may need to bring it to the next meet for someone with the matching machine who wants to have a go at repairing it.

While we are on the subject Jon, any chance you will make it to the next meet up?

I'm sure I can speak for several of us here in saying you were missed last time. :)

I appreciate the sentiment :)

Sadly, with all the family stuff last year and this, I just don't have the spare leave to come, though I'd like to.

Also, we have our annual holiday in September, making it even more unlikely. I think it likely that I won't be able to do much until next year.