PhilCs blog / the latest things hes broken(fixed)

[PhilC]

So lately I’ve been buying a few “broken” or “spares repairs” computers from eBay for a bit of a challenge to see if I could get them up and running.

The latest purchases have been a Sinclair QL and PSU that I got for £10 and an A1054 G4 iBook also for £10.

I’d been watching @rubber_jonnie and his PS4 repair episodes and fancied something a bit more difficult to fix, hence the two purchases above.

It turns out that the QL booted to green and red vertical stripes on the screen. I’ve traced this down to a bunch of blown 4864 chips and a 74LS257 chip. Turns out that even if you think you’ve got all the logic chips you’ll ever need that another comes along and you have to buy a bunch of those too. So memory chips fixed, just waiting on the LS257. So I was pleased with the QL challenge as I had to do a fair bit of scoping to diagnose the issues.

Next up was the supposed non functional iBook. First it hit a bit of a clean, it’s a bit scratched outside but a bit of polish will fix this up. The screen and keyboard actually look like brand new, as did the computer internals. So just cleaned it, then made myself a PSU adaptor for it as it’s 24VDC but through an 16th stereo jack. Plugged it in, cool the battery lights indicate it’s charging. Give it a few mins, press the power button and it’s only gone and booted up.

So never rule out those £10 purchases.

In other news I’ve now got 4 commodore Plus/4s as well, two working nicely now, one with lots of keys missing and one that stubbornly refuses to boot. Guess I’m looking at that one next.

[rubber_jonnie]

So lately I’ve been buying a few “broken” or “spares repairs” computers from eBay for a bit of a challenge to see if I could get them up and running.

The latest purchases have been a Sinclair QL and PSU that I got for £10 and an A1054 G4 iBook also for £10.

I’d been watching @rubber_jonnie and his PS4 repair episodes and fancied something a bit more difficult to fix, hence the two purchases above.

It turns out that the QL booted to green and red vertical stripes on the screen. I’ve traced this down to a bunch of blown 4864 chips and a 74LS257 chip. Turns out that even if you think you’ve got all the logic chips you’ll ever need that another comes along and you have to buy a bunch of those too. So memory chips fixed, just waiting on the LS257. So I was pleased with the QL challenge as I had to do a fair bit of scoping to diagnose the issues.

Next up was the supposed non functional iBook. First it hit a bit of a clean, it’s a bit scratched outside but a bit of polish will fix this up. The screen and keyboard actually look like brand new, as did the computer internals. So just cleaned it, then made myself a PSU adaptor for it as it’s 24VDC but through an 16th stereo jack. Plugged it in, cool the battery lights indicate it’s charging. Give it a few mins, press the power button and it’s only gone and booted up.

So never rule out those £10 purchases.

In other news I’ve now got 4 commodore Plus/4s as well, two working nicely now, one with lots of keys missing and one that stubbornly refuses to boot. Guess I’m looking at that one next.

Sometimes you just get lucky and stuff just works. I had to look at my Spectrum a little while back, and it turned out it was just bad wiring and not totally dead!!!

I double dare you to try a PS3 or 4

As for those Plus 4's, I hope it's not the CPU or TED

[PhilC]

@rubber_jonnie I have a PS2, PS4 & PS5 but not a 1 or 3 yet, so you never know.

[rubber_jonnie]

@rubber_jonnie I have a PS2, PS4 & PS5 but not a 1 or 3 yet, so you never know.

Ahh, but any of them broken?

[Icky]

Stop encouraging him @rubber_jonnie


In all seriousness it’s good to see these £10 items can be brought back to life with a little effort. Admiral job @PhilC

[rubber_jonnie]

Stop encouraging him @rubber_jonnie

He needs little encouragement

In all seriousness it’s good to see these £10 items can be brought back to life with a little effort. Admiral job @PhilC

It's always good to see tech of any sort being brought back to life.

[PhilC]

@Icky @rubber_jonnie i think if I had the space I’ve got enough machines now to start an 8 bit museum.

In reality I do buy broken computers and sell them on once in a while to fund the hobby. I’ve mainly been buying Amstrad CPCs and Plus/4s at the mo but anything goes if the price is right

[rubber_jonnie]

@Icky @rubber_jonnie i think if I had the space I’ve got enough machines now to start an 8 bit museum.

In reality I do buy broken computers and sell them on once in a while to fund the hobby. I’ve mainly been buying Amstrad CPCs and Plus/4s at the mo but anything goes if the price is right

I'm terrible, I just won't sell anything on, and if you include my handhelds and consoles, I've upwards of 70 machines, so I could also start a museum. Some come out rarely, others see a lot of use.

Some are out permanently because of the memories they evoke, but I do now find myself more interested in broken stuff because the thrill is in the fix.

I recently did a presentation for work on my hobby, we had a 'Spotlight On' series for a few employees. It went down very well indeed and I got an offer of 2 Apple Newtons and 2 HP IPAQs from a colleague in the US, and an offer of faulty PS3 and PS4 from another colleague in London. I do seem to be going a bit console mad ATM, but there is a certain thrill to learning some new techniques such as the surface mount stuff and reballing etc.

[JezC]

I enjoy hearing about all your successes (and the sometimes difficult journey to get back to a working machine) especially as I keep finding my time is being taken with other things than my retro hobbies at the moment.

With my son preparing to start at Uni I might get a little bit more time for the autumn to make some progress on the backlog (or at least that is the hope!) but just in case that doesn't happen, please keep posting about these projects.

On a more positive note, work has just loaned me a Salae logic anaylser to try out (plus there is talk of upgrading some of the Rigol scopes to better models) so I might be able to try them out on a "personal project"...and the first candidate will be fixing the floppy access on my H5 board.

No @PhilC @rubber_jonnie I've still not had the time or space to set that up for fault finding but this might be the perfect opportunity!

[PhilC]

@JezC you'll get there in the end and you definitely have enough stuff to keep you busy for a few years.

Are you bringing anything to Cyber Legends?