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what breaks the most?


tater1337

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I notice that xabin has had some issue trying to get their machine up and running, and that it looks like no one is offering repair services for these, am I correct?

I am thinking of getting back into the electronics repair biz, maybe just for hobby money.

so, what breaks the most and where is the best source for finding DOA TI stuff for me to start a gesalt pile with?

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I've heard that there were people on here that offered repair services, but no one's heard from them for a while, so that's why I'm still looking for help and parts. From what I'm told, though, the RF is usually flaky, and as far as chips go, the VDP chip and one or both of the ROM chips are the most prone to breakage (which is why you get the staticky or black screen with/without beep).

 

For building up parts, Ksarul has made a lot of offers to us, and mentioned he has several working and non-working TIs that he can share with those who want to get back into the community. If you want to try working on them for learning how ot fix them up for people like me, then he's probably your best bet to go to for parts for that. I've not had that best of luck on Ebay, but make sure to check the relevant post for any deals people find on there.

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Depending on your needs, the video RAM chips can be had on eBay. Capacitors of all kinds are available at digikey and mouser. Dead consoles are everywhere and can be used for cannibalization (I have 4 dead consoles).

 

If you offered a service where you accepted a dead console (+$10 and shipping) or two dead consoles--- and returned a working console to the client--that would be amazing. Unfortunately for anyone wanting to get into TI repair, it's just so cheap and easy to get working ones that it almost doesn't pay to send one off and pay a service fee to get it repaired.

 

If someone had 10 non-working consoles and a few working ones to start with, this kind of exchange would be feasible for the technician and awesome for the ones receiving the service. Unfortunately, at this current time, it isn't a super lucrative business due to system availability.

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I can do TI repairs and have done them before, although I have very limited free time so I don't do them often (yet). And as Opry99er said above, it might not always be worth it when consoles are so readily available. However, the most common points of failure in my experience are the VRAM, ROM, and SRAM, in that order. VRAM and SRAM can be found on eBay as loose chips or pulled off spare boards. The ROMs can also be found on spare boards, or you could burn your own on EPROMs. Unfortunately loose boards don't come up often on eBay, but occasionally small lots of untested boards will come up. More frequently, you can find a lot of 3-5 untested consoles with beat up cases instead.

Edited by AwkwardPotato
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I do some repairs too. But I am usually busy on repairing my own ti equipment (was in deep storage for 17+ years) and working on my truck and jeep projects. I do take and repair other people stuff from time to time. I just recently repaired a Geneve for an individual and just got through working on a HFDC, both working fine.

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