fortunateson

Thanks for all the parts and buying info - it is greatly appreciated!

Update: I got my 130XE in rough running shape by piggy-backing two DRAMS with the two that russg kindly sent me (thanks russ!). So now I am going to order some new RAM, but I need some help deciding what to order. All of the DRAMS I currently have in my 130XE are MT4264-15 except for one which is a TMM4164P. I am assuming that one was replaced manually at the factory when one of the MT DRAMS failed testing. I used two MB8264-15 DRAMS that Russ sent (which I believe came out of an 800XL) to do the piggy-backing. I also seem to remember reading something someone else mentioned in another thread about it being ok to use some kind of 32k DRAMS to replace these 8k ones (16 total) which would work fine and would be available if I ever wanted to do a 320 upgrade. Can someone verify that and let me know exactly what part number / manufacturer / supplier I would want to order these from. I am not sure how much added cost it would be for this option - I think I probably would want to replace all the DRAMS since they all are cheap MT4264s and may go bad at some point in the future so I might as well replace them now. So I would really appreciate some friendly advice on what might be best to do, which parts would be best to order (4124-15 or something else? Made by whom? What about sockets?) and where to order from (I have ordered once from BEST Electronics and was very happy with the speedy shipping and friendly help on the phone). Thanks in advance...

Same here Rob. I saw this post for the first time today. I remember playing many of the Ultima series (on a PC) in years past. I loved that series! I also share your love of the 130XE which was my only Atari. I had friends who had many of the earlier machines but I didn't have any money to spend until I bought my 130XE. I played with that machine for a number of years (long after my friends had moved on to other machines). Thanks for sharing your wonderful story and screens! I look forward to hearing and seeing more if that happens - maybe even playing some.

Yes but only with one drive and only while playing around. Never used it for anything really. IIRC, they were 180k max (DD) and you could not flip them. Yes, you can flip them. The disks I have are clearly labeled sides A and B and I have two brands - AMDEK and Maxell - type CF2. I have yet to get one to read successfully though so they might not have survived the long time in storage. I have not tried reformatting one yet. After this many years I barely remember how to run this puppy I did manage to get a few 5-1/4 disks to work in my Indus-GT drive so that is something anyway. I fully expected none to work after this long. Btw, I did manage to get my 130XE running finally, at least a little (had to piggy-back two DRAMS to get it to pass muster - have not actually soldered any yet - but it does run now at least. I will add more in my other thread relating to that later because I have some questions on what kind to purchase and where). I have yet to find my AMDEK Amdisk III manual yet but I know I have one. Here is some general info from the original announcement of these drives from Compute magazine I found: http://www.atarimagazines.com/compute/issue46/040_1_REVIEWS_AMDC_3-Inch_Disk_Drives_For_Atari.php

Ok, I guess I don't need to feel too guilty about wanting to keep it then since there doesn't seem to be too much interest in it ;-) I loved using this drive , especially for games like AR which needed four drives to keep from switching disks all the time.

Not that I am selling - I am not interested at this time. But after reading a few older posts here I am getting the feeling this item is very much sought after by collectors and I was wondering - just wondering mind you - what it might be worth if I ever decided to part with it. Again I am not selling at this time, just interested in how much interest there is in the community for this item. I know I used it for several years and loved it!

russg - I really appreciate your time and help, thanks a lot! sloopy - sorry to hear about your power problems, that's never fun. But glad it's only the power and not tree, wind or fire damage. I will probably get hold of you in a week or so and we can talk about repair options if you have time and I haven't found any other options. Thanks again!

If you want to try piggy back, I'll send you a 64x1 dram, fer free. You can PM me, I don't know how to do that. Opening a 130XE is pretty easy. Four screws and then the shielding, which on mine is long gone, so I don't know how tough removing the shielding would be. Be real specific on removing the keyboard tape to mb, lift up the keyboard, leaving the front down, then pull up on the cable at the mb connectorl. Putting it back in, you gotta hold the ribbon close to the connector and push it in so it seats, making sure the ribbon is left to right centered so the contacts line up. Actually, I think you can just lift up the top of the keyboard and lay it over on the bench, without removing the ribbon cable. That would be even better. OK, I never tried it before. Don't do like I did and try piggybacking after power up. Piggy back with the power off, making sure all pins are lined up, THEN turn the computer on. Also, when you lay the keyboard on the bench, have something about the thickness of a cartridge to put under the left and right sides of the keyboard to keep from a key being pressed. Better yet, don't do it. Now my 130XE won't run. Wait, I think I found it. It is my video jack. It has been messed up before, just playing with it can make it flakey. I get good boot with RF. Ok...so tell me....what happened when you tried piggy-backing AFTER power-up??? Seriously, thanks for the tips.

Kinda what I figured. I have read that some here like to work on 'em as a hobby, not professionally, which would be the only way it would be worth it for both of us. I guess I can decide what to do with it later. Right now I just would like a working machine to play with. From what I have read here it would seem to be a good option to go with an 800XL this time around? Thanks for all your help.

Thanks for the replies. So from reading a lot of similar threads on this forum plus the replies here it would seem I *probably* just have some bad RAM (maybe only one even). But I can't easily check because I don't have any good RAM to try piggy-backing (this is the only unit I own and I don't really want to buy any because of minimum order requirements just to get a single item). I also do not want to touch it myself even if I find the bad ones after reading how fragile they are - I am not at all skilled in soldering and I don't even have a good work area. So I am back to either paying someone who would be willing to fix it for me (most likely want to socket everything - what would that reasonably cost?) or maybe trade it plus some $$ for a working model. I would certainly rather do either with someone here who knows and loves Atari - especially in the case of getting it repaired. Maybe it's not worth all that?

I have a 130XE that goes straight into the memory test and has lots of red squares. I have read others on here with same symptoms and I am assuming I have some bad ram at the very least. This unit is mine from way-back-when and has been in storage for 25+ years. It worked then but not now and I am not the hardware fit-it type so I am not taking any chances trying to do it myself. So I either would like to find a fellow hobbyist who may want to help fix it or possibly trade it for a working model. I am really missing this little machine and want to tinker with some programming <sigh>. I am in the northwest Ohio area.