nama

Thanks for the replies. Tezz, those look great. Well done. I also saw another post on that thread where you had just polished them back, and although not original looking, it looked quite stylish. Couple of question, is there a trick for popping off the function keys or do they just come off easilly? And finally, can you share a link to the paint you used? I'll have to find something similar here in New Zealand! Thanks

I'm just restoring an Atari 800XL that I recently got. Lots of wear on the aluminum function keys. Does anyone have a recommendation on how to make these look like new again? I was thinking to polish them with a light abrasive liquid (Jif?), but not sure. Thanks

Ok...so the answer is a 3mm LED is the perfect fit...but only of you file down the plastic lip (rim) around the base of the LED. I've put an LED in without filing the lip down, and although it works perfectly ok, it sits low in the keyboard hole, and therefore when the case is assembled the LED is not as bright and defused as it could be. Cheers Phil

Thanks for the link, that's great. He seems to use a 3mm LED (a little hard to tell), but he also needed to drill out a larger hole in the keyboard plastic. Maybe the 2mm would actually be a better option as it may not need any drilling. Thanks P

Don't get it - why reply if you can't be of any help? I thought it was a simple enough question that someone may know the answer too, maybe having replaced the LED themselves. Thought it could save me cracking the case open and pulling the keyboard apart, which is probably the best way to accurately measure the LED. So thats what I'll do Harrumph.

Hi, errr..thanks. However I was wondering about the size in respect to the hole that it has to go into on the keyboard. 3mm or 2mm? Don't want to have to drill the hole bigger, and would be nice to be sure before ordering. Cheers Phil

I have a non responsive disk indicator light (the one on the keyboard). I'm hoping its just a dead LED, and not something else. As a replacement, can I use a 2mm LED like this one: http://www.ebay.com/itm/20PCS-2mm-Red-Diffused-LED-Flat-Top-Leds-Light-Red-Lens-Free-Resistors-for-12V-/322474048774?hash=item4b14f37d06:g:vzMAAOSw~CFY5fyO ...or is a 3mm LED more appropriate? Thanks Phil

Hi juansolo, Yes, I saw those, but I'm actually in New Zealand, and freight was 18 pounds!!!...more than the RAM itself! Thanks for the offer to solder in the RAM, but I have a pretty good solder station, and in general I am relatively good at the soldering part. Knowing how the thing that I'm soldering actually works is usually the problem. Cheers again. Phil

Thanks guys, The 520STfm is now upgraded to TOS 1.04. It's amazing how much smoother, faster and more refined the OS feels. I'll upgrade the RAM when I can find some cheap enough. The stuff on eBay seems pricey. Thanks again Phil

Thanks guys, thats info is great to know. I'm sure I would have gone ahed with burning 2.06 ROMs and it would have been a huge waste of time. TOS 1.04 it is. Cheers Phil

Great! I'll look into more RAM then. Also, I guess I could burn some new TOS ROMs. I'm on 1.02 with the 6 EPROM layout...Can I upgrade to 2.06? I'm assuming I'd need to split the image into 6 parts. Cheers Phil

I'm curious what people would consider the 'best bang for buck' upgrade (for the financially challenged) for the 520STfm? Already have a Gotek/HxC, but was thinking what simple and cheap upgrade would eek out some good performance improvements. Cheers Phil

Ok...I found there was a DOS browser built into the HxC software, where I could 'inject' and 'delete' files. I've now made a .HFE floppy image with GENMOUSE at A:\AUTO\GENMOUSE.PRG. Hopefully this will autoboot. I'll give it a go tonight. Phil

Hi again, So now that I'm fairly confident I've fixed the 520STfm and also decided to go the Gotek/HxC route (reason: deadish floppy drive), I'm wondering what is the easiest way to get individual .prg files (or any files for that matter) onto the machine. Why? Well, one big reason is the ST didn't come with a mouse. However I do have a 9 pin DIN to 25 pin DIN adaptor and a few PC mice, so I thought I'd use the GENMOUSE driver and try connecting a mouse through the serial port...But how to get the driver onto a .ST or ultimately a .HFE disk image??? I also thought about the possibility of using HxCmount (Is this still being developed? Sad if not) and somehow getting the files onto the .IMA image...but again, to sure of the process of doing this. ...Having said that I'm also a little uncertain if drivers and desktop accessories can even be loaded using HxCmount, although I read there is a screen resolution swap trick that may activate them. Lots of things to try and learn. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Cheers Phil

Checked the drive last night..It's 720K. Anyway, decided to move to the Gotek as I now have it working with the HxC manage, and it is a pleasure to use. Art from the missing key, I think the 520STm has a clean bill of health.

Just an update. I plugged in the half disassembled keyboard in last night. The good news is the keyboard works, although it still did not allow me to get further with booting programs the I did before. After a While of mucking around I decided to pull the Gotek/HxC from my BBC Micro, and plug it into the 520STfm. Instantly I was able to boot Star Wars. It's the only disk image I've tried so far. I'll make some more images today, and test them out tonight. So I'm going to guess the issue with booting from the original floppy is either: - A funky drive - The power supply providing power to the drive (maybe 12v Line as the Gotek does not use this line) - Something not working perfectly with how I'm actually making physical disks Any thoughts? If I can't get the original drive to boot reliably, I'll probably get another Gotek/HxC and use that instead. Cheers Phil

Ok, thanks. I was wondering if having the keyboard removed may be mucking some things up. Will plug it in tonight and see how it goes. Cheers P

Hi all, This is my first post in the ST forum, so please be gentle. I recently picked up a 520STfm. It was pretty grubby, and is missing a key. I pulled the machine apart and gave it a good scrubbing. Keyboard is presently in a million bits ready for cleaning. After reassembling (except for the keyboard which is totally pulled apart, and I'm hoping someday I'll get a replacement key... so for now it's un attached), I was able to boot the machine to TOS, no mouse or keyboard means no way to navigate, but I was happy the machine seemed to work fine. I then decided to make some floppies. I used floimgd (Floppy Image & file transfer program) from here http://atari.8bitchip.info/floimgd.php. I used some DD (not HD) disks and after some mucking around I was able to create a Crazy Cars disk. Initially I got the thee bombs, but after some time (I'm assuming after the machine warms up) I could boot to the attract screen. Success!...or so I thought. Of course with no keyboard or mouse I couldn't test further... I'm assuming a keypress is needed to advance the game. And I couldn't hear any music and looking at some you tube vids it seems that music should be playing. However this morning I was not able to boot the disk at all...three bombs all the time. I even remade the Crazy Cars disk to no avail. I also let the machine warm up for about 10+ mins. I tried making some other disks with limited success. Some may have worked, but don't auto boot like Crazy Cars did. After an initial crack screen I end up at the TOS or TOS with various other windows open and some icons showing. I pulled the machine apart again, and reseated the ROMs and the 2 square IC's (I forget what they are). All other chips are not socketed. The PSU looks good, no bulging Caps, or visible damage. Voltages coming from the PSU are ~5 and ~12.4 (is that a little high?) I can still get to TOS with no obvious issues at all. Anyway, sorry for the long explanation. I've searched and read a lot about 3 bombs, but none of the descriptions seem exactly the same as I have. Wondering if anyone could point me in a direction for testing. I'm hoping to clean the keyboard and have it together this weekend, and maybe then I can try to run a RAM test program to check the memory. Thanks for listening. Phil

Hi mpattonm, Thanks for the reply. PM sent.

Hi all, Looking for a 'Caps Lock' keycap for an Atari 520st (although maybe one from another ST machine would probably do)...hoping someone may have a set of spare keys. Cheers and thanks Phil

Thanks for the kind words, and hope you enjoy that CFFA image. Has a ton of fun games on it. Philip

fixed

almightytodd, Much thanks for picking up an all those mistakes. I'll fix them tonight. Basically I spent about 10 days writing up all the articles, as there were about 60+ of them, including all the repair logs, I just plowed through them as efficiently as I could, forcing myself to do a certain amount of writing a day. I knew there would be a bunch of mistakes. It's always difficult to poof read your own work, so I appreciate you help and efforts. Cheers and thanks Phil

Well, I did ask for comments if any problems were found, so I can't really complain

Fixed...thanks