hueyjones70

I was mistaken, it was the CPU. By black screen I meant that the screen goes dark, as if the computer was turned off and it will sometimes flicker but does not come back on.

I have been working on an 800XL that would boot up then go to a blank screen after about 1 minute, sometimes sooner. I noticed that the antic chip got very warm so I swapped it out with another and got the same results. How warm should the antic chip get, this one gets warm enough that it is uncomfortable to touch. Are there any former techs out there that know anything about troubleshooting motherboards. I know that the normal procedure is to just get another one but there must be someone who used to actually fix things instead of just replacing them.

Thanks for all of the feedback, I think I will just build a larger cabinet so space will no longer be a problem.

The idea had nothing to do with being cheap, I was thinking about eliminating clutter. I have a 1200,2 drives, a monitor, and a printer in a cabinet with pull out shelves. In a perfect world, one power supply with multiple outlets would run the computer and the drives. The next best thing would be for the wires to be like the old telephone cords.

Does anyone know enough about electricity to determine if 2 disk drives could be operated off of one power supply.

I cannot open the files with the .arc extension and I can't find a program that I can download that will open them.

Has anyone added a power on indicator light to the XF 551. How about a front power switch.

I am preparing to install a Rambo 256K upgrade to my 800XL, how do I test the ram to see if I installed it correctly?

I would like to add a LED panel light to the front of my XF551 disk drives to I will no for sure when they are switched on. Does anyone know where I could attach the wires to supply power to the lights. It seems as if there is no power flowing through the switch when it is turned on.

Thanks for the info.

My 800XL memory test stops after 40 blocks. I have not noticed any other problems and haven't yet looked at the mobo.

How can I post pictures?

Glad to find out that the pink and purple wires are factory. You nailed it with the switch info. Turns out that my switch was bad, cannabilized a non-working 800XL and the 130XE is ok except for keyboard, some dead keys. If cleaning doesn't work, I will get another from Best.

I forgot to mention I am running a stock 130XE with XF551 drive and SIO2SD version 1.3

I just purchased a SIO2SD and I have no idea how to get started. I did manage to load DOS 2.5, Atariwriter80 and Syncalc. I think I loaded the 2 latter programs, they show up on the menu but DOS 2.5 is the only thing that will load and run. How do I select and run programs that show up on the screen.

I also recently purchased a 130XE with a smililar mod. Mine has the pink and purple wires. The computer does not work at all. I can't see any other problems with the motherboard. The power light does not come on but I checked the switch with a multimeter and it shows 5.3 volts coming in.

is this device used as an additional disk drive?

Further-further update. I noticed that after the computer is powered on for a minute or two, the antic chip gets warm, I swapped out for another antic chip and the problem persists. I also found that I can rub my fingers across the antic chip after the screen goes blank and the screen will come back on. I would suspect that I must have fried a resistor or something when I was applying the upgrade, there must be some Atari expert out there that knows enough about trouble shooting to give some advice about what needs to be examined.

Further update, I test booted the motherboard today and it booted ok and stayed on for about 2 minutes, then the screen went blank. I rebooted several times and each time it took less time for the screen to go blank. Evidently something is heating up and shorting out and I can't find where any of my solder joints may have bridged to another circuit.

Update on my attempt at Quick & Easy for the 800XL. I removed all of the piggybacked resistors and disconnected the wire connecting the chroma output. I disconnected the front end of the wire that connects C3 with the front hole of L5. Now when I power on, the screen flickers for a second or two then boots up but then goes blank after 5 to 10 seconds. I booted with a pacman cartridge installed and with nothing and got the same results. I figure that I must have fried some component when I was soldering. I will attach pictures later.

I attempted the Quick & easy upgrade and when I power on the computer the monitor flickers through some gray and orange static then settles down to solid gray. I would like to start over but I removed L5 and I can't find it, probably trashed it, I read on another thread that it was an 82 OHM inductor; does anyone have any more specifics about the item and where is a good site to purchase resistors, inductors etc. There isn't a Radio Shack within 100 miles of my home and I haven't been able to find any electronic parts places. I know I can buy on line but I would like to buy quality instead of quantity.

I took out the resistors and lprint and list "p:*" worked. Time will tell because the problem was intermittent.

I can't get my 130xe to lprint or to list a program t o my xmm801 printer. I always get an error 138. I have tried using open before i use either print command and nothing works. Everything works fine when I am using a word processor.

Are there any experts out there who can verify whether or not you can damage a cartridge by removing it while the power is on. I have done it on an XL with no negative results but I have been told that I was just lucky.

Thanks for the replies, they told me what I needed to know.