santac89

Thanks for the tip, I will check it.

For now I'm running on composite on a modern one. But I have an old Sony Trinitron CRT back at my apartment in Berlin so I think that for now I will stick with composite. If I can get another one running my plan was to mod it to RGB, I was checking the Sophia 2 mod, have you tried it? Thanks for all the help btw!

Yes, no problem there. Just unlucky I guess 😑

So, I tried every IC from the XLF into the working XL, replacing one, testing, put back the original, replacing one, testing, and so on. And it seems that all the 7 ICs are dead 🤕. Some give a brown screen, one a black screen, one no signal at all and one some kind of static. I guess the only thing to do with this board is saving it for parts if I eventually need some passive component or connector. (btw, the short was gone after removing all. It's something I guess 😆)

Yes that is what i’m thinking to do. I only tested the CPU in the XLF to see if it was only that one. But now my plan is to test the XLF ICs in the XL. I’ll post the results once done, right now i’m de soldering each IC. I’m using composite out btw.

A bit of update: I've put the missing components, soldered out the exploded CPU, put a socket and tried the CPU from the working one. Still dead. So I guess something else is going on (as many mentioned 🤣). One thing that bothers me is that when I measure resistance from GND to any positive line I get 32 Ohms, and if using continuity/diode mode I get a beep (and also a 32 Ohm reading). Next step, removing all ICs and put sockets. Maybe when I get everything out I can find what is causing that behavior on the board, or at least I can rule out which ICs work and which doesn't. Is there any issue with putting ICs from the XLF into an XL to test them out?

No idea about the crystal, but the cap says 10p on it so I guess it is a 10pF cap? Yes from what I've seen, it seems that it has been converted to PAL-N (at least it is what the label says). @Beeblebrox thanks for the info and pictures. So far I noticed that when turned on, the gnd and positive event from the power input seems to be shorted, I'm trying to track down what could be the cause. I'm not entirely sure about this since when connected to the power, the red led comes on, so I'm not sure if I'm reading my multimeter incorrectly or if there is a short for real somewhere and the led is not affected by it. So far, I've removed the CPU to see if that was the cause but same results. btw, the socketed XL that I managed to get seems to be in excellent status. I've ran the self-test and ALL green.

As promised. The pictures. Also, good news. I managed to get a completely working one with an XC12 cassette player really cheap here in Argentina. And it was manufactured here which is really cool to me. I didn't know these machines were also fabricated in South America. Completely socketed and all 😁. I ordered in Germany a Sally replacement btw. So I will keep trying with the fried one once I'm back there.

Totally, last year I spent weeks on 2 Atari Lynx II. In the end I did need to get some CPU and PPU replacement (aside from the usual power circuit being completely blown), but the joy after seeing it come to life is unique I will definitely try to save this one for a while just for fun

Thanks for all the replies. I think my best option is to buy a working unit for parts plus I could use the case since mine is really deteriorated. I will try to publish the hi-res photos as soon as possible and keep the post updated. I didn't even know it was a semi-rare model. I saved it like 10 years ago from a basement but at that time I didn't even know where to start repairing it. I was wondering if the mod was a PAL -> NTSC one as someone mentioned but it sounds rare since in Argentina the normative was PAL, so one less reason to think that someone wanted to do that mod.

That was my first assumption also, that someone tried to convert to NTSC. Sure, I will try this week since I'm not at home until Friday. But I think I remember they were MT except for the first one in the columnt hat seems to have been replaced for another one. No, sadly I'm in Germany and is not that easy to find Sallys there, I would need to import and pay the taxes. (Actually, I'm currently in Argentina visiting family. When I moved to Germany I left this board behind and now I'm trying to fix it while I'm here but I will take it over to Germany)

Thanks for the reply. My plan is to replace the missing components and remove that mod. Check in vain that the CPU does not work and try to find a replacement for it. Probably will find more about it when that is done but I'm not sure if I will be able to find the replacement CPU anytime soon sadly

Hi everyone, I just came back to my parents house to spend holidays and remembered an old 800XL I saved from the trash bin years ago but never managed nor tried to make it work or test it, so I decided it would be a good idea to try and repair it as a holiday project. I found out it actually seems to be an 800XLF (PAL N version made in Taiwan) and it seems someone did some modification on it but I'm unable to identify why. The computer does powerup when pluggin 5v on it (partially, only the red light but no signal at all) As you can see in the picture, someone removed R72, Q9, Y2 and jumpered a wire from Q9 to pin 28 (I believe it is called OSC). (U19 was removed by me since it was blown, and unfortunately the 6502 is also blown I guess, I'm hoping is only a crack of the ceramic due to a drop or something but I think it is more likely something blown from the inside, could this happen?) Does someone has any knowledge of this kind of mod, if it is even one or it is just some kind of bypass/repair? Thanks in advance!

Leaving here the Voltage measurements for every TP to see if someone spots something. - TP1 4,9v - TP2 0v - TP3 0v - TP4 0v - TP5 0v - TP7 0v - TP8 0v - TP9 0v - TP10 0v - TP11 2,5v - TP12 18,8v - TP15 5v - TP16 0v - TP17 0v - TP18 0v - TP19 4,48v - TP21 9,63v -> 18,2v (from min brightness to max) - TP22 6,43v -> 13v (from min brightness to max) - TP23 -3,8v -> -8,8v (from min brightness to max) - TP24 1,3v -> 2,48v (from min brightness to max) - TP25 2,05v -> 4,3v (from min brightness to max) - TP26 2,5v - TP28 0,022v

Yes, I have been scouting the forum long before I created the post but still no luck. I wonder if SUZY is dead, I see with my probe that there is activity but all I get is that frozen "image" with no sound and as far as I know is rare that the IC would fail like that instead of just stop working.