MEtalGuy66

Heres another "not so common" problem, but one that Ive seen a few times with the 800xl: The rectification in the power supply is bad. This makes the machine produce REALLY STUNNING "modern art" on the screen when you turn it on, rather than the expected blue screen with the READY prompt. You can fix this by replacing the power supply unit, or having it repaired. Also, check that your oscilator crystal is in good shape. If the system is not operating at the proper frequency, you will also get "modern art" instead of an intelligable display. Everything in the ATARI is timing dependant on the scan rate of the TV/MONITOR standard that it is designed for (PAL/NTSC/SECAM, etc.) I would check these possibilities before buying replacement chips. As a side note, while we are on the subject of DC rectification, any 1050 drives you may have that are "dead" but the power LED on the front still comes on, 90% likely can be fixed by replacing a) the two diodes near the back of the board, b) any leaking, shorted, or bad capacitors, c)any broken traces (the boards are cheap and often delaminate due to heat over time), and d) the voltage regulators at the back of the drive, bolted to the heat-sink frame. You should replace the components in the order listed above. If you have bad diodes or caps, and you replace the regulators, often it will just fry the regulators again as soon as you power it up. If anyone is interested, I can provide test-points for measuring the 5v and 12v circuits within the drive to isolate which regulator is bad.

Ive done quite a few 800xl "restorations" and heres my suggestion: pop the keys off, and mix and match them until you get the straightest possible combination. sometimes what you need to do is rotate the orientation of one or more keys 180 degrees. You may also find it useful to loosen the screws that mount the keyboard to the case, and make a slight adjustment in positioning, then retighten. The problem you are having IS common on 800XL machines, but Ive never found one that I couldnt achieve fairly decent results by the above 2 methods. Hope it helps..

Well, it does look great. But I disagree on the prices. Ive picked up quite a few XEs for less than $20.00 that either were still in the original box, or had obviosly been stored in something since they were new because the plastic film was still intact over the name badge, and not even scratched. I remember when the XE series (and XL series, for that matter) came out, and it was like one year they were $139.00 and six months later, they were on clearance everywhere for $49.00. (Sears comes to mind as a big one) And this is when the systems were only a year or so old. Guys like me and you were buying them and cherishing them for what they were, but thousands of other people were getting them as cheap gifts, not knowing anything about them, and just putting them away in the closet. Now it is true that places like B&C Computervisions who bought ATARI's remaining inventory when they folded, are still selling BRAND NEW systems for over $100.00, and for a machine that is absolutely NEVER previously owned by a consumer, I'd say it's a fair deal. But Ive been watching ATARI stuff on ebay since 98 or 99, and I cant tell you how many nice systems Ive seen go for far less than it cost to ship them. Mostly from people who had no idea what they even had. Yeah, I agree that thrift shops are an awesome place to get stuff. Its kewl to find something for $5.00 that noone knows what it is, but that you remember reading about in Antic or Analog, back in the day and it used to cost hundreds of dollars. I got a prestine perfect rev 6a AMIGA 500 one time for $1.50 at Goodwill, laying in a stack of PC keyboards that were also marked $1.50. I also agree that there is alot of satisfaction to be gained in restoring something to factory original. I was just saying that I'd sooner dedicate my time to restoring it functionally (The XEs were built very cheaply compared to the XL line, and need lots of work on the board level to bring them up to par) than restoring a faded, worn, cracked, or discolored plastic case. Especially considering that anything that comes out of a spray can is not going to provide a durable finish. You can go with professional paint materials, but they require professional equipment, curing time, etc. And since the machines are so easily and cheaply available, chances are, you can find one with an awesome case, but not so awesome guts, and gut it for parts. I've done ALOT of XE and XL restorations. In fact, check this out: http://www.rasterline.com This is a site that I built a few years back and co-operate with a guy in california, who also has a huge stock of atari equipment. He builds machines to sell on EBAY, and I do the custom stuff that requires boards to be made, etc. and sell directly to people who are looking for something specific. The site is in drastic need of an update, but it's a good idea of the upgrade boards I make, and the level of restoration work we offer on ATARIs. I've got quite a load of Commodore and AMIGA hardware as well. Most of it is either in as-new condition, or already refurbished/restored.

I really like your XE setup, River Patroller. Heres mine: Heres what's under the hood: Also notice the HD LED: Oh yeah. I build these MyIDE-XE boards: And they work with SpartaDos. (not to offend anyone but I can't STAND to use MyDos) And as far as the XE case restration... I have to ask WHY?? Theres plenty of those systems selling on ebay all the time, brand new, still in the box, hardly seen the light of day (usually someone got it as a gift back in the 80s, never used it, and just recently found it in a closet or attic) You can usually pick them up new in box for anywhere from $20 to $50 (including shipping.) anywayze, I have alot of XEs with prestine perfect cases, and most of them I got for darned cheap. What the XE systems REALLY need is all the cold solder joints fixed, the crap factory RAM chips replaced, sockets installed in a few choice places (if not everywhere), and the "ST FEEL" upgrade kit installed in the keyboard. Now THAT makes a really nice upgrade. (darned mushy XE keys, haha)