Sick XEGS

[jacobus]

Picked up an XEGS recently that goes right to self test and then complains that it has one (the first) bad ROM. I've tried re-seating the (5) socketed chips, but no dice. Any suggestions?

 

 

Also, is it me, or are there a lot of dead/dying Atari's out there (certainly a lot in the recent topic list). Have we started to hit the wall as far as longevity?

[Rybags]

All the Rom is on the single 32K chip on XEGS unlike any other system.

 

So it might be the Rom going bad or may be just some problem elsewhere such as the MMU or PIA.

 

Longevity - a big problem is that wrong or going bad PS kills or maims a lot of machines. Poor environment in storage gets a few more. Fixable stuff like caps drying out can put some on the sidelines. Poor quality PCB from the start means others can stop working although the chips are all fine. Hamfisted mods and repairs put yet more out of action. Some poor quality 3rd party stuff from the factory esp. the MT Rams put some out of action even in early life.

 

That's actually an advantage to a degree. I've got a currently non-working 130XE that looks like it's had maybe several months use ever.

Edited January 26, 2013 by Rybags

[kenfused]

I bought a non-working XEGS fairly cheap about a year ago on ebay that failed the ROM test (it was listed as such). Desoldered the ROM, put in a socket, put the ROM in the socket, same result. Burned a new EPROM and put in the socket and it works great, so ROMs do fail sometimes.

[mimo]

My xegs rom died too.

[Joey Z]

yes, the ROM has failed it seems, although it could be one of the other chips (MMU or PIA like rybags suggested). If it is the ROM, you will either need to buy a new one or burn a new one (or have someone else burn a new one) and then replace the old rom with it (which probably requires desoldering). Could you please list the chips that are socketed on your XEGS for those of us who don't what usually is/isn't?

Edited January 28, 2013 by Joey Z

[Benighted]

What? Ataris dying?? My dear XEGS has been running smoothly since 1990.

[MEtalGuy66]

ALL of the chips on the Trameil-trash (oops, I mean XE) series are soldered in, unless there was a problem at the factory and it failed the initial testing.. In which case, they usually socketed the replacement chip.. You'll see alot of 130XEs with one or more chips socketed and the rest soldered in. By the time the XEGS came out, I think they had resolved most of the worst quality control issues.. Ive never seen an XEGS that had any socketed chips from the factory.