Atari 130xe Repairs

[ataridan]

Hi! Can someone tell me what time is a good time to get a hold of Best Electronics. My Atari 130xe needs to be repaired. Thank You!

 

Ataridan

[+Stephen]

They are in California, USA. So that would be GTM - 8.0 I believe.

[russg]

Hi! Can someone tell me what time is a good time to get a hold of Best Electronics. My Atari 130xe needs to be repaired. Thank You!

 

Ataridan

 

 

www.best-electronics-ca.com

 

408-278-1070 1:30-5:30 PM pacific time (4:30-8:30 PM EST). (ca stands for Califonia, not Canada).

Edited October 1, 2015 by russg

[Paul Westphal]

Send Brad an Email.

[Jofer Jeff]

Do they still repair them? I have one someone has modded but it fails the RAM test. I was just gonna swap the motherboard but Id be interested to see if its cheaper to fix.

[Turbo-Torch]

When my RAM failed, I just ordered a few off ebay for next to nothing. I piggybacked one RAM at a time until it passed the memory test and then removed the bad RAMs and soldered in the new. I think I had two that failed but the block test screen made it easy to see when I pinpointed the failed one.

 

My 130xe was new in the box when I bought it and I was surprised to see several different brand RAMs installed which appeared to be hand soldered compared to the rest. I read that Atari used the crappiest of the crap memory back then and many had to be replaced right off the assembly line.

[Jofer Jeff]

What kind of RAM chips do I need to order?

[bbking67]

there are guys in the forums that do repairs... you might want to check that out first.

[Kyle22]

What kind of RAM chips do I need to order?

If you have 16 RAMs, then you need 4164's, if you have 4 RAMs, then you need 4464's.

[Joey Z]

I normally repair atari computers, but I just don't have time these days between school and everything else. Best of luck getting yours figured out though guys. And because it's worth mentioning here, the last time I repaired bad RAM in a 130XE, it was $17.65 for parts and $20 for labor, not to mention shipping. That was, I think, $10/hour labor rate for me, which is definitely on the low side for the work I was doing.

[russg]

If you have 16 RAMs, then you need 4164's, if you have 4 RAMs, then you need 4464's.

MT drams are known to be bad in 130XE. Replace all of them.

[gilsaluki]

Brad sells motherboards cheap. Might be worth a MB swap. Keep the down one for parts.

[bugs]

I would like to go back in time and slap whoever made the 130xe motherboard purchase decision at Atari Corp... what did they save? 2 bucks? 5?

[Kyle22]

I would like to go back in time and slap whoever made the 130xe motherboard purchase decision at Atari Corp... what did they save? 2 bucks? 5?

I also despise manufacturers who penny-pinch and end up producing an inferior product. Having said that, you must also consider the other side: If Atari saved $2 each on production, and they made a million boards, that's $2Mil more that they had to spend before they sold a single unit.

 

It's the same with cars. It really burns me when I find some little plastic clip broken, that I know wouldn't have ever broken had Mercedes spent a couple of pennies more on a metal clip.

 

When something is mass produced, every little bit counts. Sad, but true.