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Atari STe 1040 damaged by shipment overseas


fransatari

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Hello all,

 

What an excellent forum! I've read here for sometime now.

Been using my STe 4 mb RAM for years for Cubase and composing music. It's also got some great synth editors!

 

I recently moved back to the UK from the United States, and my STe upon unpacking is not working.

There appears to be no physical damage, however only the power light is coming on when I try to boot.

No video output, and the FD 3.5" is not even trying to read. No light on it. Not even a faint one.

There's also no audio.

 

I've reseated the RAM, but that's about it. No luck with that by the way.

I do have a 520 which I've swapped the PSU with, but nothing doing there either. The 1040 supply is working fine.

Just something on the MB is not!

I'm no electronics engineer, but I do understand a multimeter. I don't see any discoloration or cracks on the MB, but maybe I ought to check somewhere specific? Capacitors also look OK.

 

Anybody have any ideas? Is it worth trying to fix, or should I say goodbye to my loyal friend since 1990 and replace him with a new Atari?

 

Thanks,

Fran

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Probably some of the socketed chips have come loose during transit - I can't imagine if there is no obvious physical damage that an ST would die - they are tough as nails (one went into space). Look for any socketed chips on the motherboard and either remove them and reseat them or give them a firm (but not too hard) push to make sure they are seated properly. Try also unplugging the floppy drive and starting without it.

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The ST should produce at least some video if it's getting power- is there anything any signal coming out of the monitor port at all?

 

How are you converting (or how did you convert) the voltage to account for the difference between UK and US?

 

So you have a working 520 (STE?), and when you swap PSUs the 520 still works and the 1040 still doesn't?

Edited by galax
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Hi Moonsweeper.

 

I got my 1040 STe, and 520 STFM in the UK when growing up so both are 240V . Always used a step up transformer when in the US from 110 to 230, and now obviously don't need one being back in Europe.

 

I swapped the PSU from the 520 into the 1040 and still not getting anything out of the 1040. 520 is working ok, but it never was in great condition and is under gunned for Cubase Score which is why I'm still trying to resuscitate my STe .

 

I've just removed the FD power from the 1040 and now both lights on the keyboard are showing (looking for FD access). So something is alive on the 1040 STe somewhere.

 

Is it worth trying to tune a TV into the low res output to see if there's anything coming out of the 1040?

 

The hi-res monitor port is definitely giving out nothing. Only getting an audible click through the SM124 when powering up the 1040, but no signal, or audio.

 

Thanks,

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Trying the tv would be a good bet. When I said reseat the chips I did mean either give them a press from the top or using a screwdriver (if your very careful as it is all too easy to slash the circuit board or snap the socket) or a proper extraction tool, remove the chip from its socket, clean the pins with some isopropyl alchohol and put them back in (you need to protect yourself from static as well, keep touching an earthed object like a radiator).

 

Just another thought, perhaps try swapping the keyboard with the one from the other ST, just in case there was some damage to that during transit. Also check for bent/ snapped pins on the monitor port.

 

Whereabouts in the UK are you?

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi.

 

Just reseated all the chips. Cleaned them with a fine grade sand paper. Nothing looked particularly dirty I have to say, however, still no joy.

I have swapped the keyboards too. No luck.

 

Will try the TV out next, but as I said before there's no audio coming through the audio outputs, and the computer doesn't try to seek the floppy drive. I'm wondering if something's dead before it even gets that far...perplexing.

 

I'm in East Anglia, but travel up north quite a bit as well.

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I suppose Exxos would be your nearest 'repair' hope then, if he is willing to help, although he is a busy man :)

 

So when you remove the floppy drive cable the ST does what exactly? Both lights on permanantly or with the top right flashing on and off as it would when accessing the drive? Did you try the 520's disk drive in the 1040?

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As you have a working machine, a dead machine, and a multimeter, you could power them on side by side and checkthat some of the chips and main parts of the board are receiving power- look at some of the IC pinouts and identify the Vcc pins, and compare what you see on the working ST with what you see on the broken one. Something has to be different somewhere, it could be something as simple as a bad solder joint on the motherboard power connector.

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So when I remove the floppy drive cable on the STe both lights come on permanently.

Did you try the 520's disk drive in the 1040?

 

Yes. No difference.

 

Regarding multi-meter and side by side, I have a 520 STFM and my dead 1040 STe.

Not sure where to start comparing, as the MB looks quite different to an ignorant eye like mine.

I'm not scared of going in with the multimeter, but where should I start?

Is there any kind of instructional tutorial I could follow?

I fixed a few synthesizers with the multimeter before, but never a computer.

 

Thank you all

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I didn't notice the part where you said STFM; yes the motherboard changed a lot between the STFM And STE; CPU and shifter moved to QFPs, RAM to SIMMs, etc. You can still use the STE's circuit diagram and IC pinouts and verify that the ICs have power.

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