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How do I remove an 800XL motherboard?


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There are six screws on the bottom. One on each corner and then two in the middle under the keyboard. Remove those and then flip it over and lift the case up to the right (there is a mylar ribbon attaching the keyboard on the right.) Pull that out and then set the keybard part aside.

 

Then there are three screws holding the motherboard down. One on each top corner and one by the joystick ports.

 

Then, you kind of lift and pull it toward you. It's complicated to describe, but basically, you want to pull back on the left to get the power switch and the channel selector and the other ports away from the case and then you slide it to the left to get the joystick ports out of the case.

 

Todd

Edited by toddtmw
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I removed the screws on the bottom which allowed me to remove the cover along with the keyboard ribbon cable. However, the motherboard is still secured to the bottom case. What else to I need to do to free the motherboard?

The difficulty is primarily caused by ports and jacks protruding from the right and rear simultaneously. First make sure the screw between the controller ports is removed. IIRC, there is another one or two along the rear that don't go through the RF/EMI shield. Some around the rear ports are actually nut/bolt pairs that do not anchor it to the chassis at all but remove any others going through the shield.

 

When I know all screws are removed, I lift the front left corner and try and work it back and forth until something pops loose. It's actually harder to get it all back in!

Edited by CZroe
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This is so weird. This picture is backward of what mine looks like. All of my ports are exactly opposite what yours are. My joystick ports are on the right side, not the left. I see two holes where the screws were supposed to be. One on the left corner and one about 3/4 toward the right rear corner. Maybe someone took it apart before and didn't put those back...

 

I stil think the principal would be the same. You should be able to lift up on your right front corner and then twist that corner toward you to effectively get the switches and ports on the back clear of the case and then pull to the right to clear the joystick ports from the case. (The SIO connector is more recessed, doesn't stick through the case as much, but you will kind of have to clear that too.)

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I don't see any screws on each top corner. There is a hole for a screw between the two joysticks port but there is no screw there. The resistance seems to be along the bottom edge but I dont see any screws there.

The corner screws were removed from the bottom before you removed the top shell. The other one I was talking about looks like it was removed already. Your RF/EMI shield shield seems different from mine so perhaps it is securing your board somehow. Edited by CZroe
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It may or may not be the case here, but pictures tend to come out backwards/upside down when people post online from iPhones. Not sure why but I think it has to do with saving the picture in a particular orientation then relying on less-used tags in the file to correct it.

 

You have to lift the front of the board up off the supports, then work the ports and switch out of their holes. It's tricky.

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It may or may not be the case here, but pictures tend to come out backwards/upside down when people post online from iPhones. Not sure why but I bet it has to do with saving the picture in a particular orientation then relying on less-used tags in the file to correct it.

 

You have to lift the front of the board up off the supports, then work the ports and switch out of their holes. It's tricky.

I always got issues like that with my Galaxy Note 3 and Galaxy S7. It's because JPEGs can have an orientation flag or they can be losslessly rotated with software. Some software recognizes that orientation flags, some don't. That's why I'd prefer that the phone's orientation sensor be used for the UI to losslessly rotate the saved image. Apple seems to do most edits in a way that is previewed/simulated but only actually applied when an application accesses the image (allows you to undo a crop, for example, even though the Tapatalk or IMGUR app only saw the cropped image). Edited by CZroe
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I always got issues like that with my Galaxy Note 3 and Galaxy S7. It's because JPEGs can have an orientation flag or they can be losslessly rotated with software. Some software recognizes that orientation flags, some don't. That's why I'd prefer that the phone's orientation sensor be used for the UI to losslessly rotate the saved image. Apple seems to do most edits in a way that is previewed/simulated but only actually applied when an application accesses the image (allows you to undo a crop, for example, even though the Tapatalk or IMGUR app only saw the cropped image).

 

I'm pretty sure that photo isn't rotated, it's mirrored left-to-right.

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I'm pretty sure that photo isn't rotated, it's mirrored left-to-right.

Yeah, I know. ;) I'm just responding to Bryan's notion about what phones tend to have similar issues. Neither major smartphone platform seems to cause mirror-image flipping but there could easily be an odd Android phone I don't know about that uses a flipping camera for both front and rear facing duty that causes an issue like this. Edited by CZroe
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The photo is my fault. I thought it was upside down so I tried to flip it. I mirrored it instead. Sorry. There were two screws along the top edge of the shield that I removed. You can see the holes where they were. There is definitely something securing that bottom edge down. My board is labeled Rev D.

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Okay. Now that we've established left and right. Pull up gently on the left front corner. Does it lift at all? If so, that is what mine did. I then lifted and gently twisted it toward me to get the back left ports free and then slid the joystick ports out.

 

This video shows it:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nXiToMX_JV0

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Okay. Now that we've established left and right. Pull up gently on the left front corner. Does it lift at all? If so, that is what mine did. I then lifted and gently twisted it toward me to get the back left ports free and then slid the joystick ports out.

 

This video shows it:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nXiToMX_JV0

 

Exactly this - especially if you've never removed the board before, it's a bit tricky - sort of a lift-and-twist motion.

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I wish my RF shielding could be simply unscrewed. What a PITA! I've had my fill dealing with these shields that have bent/twisted tabs in the 800XL, 4-port 5200, 2-port 5200, Rev A 7800, and Rev B 7800 all within the last year, and I'm not done yet: one of them has an issue strangely related to the RF shielding.

 

Such a pain! Once I have them off I get them super straight and only bend a few when reattaching. Even on those few, I bend it straight and try not to twist like they deliberately did originally.

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That is weird. I did not have that issue at all. Is this a PAL or NTSC computer? (Mine is NTSC, maybe PAL has another screw somewhere?)

I've got many different varieties of 800XL and some have the small screw between the joysticks and some don't. Other than that they have 2 internal screws at the back of the board. One at the back right corner of the shield and one behind the power DIN. The board sits on 6 stepped posts that provide alignment and some case rigidity. This fit can be tight and make the board seem stuck.

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Got it! It was the front two support alignment posts that "locked" it in. Pulling up on the board would have cracked it for sure. I stuck a flat head screwdriver in the slots on the underside and pushed on the bottom RF shield which popped it off those posts. Thanks for the help!

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I've got many different varieties of 800XL and some have the small screw between the joysticks and some don't. Other than that they have 2 internal screws at the back of the board. One at the back right corner of the shield and one behind the power DIN. The board sits on 6 stepped posts that provide alignment and some case rigidity. This fit can be tight and make the board seem stuck.

 

Bryan's right.

 

I strongly suspect the interface jacks are simply wedged. You have to provide a little pressure on the board and flex the case around the "stuck" part - on my machines it's the joystick ports that seem to have the physical interference.

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Bryan's right.

 

I strongly suspect the interface jacks are simply wedged. You have to provide a little pressure on the board and flex the case around the "stuck" part - on my machines it's the joystick ports that seem to have the physical interference.

It's a bit of a catch-22 with the case. The ports don't come out while the board is on the posts, but you can't lift the board off the posts because of the ports. You end up flexing things a bit and if you can get the left side to come forward, it just pops out. Overall, I think it's a really good case design.

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