Frustrated!

[buddpaul]

So, after a very long time, I finally got a cassette drive......a happy camper, I was! Got everything set up on my XEGS......and went to type 'CLOAD'.......well, 'C' and 'L' wouldn't work.......I mean.......NOTHING!!!!

Smart or not, I proceeded to take the keyboard apart....never done that before.

 

On the membrane......still wouldn't work........about 30% of keys wouldn't work. Membrane looked pretty good. Just pressing on the 2 layers of the membrane, lots of keys worked.......but not C or L (or a few others). Looked at the whole mess and thought: the likelihood of me ever putting all this back together again?? About 20%..........so, into the trash it all went.

 

Maybe should've YouTube'd the problem before getting mad! Membranes can be cleaned. Still, I wouldn't have put it all back together. I'm just being Captain Whiney Pants........can anyone relate?!

[buddpaul]

Clarification: only the keyboard got trashed by me, not the console or the tape drive....... I'll hold onto those!!

[Paul Westphal]

I hope trash day has not come. Best electronics carries the two versions Of XE keyboard mylars. They also have the improved keyboard plungers to make the keys snap when you hit them.

[Justin Payne]

Maybe should've YouTube'd the problem before getting mad! Membranes can be cleaned. Still, I wouldn't have put it all back together. I'm just being Captain Whiney Pants........can anyone relate?!

I can. When I was young my mom took me to the store. I saw a car I really wanted but she wouldn't get it for me. I got mad and broke the sunvisor so my dad made me pay for it out of my own money. I think I had like $30 but that was a lot of money when you're < 9 years old (don't remember exactly how old I was). Anyway, I don't actively break things anymore because I don't like paying for them...unless it's software, which I get paid to break.

 

Now, it could have been your keyboard membrane or it could have even been your POKEY. First thing to do is see which keys are affected. You might notice a pattern BUT I've been told the XE line didn't have quality keyboard membranes. It's was the end of the line and Trammel was infamously cheap.

 

Don't throw anything away until you know it's junk and take up exercise. It helps calm me down when I want to go on murder sprees.

[tjlazer]

A new Mylar would make if 100% again. Never throw away parts. I know it's frustrating to have it all dismantled in 1 million pieces. I simply put everything together in a box and set aside, then order the parts and wait for them to arrive to put it back together. I'm actually having to do this to a 500 keyboard right now as one of the keys broke and I ordered a new one on eBay!

Edited May 29, 2017 by tjlazer

[_The Doctor__]

Fix the keyboard he shall, hmmmm!? Young jedi, the force is in Atari strong! Patience.....

[buddpaul]

Good advice, all around here. Thank you all. Yes, I did manage to dig 85% of it out of the trash last night!! Bagged it up to be dealt with on another day.

[buddpaul]

Oh, and a TransKey II shows promise!!

[+orpheuswaking]

I can absolutely recommend the Transkey II for the XEGS. You can get the inline plugin version or an internal version with dual pokey. I have three of these in different machines.