1040STE won't boot - help needed!

[doctor_shred]

Hi

 

I got my 4MB 1040STE out of storage today and it won't boot. It powers up to a white screen with vertical black lines and that's it. No desktop. The disk drive doesn't even attempt to read disks. I seem to recall this maybe a RAM issue? I've tried swapping the SIMMs around and cleaning the contacts with no joy.

 

It was working 100% when I last used it a couple of years ago. It's been stored wrapped in bubble wrap in a box.

 

Any ideas how to toubleshoot this?

 

Thanks.

[Robson]

You can try reducing the amount of ram as well, if not yet tried. If you are lucky only one module failed. So just play with 2 modules in the 1st and 3rd slot at a time with any combination. That will put you down to 2mb but might help to find the problem.

Use this site as reference of numbering the slots.

https://info-coach.fr/atari/hardware/memory.php

Other than that a diag cart is your best friend in this case.

[doctor_shred]

Yeah, I'll try swapping 2 x 1MB SIMMs and see if I can identify the bad one. I also have the original 256K ones somewhere too.

 

If they don't work then it's something more serious that bad RAM which is a pain. Cheers.

[pixelmischief]

Try the 4 inch drop. Seriously. It's a thing.

 

EDIT: I've never been able to bring myself to drop mine more than 2 inches. But it has brought two separate STe's back to life for me.

Edited October 1, 2018 by pixelmischief

[oracle_jedi]

Here's a video showing an alternative to the drop technique.

 

The MMU is a possible candidate here.

 

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

 

HTH

[doctor_shred]

Thanks for the replies.

 

I've taken the STE apart and pushed down on all the socketed chips rather than use the drop - no success. I didn't clean the sockets as suggested in that youtube clip though.I guess that's what I'll be doing this evening...

[AMenard]

Hi

 

I got my 4MB 1040STE out of storage today and it won't boot. It powers up to a white screen with vertical black lines and that's it. No desktop. The disk drive doesn't even attempt to read disks. I seem to recall this maybe a RAM issue? I've tried swapping the SIMMs around and cleaning the contacts with no joy.

 

It was working 100% when I last used it a couple of years ago. It's been stored wrapped in bubble wrap in a box.

 

Any ideas how to toubleshoot this?

 

Thanks.

 

Check for leaking capacitors.

[+SoulBuster]

I bought 2 1040stfs in one purchase. One stock and one with a 4 meg ram upgrade.

 

When I booted the 4 meg one I would get black lines or black checkered screen.

 

What I did to fix it was to re-flow solder on all of the ram upgrade connections. Worked like a charm.

[doctor_shred]

Well, I've stripped the STE down again and re-checked all the socketed chips. The socket of the shifter chip under the power supply is cracked on one corner but all pins seem to be making contact. I don't want to remove the chip to clean it in case I damage the socket further.

 

I've replaced the 1MB SIMMS with the original 256K ones in case the RAM got fried. The machine gives the same white screen with black vertical lines.

 

No signs of leaking capacitors or corrosion on the board. In fact it all looks very clean for a 30 year old computer.

 

Frustratingly I think this is beyond my ability to repair. Can anyone recommend someone in the UK who might be able to fix this?