Early morning computer "repair"

[atrax27407]

I have been having some intermittent boot failures with my AVPC system. Particularly, not loading a program from the menu. I surmised that at least some of the problem was the "flaky" connection between the Speech Synthesizer and the interface cable and another contributing factor was the power supply switch that had become a bit sticky to operate. I had a readily available power supply that I had removed from a computer (the very same AVPC one, in fact) to replace the LED which developed a broken lead. So, I took about 10 minutes and replaced the power supply board and the problem is "mostly" solved, The connection is still "flaky" but a bit of industrial strength Velcro will take care of that. So, I now have a bright yellow LED greeting me when I turn on the TI. I'll retire the old board after I lubricate the switch so it functions more smoothly. 

[Ed in SoDak]

I hate those bright LEDs myself. I'll cover them with a bit of masking tape and maybe a dark color Magic Marker over the lens to dim them. You could install a higher resistance resistor to dim it that way.

 

My EXB cart has gotten pretty flaky. The other day I took a small square of a green dish scrubber, sprayed some CRC contact cleaner on it and rubbed down both sides of the contacts and also shot a bit into the cart port as well. That helped as much as anything I've tried. CRC would work on the switch as well. It's cheap and found in many hardware stores. I use that stuff instead of DeOxit.

 

Once I switched to a firehose extender cable, my sideport contact issues disappeared.

-Ed

[atrax27407]

I've got one of KSARUL's side port splitter boards and once I accumulate enough cards to populate a second PEB, I'll install it permanently.