kurosawa6502 Posted September 27, 2021 Share Posted September 27, 2021 Hello everyone. I'm writing this from Japan. The 800XL I bought from the US on ebay was delivered today. I did a self-check and everything was fine, but then I went to the bathroom and when I came back, the screen was completely black. When I turned the power back on, this screen appeared. https://twitter.com/kurosawa6502/status/1442422599942688775 I don't have any repair skills, so I cleaned the base with IPA. Of course, the situation did not change. I don't have the skills to repair it, so I would like to hire a professional to do the repair, and I would like to know if you have any recommendations. It's depressing to send something back to the US that arrived today from the US. Kurosawa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mclaneinc Posted September 27, 2021 Share Posted September 27, 2021 (edited) Could you take a picture of the psu and post it please.. If its like a rectangular pyramid shape with the top point chopped off then it's a seriously bad PSU and could kill any repaired machine again.. Edited September 27, 2021 by Mclaneinc 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurosawa6502 Posted September 27, 2021 Author Share Posted September 27, 2021 Dear Mclaneinc. Thanks for the comment. There is no genuine PSU as I bought it from an ebay seller without accessories. I used the USB power cable that this store sells. https://bit.ly/3CRqlqY 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xrbrevin Posted September 27, 2021 Share Posted September 27, 2021 (edited) you are fortunate that the chips are socketed! carefully prise them up and reseat them - oxidisation on the pins can cause a fault. solvent can help if you spot any particularly grubby pins. do you get keyboard click sound output when you press the keys? does reset key work? Edited September 27, 2021 by xrbrevin typo 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurosawa6502 Posted September 27, 2021 Author Share Posted September 27, 2021 Hi, keyboard did not seem to be responding. I understand. I'll pull out the chip and clean the legs. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beeblebrox Posted September 27, 2021 Share Posted September 27, 2021 (edited) Good to hear you used a USB power supply. I am not on Facebook so couldn't see your photo. Judging by responses you are already inside the casing. I second xrbrevin's comment - you are very lucky it's socketed. As xrbrevin suggests pull up the chips carefully. Ease them up either side tentatively and you wanna avoid bending there pins - pita to straighten and sometimes they can snap off! And be carefull not to scratch the main circuit board or any other components. Start with the CPU. This will help: https://www.atarinside.com/blog/index.php/motherboards/ Once done and you are lucky to get a display back, at the blue ready prompt type the word BYE and hit return. It should go into the Self test menu. (You can also power up the machine holding the Option button). Hit the memory test and leave it running a few cycles to make sure you are clear for bad ram chips. Do the RAM chips have MT on them? (Again sorry I can't access Facebook). Whilst in the self test menu it's work going to the keyboard test to make sure all the keyboard responds. Did you see the machine working in pics on Ebay at the time of purchase? Good luck. Edited September 27, 2021 by Beeblebrox 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Westphal Posted September 27, 2021 Share Posted September 27, 2021 He sent Eightbitfix an Email. I'm helping him out in the background. In the video I saw that he has a fully socketed motherboard, so the repairs should be a snap ;) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beeblebrox Posted September 27, 2021 Share Posted September 27, 2021 27 minutes ago, Paul Westphal said: He sent Eightbitfix an Email. I'm helping him out in the background. In the video I saw that he has a fully socketed motherboard, so the repairs should be a snap Cool - I luuuurve socketed MBs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurosawa6502 Posted September 27, 2021 Author Share Posted September 27, 2021 Thank you all. I'll buy some chip remover tomorrow and give it a try. (I just tried to remove the chip with a flathead screwdriver, but decided against it.) Eightbitfix also gave me some advice. I will try the method you gave me this week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Westphal Posted September 27, 2021 Share Posted September 27, 2021 Me too - However - Soldered XL's are not that bad to work on. It's the XE line that sucks - It's easy to pull up a trace on those cheap ass, single layer motherboards. Almost all XE's are soldered. I have seen -ONE- factory socketed 65XE. I think it was used to test a run of chips at the factory.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beeblebrox Posted September 27, 2021 Share Posted September 27, 2021 (edited) 11 minutes ago, Paul Westphal said: Me too - However - Soldered XL's are not that bad to work on. It's the XE line that sucks - It's easy to pull up a trace on those cheap ass, single layer motherboards. Almost all XE's are soldered. I have seen -ONE- factory socketed 65XE. I think it was used to test a run of chips at the factory.. @Paul Westphal Tell me about it! The XL boards as so much more hardy. I worked on socketing a Taiwan assembled 800XL a week or so ago adding new ram sockets. All when relatively smoothly. I've just brought a 130XE back from the dead, (sounds rather dramatic I know heh heh), and in the process socketed 95% of it. Had a few close calls with traces and managed to avoid any mishaps. Time will tell if all that heat stress will see it start to exhibit any issues. (BTW thanks for all those tracks you PM'd me earlier in the month. Been listening to some of them a lot. I love that Skyride track soooo much in stereo as well as Euglena_Zielona.) Edited September 27, 2021 by Beeblebrox typo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Westphal Posted September 27, 2021 Share Posted September 27, 2021 You can get songs from the SAP Archive, and make your own .xex's with the PC program, Wasap. Play around with it.. you have to right click to get options to save it as a .xex. Personally, I turn off the CPU usage option as it flashes on screen, and if the song is great, I click the loop box. I keep the Author and the year, but I like to put my own messages in there.. kinda cool.. wasap.exe 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xrbrevin Posted September 27, 2021 Share Posted September 27, 2021 34 minutes ago, Paul Westphal said: save it as a .xex if you save a stereo pokey tune as .xex will it sound weird on a standard mono setup? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Westphal Posted September 27, 2021 Share Posted September 27, 2021 Yeah, you will only hear 4 channels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JagChris Posted September 27, 2021 Share Posted September 27, 2021 Aren't all 600XL's socketed? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xrbrevin Posted September 27, 2021 Share Posted September 27, 2021 1 hour ago, Paul Westphal said: Yeah, you will only hear 4 channels. are any tunes in the SAP archive 4 channel? 36 minutes ago, JagChris said: Aren't all 600XL's socketed? i believe so - could it be due to where they were manufactured? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manterola Posted September 27, 2021 Share Posted September 27, 2021 I got an 600XL PAL with the 74LS158s not socketed (among others chips), so the upgrade to 64KB was more complicated than usual... However, a large part of all 600XLs are socketed... so getting a 600XL is a nice bet regarding sockets, among other aspects which make this particular model one of my favorite. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beeblebrox Posted September 27, 2021 Share Posted September 27, 2021 (edited) Yup - my general understanding is most 600XL were made in Hong Kong and all 800XL and 600XL made in Hong Kong were socketed. The majority of Taiwanese manufacturered 800XLs are not socketed. Edited September 27, 2021 by Beeblebrox Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurosawa6502 Posted September 29, 2021 Author Share Posted September 29, 2021 Hi. Thanks everyone. I also got some advice from Mr.Paul from EBF by email. Today I removed the chip and cleaned the socket with a cotton swab and IPA. I was quite hopeful, but unfortunately there was no change. There's nothing more I can do. I am very disappointed. What can I do with this XL? IMG_6930.mp4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beeblebrox Posted September 29, 2021 Share Posted September 29, 2021 Have u lifted every chip one at a time carefully, reseated them and tried powering it on after each chip is lifted and reseated? You are lucky they are all socketed so try this first. I don't think it's a lost cause by any stretch of the imagination. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurosawa6502 Posted September 29, 2021 Author Share Posted September 29, 2021 I'd like to get someone to repair it, but I'm not too keen on sending my XL abroad again. I'm off work on Saturday, so I'll try again. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
invisible kid Posted September 29, 2021 Share Posted September 29, 2021 Yep! Don't give up yet. A lot of resourceful folks here will probably be able to get you going. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beeblebrox Posted September 29, 2021 Share Posted September 29, 2021 Lifting up each chip and reseating/testing after each might take you 30-40mins (go slow as you don't wanna bend or snap any legs off). If it doesn't work then come back and see if the AA community has any more suggestions. Far worse has been fixed with the help of the AA community - speak from personal experience. The fact it worked briefly before is very encouraging. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sugarland Posted September 30, 2021 Share Posted September 30, 2021 Sorry to hear your disappointment. I understand the feeling. Have you tried deoxit on the sockets and chips legs? IPA will not remove corrosion well. Also try swapping the top four RAM chips to the bottom and bottom four to the top four sockets to see if that changes anything. Do you have another 8bit computer with which you can swap all RAM? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mclaneinc Posted September 30, 2021 Share Posted September 30, 2021 Hope it's working soon and not too expensive... Rotten luck on your part but it does happen.... Regards Paul.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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