Autopsy:

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I have repaired the PSU with the failure of stanby mode of the Sharp X68000 (gray version). The failure was caused by two electrolytic capacitors and the voltage regulator 7805 in short circuit.

I have also tried to repair the external case of the Sharp X68000 (gray version) that during the first transport in Italy many years ago was destroyed.

from Wikipedia:

The Sharp X68000, often referred to as the X68k, is a home computer released only in Japan by the Sharp Corporation. The first model was released in 1987, with a 10 MHz Motorola 68000 CPU (hence the name), 1 MB of RAM and no hard drive; the last model was released in 1993 with a 25 MHz Motorola 68030 CPU, 4 MB of RAM and optional 80 MB SCSI hard drive. RAM in these systems is expandable to 12 MB, though most games and applications did not require more than two.

The X68k ran an operating system developed for Sharp by Hudson Soft, called Human68k, which features commands very similar to those in MS-DOS (typed in English). Pre-2.0 versions of the OS had command line output only for common utilities like “format” and “switch”, while later versions included forms-based versions of these utilities, greatly improving their usability. At least three major versions of the OS were released, with several updates in between. Other operating systems available include NetBSD for X68030 and OS-9.

Early models had a GUI called “VS” (Visual Shell); later ones were packaged with SX-WINDOW. A third GUI called Ko-Windows existed; its interface is similar to Motif. These GUI shells could be booted from floppy disk or the system’s hard drive. Most games also booted and ran from floppy disk; some were hard disk installable and others require hard disk installation.

Since the system’s release, Human68k, console, and SX-Window C compiler suites and BIOS ROMs have been released as public domain and are freely available for download.

Early machines use the rare Shugart Associates System Interface (SASI) for the hard disk interface; later versions adopted the industry-standard small computer system interface (SCSI). Per the hardware’s capability, formatted SASI drives can be 10, 20 or 30 MB in size and can be logically partitioned as well. Floppy disks came in a couple of different formats, none of which are natively readable on other platforms, although software exists that can read and write these disks on a DOS or Windows 98 PC.

source: wikipedia

Today a friend, that i thank him immensely, gave me a large amount of chips.

The donation amounts to:

• 70+ Z80 CPU.
• 14+ Z80 CTC (Counter / Timer Channels)
• 200+ 74XXX TTL chips.

I ran the repair of the membrane that had a micro interruption, i have used a micro-drop of vinilic glue mixed with the graphite that i have scraped from the pencil ikea, i made a thin film on the microfracture and now it works.

There were other problems, including: graphite consumed in some keys and the keyboard connector (pcb side) don’t work very well.

I have received this motherboard of a CBM 8032 to repair from Rossano T.

The motherboard was devastated by rust, many components are short-circuited due to rust that was abundant on the pins side of the chip. Unfortunately the computer was turned on to test it, causing the total breakdown of more components.

I have installed 40 socket because some components are rusty other are dead, however some traces under the chips are eaten by rust and and i had to rebuild.

The repair and cleaning took me a very long time and a lot of patience, it took me about 10+ hours.

Components Replaced:

• 1 x 4650 (6845P) CRT Controller
• 3 x 4116 RAM
• 2 x 2114 Video RAM
• 5 x 74LS244
• 3 x 74LS74
• 1 x 74LS02
• 1 x 1uf 100v Capacitor

Phases of the repair:

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This gallery shows some stages of cleaning the computer Apple IIe and the Apple Monitor ///.

I have also made minor repairs which i describe below:

• Fixing the keyboard connector on keyboard side (some keys not working)
• Adjusting the yoke of the CRT tube (the screen is lightly rotated)
• Replaced the LED of power-on (CR1) of the Apple IIe (LED was off)
• Removing the RIFA filter capacitor (the capacitor was exploded)

The failure was due to a cold solder on the ram socket and a bent pin on the ic MOS 8276.

I have disabled the mod to make the screen in reverse (white chars on black background), i have also made the composite mod with the right resistor value for the best quality video output.

Replacement:

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Simple steps to replace the keyboard Membrane of the Sinclair ZX Spectrum 128k (heatsink).

• Buy a new Sinclair Spectrum 128k Keyboard membrane.
• Unscrew the eight screws on the bottom.
• Kindly disconnect the keyboard from the connectors on the main pcb.
• Remove the back of the keyboard.
• Unscrew the block that holds the cable.
• Remove the old membrane.
• Clean the keyboard with air-spray and a soft brush.
• Install the new membrane.
• Close the back of the keyboard.
• Very kindly put the block of the flat cable and screw in.
• The keyboard is ready to be connected.
• Very kindly insert the flat cable into the connector.
• Your Sinclair ZX Spectrum 128k is like new.

source: rwapsoftware.co.uk

I thank my dear friend for the donation of the motherboards.

• Commodore Dual Drive Floppy Disk CBM 8250
• Commodore CBM 8296

A dear friend sent to me a few things to repair or test, i will see to do my best.

Things to repair/testing:

• Commodore 64/128 – 1764 Ram Expansion (dead)
• Commodore 64 Power Supply for the Commodore 1764 Ram Expansion (pcb broken)
• ZX Spectrum Plus (7805 over burned)
• Texas Instruments TI-99/A (black screen)
• Amstrad 464 + (replace case and keyboard)
• Kung-fu Master Jamma pcb Board (no audio)
• Arabian Sinclair Spectrum 2+ (dead + tape problem + keyboard problem)
• Sinclair ZX81 (video problem / testing)
• Sinclair ZX80 (video problem / testing)
• Sega SC-3000 (cpu bad socket)

Things for spare parts or to keep:

• Sinclair ZX80 Original Power Supply.
• Commodore VIC-20 Boxed cartridges.
• Sega SC-3000 Basic cartridge.
• Commodore Dual Floppy Drive 8250 motherboard (spare parts)
• Commodore CBM 8296 motherboard (spare parts)
• Sharp CE-510F Dual Floppy Drive for Sharp PC-5000 (Boxed)
• Chalkboard Powerpad + Expansions (Boxed)
• Tape Recorder for Commodore (spare parts)

Replaced a old yellowed Amiga 1200 keyboard with a new one.

I have made some works for a friend and i didn’t want money, the friend then wanted to contribute to my Electronic Lab with this Hot Air Desoldering Station. Thanks, i appreciate it.

Video demostration:

source: aoyue.com

I have repaired an Commodore VC-1541 Floppy Drive donated by Alessio. The Floppy Drive doesn’t take any commands via IEC.

The components that have been replaced are:

• 1 x 7406
• 1 x 74LS14

Material donated:

• Commodore VC-1541 (need to fix it)
• Microcomputer Data Recorder Klain for Commodore 64/VIC20/PET.
• Some IC.

Thanks Alessio for the donation.

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I had several problems with the repair of the Hewlett-Packard HP-85.

The first problem was the way to reconstruct the pinch roller using a latex tube, this is a very bad choice, then i have used a 10mm heat shrink, this choice instead is very good.

The second problem was the rubber parts of the pinch roller are literally dissolved and the rubber is went to cover the optical diode and part of the pcb and of course nothing has worked and the tape drive was always in stalled state.

After cleaning, the drive started to work perfectly. The last problem are the magnetic tapes 3M DC-1000 instead of HP DC-100, for the correct operation you must perform a modification by adding a resistor of 2kohm in parallel to the already present on the pcb. After this mod you need to format the tape with the “erasetape” command.

I must also thank John of the site vintagecomputers.freeserve.co.uk for the support.

Download:

• 3M Data Cartridge Compatibility List (1699)
• Athana DC100A / 3M DC-1000 Fix (1422)

source: voidware.com/calcs/hp85rep hp9845.net vintagecomputers.freeserve.co.uk