My new 464! Highs and lows of day 1...

[Skunkfish]

I was very happy this week as I'd managed to nab a 464 on eBay for a mere £25.

I've just been to pick her up and she's a real beauty (see photo).

Chatting with the bloke, it was his computer as a kid and he'd recently retrieved it after a clear-out at his parents house. It was advertised as having a faulty cassette drive. Speaking to him, it seems that he'd tested it but not with a monitor and the power light came on and the cassette drive would fast forward and rewind but not play. Winner, winner chicken dinner I think - this may be better than I thought.... He even threw in the PSU he'd been using to test it.

Anyway, I've just got her home and taken the bubble wrap off. And then I spot the PSU he's been using for his 'testing'... (also see photo) It's a 12V PSU

I still need to knock-up a video cable to test her as I've only got a Plus monitor, but what are the chances that some serious damage has been dealt to this by his 'testing'??

I'll update the thread once I've got her all hooked up...

[Vyper68]

Bryce will know better but 12v going into a PCB with no Voltage Regulator to provide even a little protection sounds like it will have killed most of the chips including the custom ones, they are only 5v tolerant.
Sorry...

[RetroCPC]

Really sorry to hear about so much potential damage to a CPC464 - but sadly I suspect much damage...

You might be lucky that Gate Array is still good - if by some slim chance it is, then everything else is replaceable...

If you have second CPC on hand - you could try taking the GateArray from the damaged unit (its socketed) and test in a known good working CPC (with the same GateArray type) - if the "Damaged" Gate array tests good, then the CPC can be repaired - I'd be happy to take a look for you as its important to keep as many CPC's alive for the future.

[Bryce]

You may be really luck and the first chip shorted enough to drop the voltage. But unfortunately you'll be looking at a complicated repair no matter what.

Bryce.

[Gryzor]

That was a short, sad story.

[Sykobee (Briggsy)]

Sad. Still, a good case, keyboard and other mechanical parts perhaps can be salvaged.


Barrel connectors for power with wildly variable configurations are such a terrible design.

[Bryce]

@Skunkfish  : You can send the PCB to me for repair if you really want it back working.

Bryce.

[tjohnson]

Send it to Bryce.
Some people are careless and rather stupid plugging in any random PSU.

[VintageAdvantage]

Btw, what mainboard revision do you have? I might be interested in acquiring it from you if it is defect, for parts, but it must be version 3 or 4. 

[gerald]

Btw, what mainboard revision do you have? I might be interested in acquiring it from you if it is defect, for parts, but it must be version 3 or 4.

According to the amstrad logo, its a full length board.

[Skunkfish]

@Skunkfish  : You can send the PCB to me for repair if you really want it back working.

Bryce.

Thanks Bryce. I'll see what sort of state it's in first, still need to power her up... (with 5V)