howdy from an owner of a sick 464 (or a sick monitor...!)

Ciana · 23:46, 24 January 13

Hello there,

I am the proud owner of a very shabby 464 with colour monitor.

Currently, the poor thing doesn't display very well unless I wiggle the monitor cable, and the power socket is tempremental too. and the speaker has a load of interference.

But every so often when wiggling the monitor cable, I do get a "sort of" normal looking screen so this has encouraged me to try and fix it!

Oh and I guess at one time someone wasn't happy with it so they smashed the keyboard right down/ It's ergonomic if you have a fat right hand :

So yeah, hello!

db6128 · 04:00, 25 January 13

Hi and welcome. It is certainly a good idea to open the 464 up and see whether anything needs re-seated, as obviously the keyboard is in a sad state of repair, and perhaps that is related to the erratic video output.

Looking at that keyboard is very strange! Because, as you might know, there were two types of keys with differing heights produced during the 464's lifespan, and this begins to look like it's a hybrid of both.

I would try to cheer it up a bit, thought, if I were you!

arnoldemu · 10:30, 25 January 13

If the keyboard pcb is ok, it may need a screw in the correct place underneath the keyboard to hold it in place.
does the keyboard move with every key pressed?

concerning the bad video, it seems to be a bad joint/dry joint, resoldering the solder points under the monitor connector may help.

the power socket can be removed, opened, cleaned and put back together, sometimes the switch can get rusted. I've done this and it works fine on my cpc now.

not sure about the cassette.. may be a bad joint again..

good luck and I hope it's all fixable and just "cosmetic".

Gryzor · 13:28, 25 January 13

Oh the poor thing!!! Still, it sounds (and looks) like it would be fixable if you follow the advice above. It's be superb to nurture it back to health

Oh, welcome!

Ciana · 13:46, 25 January 13

Thanks for the warm welcome everyone.

The insides were full of dust and gunge, it looked like some small animals had been living inside

I removed the mainboard and gave it a shower with some soap (sorry if anyone hates that... I dried it quickly so it won't corrode!) :

http://s8.postimage.org/jma46921h/mainboard_before.jpg]

I've removed the keyboard, the metal plate was completely bent, so i placed it on a flat surface and straightened it as well as I can. The keys are all yellowed but I guess I'll leave them as-is - the keyboard actually works fine and I couldn't get easy access to the membrane underneath anyway with all those clips.

I am going to re-solder the monitor and power ports and check the connectors on the monitor too.

db6128 · 13:48, 25 January 13

I don't personally know, but maybe someone can advise you on a way to clean the keys without having to disassemble everything.

Glad the rest of it went well, though!

lynwen · 22:43, 25 January 13

Im new too hello !
I would love to know if it is okay to wash pcb in the shower with soap and water, this was exactly what I wanted to do with mine but was scared to break it

Ciana · 00:50, 26 January 13

lynwen, I've washed plenty of PCBs in soap and water (especially old arcade boards) and it's never broken any of them. Of course there is the risk of corrosion, etc, but I have boards I cleaned years ago still working fine with no sign of rust or degredation.

Perhaps someone else might have a worse experience than this, but the 464 is all dried off and working fine (well apart from the issues it already had!)

Bryce · 11:38, 28 January 13

Soap and water is fine, just don't go putting it in the dishwasher as many online like to advise. Dishwasher salt will kill the board.

Now I need to try and erase those pictures in my head of you under the shower holding a CPC mainboard.

Bryce.

Gryzor · 16:06, 28 January 13

Cleaning has been extensively discussed in the past; definitely no dishwasher (well, I think some plain powder detergents may work, because with these you have to use all sorts of extras and it's them that do the harm; but don't take my word for it), but normal washing will do. I'd like to think using desalted water is better because it leaves less residue, but some soaps take care of that, too.

Of course, whatever you do, make. sure. it's. dry. before plugging it in!

I see from Bryce's response I've got some competition to fend off...

lynwen · 17:59, 28 January 13

WAIT just a minute, that board says 1983, I thought they launched the 464 in June 1984??

db6128 · 18:45, 28 January 13

Yeah, but it had to be developed and copyrighted before that!

I imagine that six months or thereabouts is not a particularly long delay between finalisation of a design and its release to market.

Gryzor · 19:39, 28 January 13

No, of course it's not; after finalising it you have to send it for production, ship it back to Europe, distribute it and launch it... The trip from China to Europe alone can take months.

Ciana · 00:35, 01 February 13

All the connections on the motherboard are fine. I guess it's the wire coming from the monitor itself... I'm thinking at this stage I might just build a SCART cable.. though I do hate soldering those teensy little pins right next to each other. I happily desolder ICs so I can put in a socketed ParaDOS but when it comes to DIN cables I end up with burnt fingers and smelly plastic

00WReX · 10:41, 01 February 13

Ooh yes, the 1st revision mainboard with socketed RAM.
Came up a treat after the trip to the shower.

Even the heatsink on the gate array is shiny.

Cheers,
shane

lynwen · 22:00, 01 February 13

Hi Ciana!

Quote from: Ciana on 10:26, 01 February 13
Not wishing to hijack the thread but is that what mine is? howdy from an owner of a sick 464 (or a sick monitor...!)

I had never considered all the different versions, I see on the Wiki there were several. Cool.

That looks the same as mine, a version 1
Mainboard Versions - CPCWiki
Board: PT NO Z70100, without any "MCnnnn" code, Copyright 1983

Devilmarkus · 20:23, 02 February 13

Hello Ciana,
bit late for me, but I also want to welcome you to our forum.
Actually I'm a bit busy with my CPC-website, but today I stumbled across your postings

Have fun here!

TFM · 20:50, 02 February 13

Quote from: lynwen on 17:59, 28 January 13
WAIT just a minute, that board says 1983, I thought they launched the 464 in June 1984??

I got a 1983 464 too (well, got it in the late 90ies ;-))

Devilmarkus · 21:08, 02 February 13

The PCBs layouts were made @ end of 1983 but assembled and sold in 1984.

TFM · 21:28, 02 February 13

When did the first 464 hit the shelves in the UK?

Devilmarkus · 21:35, 02 February 13

Quote from: TFM/FS on 21:28, 02 February 13
When did the first 464 hit the shelves in the UK?

When it fell down from the storage rack... (And it hit hard)

This explains the weird keyboard on photo #1

Gryzor · 10:38, 03 February 13

Actually I was wondering the same thing the other day; do we know the exact date the machine went on the market?

00WReX · 13:09, 03 February 13

Quote from: TFM/FS on 21:28, 02 February 13
When did the first 464 hit the shelves in the UK?

http://www.cpcwiki.eu/index.php/File:ACU840809-007.jpg

According to ACU it was the 21st June 1984.

Cheers,
Shane

Gryzor · 16:19, 03 February 13

Thanks, I'm sure it has come up before but I had forgotten.

Heh, they had a queue? Probably paid by Sugar himself... I wonder who got the first one ever

News:

howdy from an owner of a sick 464 (or a sick monitor...!)