Hello, Amstrad community!
Brand new here and looking forward to 'talking some strad'!'
I have the original 464plus I grew up on as well as another I purchased (because the original stopped showing the home screen) about ten years ago. But sadly after firing it up yesterday it too has bit the dust. They both receive power but the home screen is a mixture of flicking or not showing the text needed to start games.
The following link shows the problem of the one that broke yesterday. (I assume I can post Youtube links here?)
https://youtu.be/SJZtCR83WTM (https://youtu.be/SJZtCR83WTM)
Some friendly Amstrad people on a discord suggest it's a ram/chip problem but for someone who isn't tech at all (literally just bought another because my original broke), I wouldn't know where to start with a repair. I'm from Wales in the UK if anyone can recommend a repair service or any step-by-step opening the sucker up and look out for something which isn't right? I can't stress to you how inexperienced I am with electronic repairs though.
Attached are pictures of a mixture of my monitors and keyboards. They both now I believe are suffering the same problem? :(
Thank you for your time!
Thomas
The fact that it can display a screen that the monitor can lock on is positive news.
If you don't want to try repairs yourself, Ian of mutant-caterpillar (https://www.mutant-caterpillar.co.uk/shop/product_info.php?cPath=39&products_id=3500&osCsid=god5697uacjnfho7gsg78eau24) may be able to help.
Mark
Quote from: 1024MAK on 17:23, 23 May 21
The fact that it can display a screen that the monitor can lock on is positive news.
If you don't want to try repairs yourself, Ian of mutant-caterpillar (https://www.mutant-caterpillar.co.uk/shop/product_info.php?cPath=39&products_id=3500&osCsid=god5697uacjnfho7gsg78eau24) may be able to help.
Mark
Nooooo!!!!!! Send it anywhere, but not to Mutant Caterpillar!!! Normally I'd tell you to send it to me, but the postal costs are out of hand at the moment, so it would make the repair too expensive. I will send you a PM with some very reliable repair guys in the UK, who know what they are doing.
Bryce.
Quote from: Bryce on 17:57, 23 May 21
Nooooo!!!!!!
So who do you suggest?
I normally do my own repairs, so can only go on what other people say about companies that offer repairs.
Mark
I have a few threads here documenting the terrible repairs that this guy has done, plus many repairs that he claimed weren't possible (simple floppy calibrations), but still charged the owner for having looked at them.
My recommendation is @roy bates (https://www.cpcwiki.eu/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=1270) . A member here and on Amibay, lives somewhere in the midlands I think? - Does really professional repairs for very fair prices.
Bryce.
P.s. Sorry Roy if this causes a flood of repairs to come your way :D
Edit: And if you think I'm joking, take a look at this thread, one of Mutant Caterpillars more than questionable repairs: https://www.cpcwiki.eu/forum/amstrad-cpc-hardware/britannia-rombox-and-how-not-to-fix-them/msg164077/#msg164077 (https://www.cpcwiki.eu/forum/amstrad-cpc-hardware/britannia-rombox-and-how-not-to-fix-them/msg164077/#msg164077)
Understood. I did not know that members here had experienced problems with Ian (mutant-caterpillar (https://www.mutant-caterpillar.co.uk/shop/product_info.php?cPath=39&products_id=3500&osCsid=god5697uacjnfho7gsg78eau24)).
Mark
yep,i can do it for you,its not very expensive if its just ram
EDIT: arnt you on the bbc site? i recognise that name
roy
Yay, I'm glad that this chap was able to get some help here like we thought in the amstrad discord.
I hope it's a simple fix, the Plus models are buggers.
Well, this thread was a "nice" surprise to come across!
Quote from: Bryce on 18:12, 23 May 21I have a few threads here documenting the terrible repairs that this guy has done, plus many repairs that he claimed weren't possible (simple floppy calibrations), but still charged the owner for having looked at them.
Can you please direct me to these threads? I know for a 100% fact that anybody claiming I didn't repair a floppy drive because of a calibration is lying - I know this because a) I don't charge if I can't repair it, and b) I've fixed *far* worse drives than just bad alignment! Sometimes I spend far too long on them....
Full disclosure: Yes, I did the ROMBox repair. Why did I use Milliput? Because at the time that's all it needed. The cable wasn't broken and it looked really messy, but it
worked. And on something rare like this that couldn't easily be replaced, and had no schematics or guides, I judged that the most important thing was to keep it as original as possible.
Yes, in retrospect I should probably have changed the connector, but at the time the Milliput was there not to fix it so much as re-inforce it. I was more worried about getting it to work than I was about cosmetics. If it broke afterwards, then I would have replaced the entire connector at no charge, as it would be covered under my warranty.
I'm trying to remember exactly what went on with that ROMBox, but all I really remember is that it was a royal pain. And that it worked when I sent it back.
So basically, when it comes to ROMBoxes with milliput, yes, I'm guilty as charged. Looking back, and seeing that it subsequently broke, I would have replaced the connector - but in my defence if the owner had said that it had failed again, like I say I would have done just that at no charge.
Quote
My recommendation is @roy bates (https://www.cpcwiki.eu/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=1270) . A member here and on Amibay, lives somewhere in the midlands I think? - Does really professional repairs for very fair prices.
On that I *can* agree. Roy a decent bloke and knows what he's doing.
Quote
Edit: And if you think I'm joking, take a look at this thread, one of Mutant Caterpillars more than questionable repairs: https://www.cpcwiki.eu/forum/amstrad-cpc-hardware/britannia-rombox-and-how-not-to-fix-them/msg164077/#msg164077 (https://www.cpcwiki.eu/forum/amstrad-cpc-hardware/britannia-rombox-and-how-not-to-fix-them/msg164077/#msg164077)
As I said, on that one that was me and I hold my hands up, but the accusations that I have taken on floppy drive repairs, not repaired them, and then returned them after charging the owner is categorically untrue, so please let me know of anyone saying this.
How to fix it?
Well, get the Cartridge out, clean the contacts quickly.
Then get the Cart in and out a couple of times, this will shift off oxidized metal molecules.
Then get the Cart in again and it shall all work.
Hi Spirantho,
I have to be honest here and say that even if your intentions were good, you really didn't do yourself or your reputation any favours with the milliput repair. Milliput has no place in any electronic device. Your claim of having no schematics isn't great either. It's a standard well documented CPC 50way pinout and the replacement part is readily available. You would have done yourself a favour by swapping the part as would be expected for a repair like this.
As for the drive repairs, I don't remember the exact users, but you may find threads here where I said the user said it was sent for repair but the repair shop said it wasn't repairable. I never mentioned your name in those threads though.
However, I would like to highly commend you for coming forth and taking responsibility. It's better to hear the explanation from yourself rather than others speculating about what happened.
Bryce.
Thanks Bryce.
I realise I made a mistake now in trying to get the original IDC connector working when I should have just replaced the darn thing.
If anyone does have any drives which I said were unrepairable and I charged them for it then let me know and I'll fix them for free. I don't remember ever doing that (and indeed I've always made a point of *not* doing that) but I guess it's possible I may have back in the mists of time.
To give a clearer picture; you also repaired a disc drive on a 6128 Plus at the same time as the Rombox, the disc drive is still working.