Commodore 16 Repair

Taking a break from pinball restoring to fix some old computers (next update a Vic20). I have had this C16 in the to fix pile for over 2 years, I suspected the CPU was bad but I didn't have a spare to confirm this. I recently got a Commodore Plus/4 in a job lot so was able to take the CPU from that and confirm my suspicion.

As nothing is ever easy this didn't quite fix the C16, it would only boot to basic about 1 in 5 times of power cycling the system. It would usually show a black screen or a screen of garbage. Even when it did boot to basic it didn't behave quite right, for one the reset button did nothing and loading from a cassette wasn't working as it should.

I followed the trace from the reset button to the other end of the board to a LM555 @ U10 but this turned out to be fine. Next to it is a 7406 @ U9, after replacing this everything worked as it should.

 

 

Simpsons Pinball - Shooter

The shooter / plunger had been used for a long time without a rubber tip this has caused the end to 'mushroom'. As I was unable to take the shooter apart like this I used a dremel to sand it while still inside the machine. I held the dremel stationary and slowly turned the shooter.

 

Simpsons Pinball - Bad connectors

A common problem on Pinball machines is burnt molex connectors due to the long hours they were run for and heat build up.

What a mess, notice the wires connected to the test points. These go to the new coin mech as this was originally an american machine. I am sure there must be a closer gnd / 12v source to tap into rather than the backbox and directly to the power supply.

 

New 9 pin header installed and recapped the power supply.

Hmm toasty, this connector plugs into the playfield power board (PPB).

 

Replaced both connectors, the label maker also got a workout.

Data East PPB Board

I have been after a Simpsons Data East pinball machine for years and when one came up locally I couldn't resist. Although it was bought as working it still needs quite a bit of work, mostly cosmetic but also some board repairs, replacing connectors etc. Anyway lets get started, while changing all the fuses to the correct values I noticed a bad fuse holder on the PPB board.

CPC sell a replacement the part # is FF02911, it is pretty much identical to the ones Data East used.

 

For some reason Q4 has been removed, maybe to replace Q5 and they didn't have a spare TIP36? R16 was burnt so was replaced with a new 200ohm 1/4 resistor. I have ordered a TIP36 along with some molex parts more to come soon.

Atomiswave 2 Naomi

For those of you that haven't heard about this fantastic project get yourself over to http://64darksoft.blogspot.co.uk/. In short he is porting every Atomiswave game to Naomi so all us hardware owners can play them on our Naomi setup either via netboot or CF card. There are some real hidden gems on the Atomiswave so get donating and give the nice man all the money you can spare.

Virtual Boy

I wasn't planning on documenting this since it isn't that interesting but things have been very quiet when it comes to 'post worthy' stuff.

I picked up a Virtual Boy that was sold as not working because I wanted the cool rental case that came with it to store my loose system in. I thought it was going to be the usual faulty screen problem but after testing it I found it to be completely dead. I opened it up and one of the caps had exploded and the custom overly complex voltage regulator wasn't outputting 5v. Someone had clearly hooked up the wrong voltage / polarity power supply at some point. The custom voltage regulator was all surface mount parts and again overly complex so I did a google search for '7805 virtual boy' and sure enough it brought up this image.

I followed this schematic and added a small heatsink to the 7805 and the system fired right up. Sorry about the lack of pictures and being a bit vague on this one.

Having some Fon

I recently decided to get a 'Fon Spot' to connect to my home broadband allowing me access to the millions of Fon Spots all over the UK when out and about. Pretty much everyone who has BT Broadband offers a free Wifi Fon Spot whether they know it or not. Anyone with a Fon / BT membership can login and use it free of charge.

Being cheap I had a google to see if there were any other options besides buying the Fon Simpl which is about £35 + postage. I came across this french blog site which has several unofficial Fonbasic firmware files. I just so happened to already own a Buffalo WHR-HP-G54 which I used to use for wireless netbooting before making a CF reader. Although it is said to be untested it works great and my Fon account allowed me to login to the neighbors wifi within 20 minutes of signing up. So there you have it a cheaper (or free in my case) option to buying a Fon Simpl.

I have also fixed all the download links yet again.