Who Repairs "custom" Atari 8bits?

[Xebec]

Hi folks!

 

I was curious if there is anyone out there that does repair on Atari 8bits these days? I have an 800XL that had the U1MB and Stereo Pokey installed by Lotharek.. However, after some use, the system now just displays an orange or yellow color screen and does nothing more than that after power on. If it matters, I never could get the U1MB+SIDE2 to load an .ATR -- from the private emails i've received from folks, this looks like something that only happens occasionally anyway

 

I know these are old computers, but this is one of my original 800XLs (NTSC) and I'd like to see if someone good with electronics is willing to try to fix this. Obviously I would pay for time.

 

Alternatively, if someone has a working 800XL with U1MB they want to sell, if it's actually managed to load .ATRs via SIDE2, I'm interested..

 

Thanks all,

John H

 

[MrMartian]

If you're in Canada, I'm game..

[flashjazzcat]

If it matters, I never could get the U1MB+SIDE2 to load an .ATR -- from the private emails i've received from folks, this looks like something that only happens occasionally anyway

 

....if it's actually managed to load .ATRs via SIDE2, I'm interested.

 

Is there a widespread issue I should know about? Tell me more.

[Atari8guy]

I wonder if we should maintain a list of folks who do repairs and their geographic locations, perhaps one where those folks can add themselves on and off as their personal schedules and work allows and where we can leave feedback on their work. Having said that I've dealt with 4 or 5 folks on Atariage and they've all been excellent.

Edited January 18, 2014 by 8bitguy1

[Xebec]

Is there a widespread issue I should know about? Tell me more.

 

Hi there - I don't know if this is widespread or not -- My experiences were:

 

800XL - NTSC

U1MB ROM 1+ Stereo Pokey professionally installed by Lotharek

System worked fine for everything for a month or two

Tried all kinds of tricks - could not get it to load ATRs

 

later I flashed to "v3 beta" (which is really v2) and same deal.

 

An email I have from another atariager who flashed the chip for me said (in response to 'can you send me an ATR that works for you via SIDE2 / .ATR loading):

 

After pressing spacebar and getting the D1: then Press the ENTER key the screen will go dark......... some people have had success by pressing the shift key+reset key to get the atr to boot,..........but I have had better success by pressing help+reset to get back into the BIOS screen and then pressing the ‘Q’ quit button and when back into SDX then type COLD /N and the atr should boot..... IF it has a DOS file on it some game atr’s are difficult to boot.. I usually just boot those with SIO2PC either APE or ASPEQT 8.8 ....

This has been difficult for me also ... try J. Holliday’s MATR.EXE version beta 8 from Atari Age.com .... You would have to see me do the BIOS ‘L’ attaching to really understand it but I have been doing this on several upgraded Atari computers since the beginning of the upgrade availability (Ultimate1Mb)...

(Thanks)

[Xebec]

This is a great idea - I like buying these upgrades as it helps support the community at least.. (on top of being fun to mess with), but for a 30+ year old computer, I'd prefer not to use my extreme novice skills on the board..

 

I wonder if we should maintain a list of folks who do repairs and their geographic locations, perhaps one where those folks can add themselves on and off as their personal schedules and work allows and where we can leave feedback on their work. Having said that I've dealt with 4 or 5 folks on Atariage and they've all been excellent.

[flashjazzcat]

Hi there - I don't know if this is widespread or not...

It's really not an inexact science: software works the same way every time, so if intermittent problems come up, they are just that. Shift+Reset re-reads the partition table from disk and wipes out any ATR mounts, so would hardly assist in booting an ATR.

 

I'd venture that those problems not caused by transmission errors are caused by poorly prepared media, but until I'm informed of problems personally and provided with sufficient details to undertake a diagnosis of PBI related issues, there's little I can do.

[Xebec]

When I find someone to fix my Atari i'll send you as many details as you can use ..

 

(In my case i tried two different CF cards.. prepared a few different ways - via windows, via linux, ensuring the right partition types, etc..)

[flashjazzcat]

When I find someone to fix my Atari i'll send you as many details as you can use ..

OK - thanks in advance.

[candle]

xebec, it would help, if you would fill up your user data - ie location

i could fix it, but postage may kill you

same for Jon, or any other folk around here

[vazquezrick]

I am located in Colorado Springs and would be willing to take a look at the Atari.

[Sowden]

Heres a tip of something I did. I am quite a fan of the chiptune music scene. So in the case of my ST, I found a musician who is currently using the ST as his main instrument, and asked him who he sends his to for repairs. If he is a popular dude and you can get in contact with him (facebbok makes that real easy), they will probably recommend you to who they send their baby to. It worked for me and now I'm going to send my ST soon out to Sweden.

Edited January 21, 2014 by Sowden