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atari 600XL broken keyboard


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Hi, today I got my 600XL to work but now I have another problem, the keyboard is broken. sometimes it just doesn't do anything, other times the A key sticks. The only thing that works all the time are the side-silver keys (except the help key), any help would be nice.

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Hi, today I got my 600XL to work but now I have another problem, the keyboard is broken. sometimes it just doesn't do anything, other times the A key sticks. The only thing that works all the time are the side-silver keys (except the help key), any help would be nice.

There are two CO4051 16 pin chips near the keyboard socket. If you can swap them maybe that would work.

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There's supposed to be a daughterboard with an array of current limiting resistors pushed into the motherboard keyboard edge connector. I take it this is missing? In any case, the traces require repair with conductive silver paint.

I have yet to find a 600xl with that daughter board and many of my keyboards have that oxidized look.

 

Start testing continuity.

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Seems like an awful lot of soldering and chip swapping going on for a keyboard that "sometimes" produces a stuck A. Remove the billion tiny screws from the metal plate covering the keyboard mylar. Wash all the contacts on the mylar and the insert. Let dry. Plug into computer and test the keys before reassembling the keyboard.

 

I've had a few keyboards that had liquid stuck in them or the white square keys were stuck down and messing up the signals. And make sure the keyboard is plugged into the connector good. Continuity check the heck out of it from the traces on the mylar to the solder joint of the socket.

 

Its certainly possible pokey or other components have failed. But I like to rule out the keyboard first. Helps if you have another one to test with.

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Its certainly possible pokey or other components have failed. But I like to rule out the keyboard first. Helps if you have another one to test with.

 

As someone (Jon?) wrote earlier - you can easily rule stuff in or out by testing continuity of the Mylar with a multimeter.

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It's possible, but maybe more than one key was stuck down. If everything works now assembled then you should be good to go. The white plastic keys crack in the corners at times and get stuck down or don't hold the key cap correctly. Springs can also get messed up but not as likely. It works. Enjoy it.

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