Prolonging Atari 800XL life

[jmccorm]

if you think its the color pots just replace them, messing up more color potentiometers and their calibration/settings and disturbing their traces is silly

[Nod.] But on the topic of lifespan and component failure, this is significantly on-topic. If not today at the level of preventative measures like C64 heat sinks, then as a reactive response further down the road. (Or if the overall failure rate spikes in 30 years.)

Edited January 14, 2018 by jmccorm

[teh_supar_hackr]

Today I fired up and tested a dozen of my old Atari 8-bits. For testing, the 800XL/1200XL/130XE machines were connected to the Composite Video Input of an NTSC television via the monitor output connection on the back of the computer. Two of my 800XLs had screen issues. One was black-and-white (shades of grey, no color) and the other was flickering and changing colors from time-to-time as I was hitting keys on the keyboard or moving the machine.

 

Both, it seems, suffered from oxidation on the color adjustment potentiometer that is hidden below the RF shield. Are there any well-known fixes (for the very long term) for the variable resistor, or is the consensus that it is good enough to break it free of the oxidation with a number of back-and-forth rotations every few years? Or are my cases unusual enough that it isn't regularly seen?

 

Thanks all,

jmccorm

I thought you said that you fried you Atati 8-bit systems. XD

[jmccorm]

I thought you said that you fried you Atati 8-bit systems. XD

That's what a stun gun is for!

[_The Doctor__]

mmmm fried bitz, now that's a lunch for teh_supar_hackz0rs!