Which computers are the most fun to repair?

[Keatah]

What computers are the most fun to repair and present a satisfying puzzle when doing so. A simple question 2BSHUR, but some of these can be a real hassle or very rewarding.

 

I don't relish tediously trenching through 90 TTL chips on an Apple II+, nor figuring out if an IOU/MMU is bad in a //e.

Surprisingly I'd say Commodore 64 and PC. There's tons of info and documented failure modes for the 64. And the PC seems complex enough to support many angles of attack to arrive at the proper fix.

[Hans23]

I enjoy fixing TI-99/4A's, but it is certainly not because it is particularly easy.  The worst part is that there is no silk screen, so one has to constantly cross reference locations with the technical manual.  Also, as there is no solder mask on the motherboard, it is very easy to cause shorts.  All in all, it is a pain, but that makes it very satisfying to fix problems with them.

[Tuxon86]

6 hours ago, Keatah said:

What computers are the most fun to repair and present a satisfying puzzle when doing so. A simple question 2BSHUR, but some of these can be a real hassle or very rewarding.

 

I don't relish tediously trenching through 90 TTL chips on an Apple II+, nor figuring out if an IOU/MMU is bad in a //e.

Surprisingly I'd say Commodore 64 and PC. There's tons of info and documented failure modes for the 64. And the PC seems complex enough to support many angles of attack to arrive at the proper fix.

The Atari 8bit are also fun to work with. The components are clearly referenced on the board.