Date   : Thu, 01 Aug 2002 17:49:57 +0000
From   : "W.Scholten" <wouter.scholten@...>
Subject: Re: BBC problem

Stephen.Gilbert@... wrote:

> but when I do *Dr.0, it comes up with DISK FAULT...etc.
> So his Challenger seems broken.

Possibly the disk controller is dead. Or oxidized cable contacts.


> My friend swears that everything was working before it went into the attic.
> But I guess
> the moisture/climate in the attic have done their damage.

General notes:

Something that I've not seen mentioned anywhere but which is immensely
useful to keep old machines working, is contact cleaner. Spray it on
pins, into sockets etc to remove any oxide (let it dry for 30 minutes or
more). Also works for keyboards with dead keys (spray onto the
keyswitch, and press a few times to get it to the contacts). For
keyboard problems, resoldering contacts are the next thing to try, and
checking for broken tracks on the keyboard PCB is actually the first to
do. For non-working machines, strip down the machine (from extras like
RAM boards, SWR) until you get it working so you can find out what piece
is causing the problem. More advice on stripping even more (removing
various chips on the main PCB to see if they are fauly, 6522's etc) is
in the mailing list archives

Wouter

PS. Does anyone have the ADFS rom for the Opus Challenger?