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Atari Portfolio

Submitted by iamdigitalman on August 1, 2006 - 6:24am. Other Computers

well, the thing arrived while I was gone. got it off ebay. paid less than $20 for it. knew the screen had a problem from the description, but I thought it was fixable, and it came with some nice accessories i.e the quick start card, parallel port interface with manual, 64k card in case, file manager card, and file transfer software on original 3.5" disk.

wen I put some freash AAs in it, and hit the fn key, I got nothing, but when I presses fn+O, I got 2 bands of horizontal across the screen. so, I thought a cold boot should work. I did that, and hello!! I got a screen full of lit pixels. I turned it off, and turned it back on. same thing. so, I let it sit for an hour. when I went back, I was back to square 1. cold boot, and once again, same thing as square 2. so, I thought it was the battery terminals with corrosion. I cleaned them with a q-tip and 70% isperol alcohol, same thing I have used to clean all my other electronic devices' battery terminals. as per usual, I dried the terminals with a dry swab, and let it sit overnight just in case. in the morning, I put the batteries back, and booted. nothing on the screen. fn+o, and I got a SINGLE band on the LCD. so, I hit the cold boot switch in the battery bay once more, and rebooted. nothing. switched it off and NOTHING. no bands. nothing.

did I kill it? is there any way to resurect this classic machine? I really want to get it working.

oh, just so you know, it is mostly complete. a few scuffs/scratches, the bottom lable is REALLY faded, but it has the bus connector cover and battery door. hinges are a bit loose, but it holds well.

so, do I have a ripped LCD ribbon? if so, where do I get another one, and how do I take it apart? anybody have a detailed guide?

thanks. -digital Eye-wink

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aladds's picture

a loose ribbon sounds more li

Submitted by aladds on August 1, 2006 - 12:21pm.

a loose ribbon sounds more likely, similar to (although more extreme than), this http://www.larwe.com/museum/atariportfolio.html

Quote:
a couple of lines on the LCD were not working. This is one of the most annoying problems to fix! In order to get in and reseat the bad connection (which is the cause of this problem), you need to prise the faceplate off the LCD, revealing two screws, remove those screws, carefully pry open the casing (it's held together with plastic clips), unscrew the LCD controller, bend open the retaining tabs that hold the LCD onto the driver board, and wiggle it all apart. This process can only be carried out a couple of times before the retaining tabs work-harden and fall off.

good luck

aladds

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iamdigitalman's picture

right, I read that, but I'm c

Submitted by iamdigitalman on August 2, 2006 - 1:31am.

right, I read that, but I'm curious: what am I supposed to do/be looking for when I get the LCD half apart? loose connection? and if so, how do I fix it? is it a standard latch connector, or what?

also, i'm wondering if freezing and/or refrigerating the whole unit, then powering it on work? because I have read about that working before.

thanks. -digital Eye-wink

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iamdigitalman's picture

ok, I got the thing apart, sa

Submitted by iamdigitalman on August 2, 2006 - 2:39am.

ok, I got the thing apart, sans the retaining tabs. its unclear as to what to do after thats done. could I get some clarification?

thanks. -digital Eye-wink

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iamdigitalman's picture

update

Submitted by iamdigitalman on August 5, 2006 - 4:03am.

well, I got the brass cover off, and I managed to get some random vertical lines of lit pixels on the LCD. note: there are a row of pins on the pcb which I pressed the panel against to get the lines. making progress.

it may be the cable that connects the 2 pcbs. Ill try this somemore tommarow.

-digital Eye-wink

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iamdigitalman's picture

sorry, i've been busy. tried

Submitted by iamdigitalman on August 9, 2006 - 2:52am.

sorry, i've been busy. tried some more, and got the same results. I could REALLY use some help. so, if you know somebody experience with this machine, or electronics in general, let me know. in the mean time, I asked around, and the manager at one of the radioshack used to fix old tandys. not the same thing, but they may be able to help. so, as soon as I catch up with them, i'll let you all know. let's hope if I get them to help, they dont break this thing more than it already is.

-digital Eye-wink

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iamdigitalman's picture

more bad news...

Submitted by iamdigitalman on August 16, 2006 - 6:04am.

got 2 shots of more bad news for you:

the latch assembly came apart, and upon trying to re-assemble it, the spring popped out, and flew across the room. I can probibly find it, as my shop room is small, but I will look in the morning.

one of the hinge covers broke off. it's a bit of plastic, half circle, and I cant pop it back in. I MAY be able to re-affix it if I can get some proper glue.

I still cant get the thing to display anything on the LCD. I am REALLY close to selling it off as a parts machine, so watch the FS/T area soon. I will then get a WORKING one off ebay. there wasnt one a few days ago, but now there is one. I will, of course, keep all the accesories as they are worth more than the computer, so if I do sell it, it will be just the computer and the parallel interface.

I will keep trying, but at this point, i'm not very optimistic.

-digital Eye-wink

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