Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!oddjob!hao!gatech!dcatla!mclek
From: mclek@dcatla.UUCP (Larry E. Kollar)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.cbm
Subject: Re: Dead C128 in need of resurrection
Message-ID: <2795@dcatla.UUCP>
Date: 23 Feb 88 15:26:26 GMT
References: <2706@druhi.ATT.COM>
Reply-To: mclek@dcatla.UUCP (Larry E. Kollar)
Distribution: comp
Organization: DCA Inc., Alpharetta, GA
Lines: 27
Keywords: defunct, deceased, departed, late

In article <2706@druhi.ATT.COM> mab@druhi.ATT.COM (A.Bland) writes:
>A little bit of user port hacking over the weekend has left my C128 dead.
>
>I seem to have accidently shorted user port pins 10 and 11 (both are
>labeled 9VAC).  Pins C-L (data) and N (GND) were also connected at the
>time, but I don't suspect that they caused any problems.
>
>I tried swapping the two CIA chips, suspecting that I had fried one of
>them, but that didn't change anything.

A friend of mine did something similar when he pulled his modem out of a live
C128.  We had a busted 64 sitting around, so we pulled the CIA out of that
board & put it on the 128.  No luck, so off to the repair shop.

Turned out that not only the CIA was fried, but several other chips as well.
The repair bill came to about $80.  And this is from a person who tries to
save his customers money (he told us that a couple of other chips were in a
position to be "weakened" from the voltage spike, and that he would replace
them for parts cost only if they failed within a month).

I'm sorry that I couldn't give a more optimistic reply.  Perhaps the market
exists for a user port buffer which would allow you to abuse it w/o destroying
chips.

	Larry Kollar	...!gatech!dcatla!mclek
"Little guy, little hands, little eyes and lots of time,
 What you gonna be, what you gonna see, when your eyes are level with mine?"