arottenbit
Offline
Milan, Italy

I bought an Atari 1040 STe 4Megs some times ago.

It turns on but all i can see on my television screen are only some grey/green/black glitches.
The 'video-card' died, i think.

I've tried a scart cable and an antenna one connected to an old CRT television.
I've even tried it on an original atari BW screen.
...but them totally dont work.

How could i repair it?
could i buy another 1040 (not ste) for spare parts?
..or maybe some older (cheaper) version?

is the ram upgrading 'that' hard?
could i just buy another STe and put inside it the 4Mb from my died one?


damn... i'm so sad.. sad

low-gain
Offline
Milwaukee, Wisconsin USA

Really sorry to hear that.
i'd say buy another one and use the one you go for spare parts.
If you lived in the states i'd offer to buy your dead one so i could have a parts machine.

unless you know of a local tech in town, i just dont know if it's gunna be worth paying someone else to fix it.

arottenbit
Offline
Milan, Italy

mm..
so cannot i repair it taking some spare parts from an atari 520 or something?

I'd prefer to repair it by my self...

Tonylight knows a guy in Milan (my city) who could (MAYBE) repair it.
But i should pay him and wait for much more that a month... hmm

an-cat-max
Offline
astral cat

that sucks so bad man, sorry to hear that sad wish i could help but i'm an STe noob

akira^8GB
Offline
New York City

That thing doesn't have a "videocard", it has a GPU for sure.
Not sure you can fix it with a 520. Someone more knowledgeable in Atari ST will have to answer you!

dubmood
Offline
Marseille

does it still boot atostarting applications? if yes, you can always use it as a Synthezier with Maxymizer and as an STj station! Who needs monitors on ataris anyway...

arottenbit
Offline
Milan, Italy

i know that STU for his livesets uses an atari without monitor...
i could write my songs on pc via emulator and than perform/record from the atari... i know...
but i would much more prefer to use original hardware even for compose... hmm

Awol
Offline

Have you turned your Atari upside down recently (maybe to unscrew the case to put in a TOS upgrade), or carried it somewhere in a backpack or suitcase? Atari computers have a problem where sometimes chips come loose from their sockets. Sometimes it can be fixed by lifting up the Atari a couple inches and dropping it on the table, although that doesn't usually work for me. After taking my STE somewhere in a suitcase on a plane, I usually have to open the computer and push down on all the socketed chips (TOS, CPU, etc) to make sure they are tight in their sockets. After you have pushed in the chips, be gentle when you turn the Atari upside down again to screw the case back on! This has fixed my STE several times when I was sure it was "dead". smile

arottenbit
Offline
Milan, Italy

Thanks Awol!! big_smile
Yeah probably that's the problem!
..i'm going to try this asap!

arottenbit
Offline
Milan, Italy

mmh...
i've pushed these three chips...

but it still doesnt work..
should I push something else or simply should I lose all my hopes?

Last edited by arottenbit (Jan 25, 2010 1:52 pm)

Awol
Offline

There are 2 square chips in sockets under the keyboard which seem to be the usual culprits on my STE. One is the CPU, and I think the other is the blitter. I can never be bothered to remove the metal shielding completely (actually I can't figure out how XD) so I just remove the keyboard, unscrew the front half of the shielding, lift it up a little, and stick a finger or screwdriver in there to push down the 2 square chips.

Last edited by Awol (Jan 25, 2010 2:43 pm)

low-gain
Offline
Milwaukee, Wisconsin USA

The better thing to do would be to carefully remove said chips one at a time and put them back in.

Let me rephrase.. With the power off, and your body discharged of any static electricity...
remove 1 chip.. and immediately put it back in. proceed to do this to every other socketed chip on the board.

I'll repeat.. Do this 1 chip at a time... do not pull every chip out and then put them back in unless you are 100% sure of where they go back!

smile

low-gain
Offline
Milwaukee, Wisconsin USA

btw.. your STE is really clean! smile

arottenbit
Offline
Milan, Italy

mmh.. i cannot see any socket under the keyboard.. sad
Those 'squares' are soldered..

Last edited by arottenbit (Jan 25, 2010 4:03 pm)

arottenbit
Offline
Milan, Italy
low-gain wrote:

The better thing to do would be to carefully remove said chips one at a time and put them back in.

i'm going to try this asap. smile

..maybe it looks so white thanks to the mega-flash of my camera. tongue

Awol
Offline
arottenbit wrote:

mmh.. i cannot see any socket under the keyboard.. sad
Those 'squares' are soldered..

Hmm... that's odd! My STE has sockets there. In fact I recently pulled the CPU out of mine in order to test an accelerator.
There's another socketed chip on the underside of the keyboard itself by the way, but I doubt that's the problem.
Anyway, I hope you get your STE working again! Can't really help much further than I have. sad
And of course, like Low-Gain said, watch out for static electricity so you don't fry your chips by accident.