Ti99/4A Motherboard Repair - Part 3 - More mistakes, but finally success!

Рет қаралды 70,621

4 жыл бұрын

Getting to the bottom of what's wrong with this Ti99/4A motherboard!
Part 1: • TI99/4A Motherboard Re...
Part 2: • TI99/4A Motherboard Re...
Part 3: This part!
--- Video Information
Ti99/4A Documentation:
ftp.whtech.com/datasheets%20an...
--- Tools
Deoxit D5:
amzn.to/2VvOKy1
store.caig.com/s.nl/it.A/id.16...
Jonard Tools EX-2 Chip Extractor:
amzn.to/2VazxDS
www.jonard.com/Products/EX-2-...
Wiha Chip Lifter:
amzn.to/3a9ftWw
www.wihatools.com/precision-c...
O-Ring Pick Set: (I use these to lift chips off boards)
amzn.to/3a9x54J
Elenco Electronics LP-560 Logic Probe:
amzn.to/2VrT5lW
Hakko FR301 Desoldering Iron:
amzn.to/2ye6xC0
Rigol DS1054Z Four Channel Oscilloscope:
www.rigolna.com/products/digi...
Head Worn Magnifying Goggles / Dual Lens Flip-In Head Magnifier:
amzn.to/3adRbuy
TL866II Plus Chip Tester and EPROM programmer: (The MiniPro)
amzn.to/2wG4tlP
www.aliexpress.com/item/33000...
TS100 Soldering Iron:
amzn.to/2K36dJ5
www.ebay.com/itm/TS100-65W-MI...
EEVBlog 121GW Multimeter:
www.eevblog.com/product/121gw/
DSLogic Basic Logic Analyzer:
amzn.to/2RDSDQw
www.ebay.com/itm/USB-Logic-DS...
Magnetic Screw Holder:
amzn.to/3b8LOhG
www.harborfreight.com/4-inch-...
Universal ZIP sockets: (clones, used on my ZIF-64 test machine)
www.ebay.com/itm/14-16-18-20-...
RetroTink 2X Upconverter: (to hook up something like a C64 to HDMI)
www.retrotink.com/
Plato (Clone) Side Cutters: (order five)
www.ebay.com/itm/1-2-5-10PCS-...
Heat Sinks:
www.aliexpress.com/item/32537...
Little squeezy bottles: (available elsewhere too)
amzn.to/3b8LOOI
--- Links
My GitHub repository:
github.com/misterblack1?tab=r...
Commodore Computer Club / Vancouver, WA - Portland, OR - PDX Commodore Users Group
www.commodorecomputerclub.com/
--- C64 Stuff
JaffyDOS:
blog.worldofjani.com/?p=3544
C64 Test Harness I use:
• Building a Commodore 6...
C64 Homebrew cartridge PCB: (used for the DeadTest / Diag Cart I use)
www.ebay.com/itm/Commodore-64...
EasyFlash 3 Multi-Cart:
store.go4retro.com/easyflash-3/
--- Instructional videos
My video on damage-free chip removal:
• How to remove chips wi...
--- Music
Intro music and other tracks by:
Nathan Divino
@itsnathandivino
Outro Music:
Abyss by | e s c p | escp-music.bandcamp.com
Music promoted by www.free-stock-music.com
Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
creativecommons.org/licenses/...

Пікірлер: 506

@richardkelsch3640 4 жыл бұрын

It's always a good feeling restoring a computer you thought you killed.

@ph2869 4 жыл бұрын

Great series. I missed the now-traditional 'bad chips go in the box' scene though!

@adriansdigitalbasement 4 жыл бұрын

Don't worry they definitely did :-)

@orangeActiondotcom 4 жыл бұрын

I was cringing so hard at the PCB design causing the 12v short; man, I know its easy to kick yourself for not catching it, but at some point you have to say "well thats why we don't design circuits this way anymore". You know now, and the worst of it is behind you. As always, amazing work on the repair.

@VintageTechFan 4 жыл бұрын

Less a design than a manufacturing issue. They just didn't NEARLY archive as fine structures back then, solder mask between the pins was most likely just not possible.

@BABY-PUNCHER 4 жыл бұрын

This generation in technology is amazing 10 years ago talking about computers made u a nerdy outcast now your video posted 3 hours ago gets 7.5k views it's because of people like you people look up to us nerds I thank you

@petesapwell 4 жыл бұрын

Don’t be so hard on yourself Adrian, I’m a seasoned technician of 40 years and I am still capable of making the odd ‘Fatal’ mistake, and tbh they always lead to further learning and improvement. Really enjoyed this series, I first came across your programs while researching repair of a friends C64 (which I eventually fixed) keep at it!!! 🍻

@nickwallette6201 4 жыл бұрын

This channel, and others like LGR, RetroSpectre, and Technology Connections, are like a community of friends that don’t know I’m hanging out with them. :-) I get so much out of it that I decided to take a crack at pointing a camera at projects I’m working on. Not sure if I’ll ever do anything with it, but I figured if I’m working on stuff, maybe there’s someone else who would have liked to hang out while I did it. The point, though, is that I’ve made so many mistakes - big and small, some easily fixed (like turning a chip around), and some that led to further repairs and, unfortunately, some carnage - that, well, I had a moment where I was really wondering whether it would be wise to air that stupidity.. But, any time you do anything worth doing, you take a risk. Every time I screwed something up, I learned something - like what to be more careful about next time. I’m thinking it might make a nice segment I would call “Welp, I’ll never do that again (subtitle: I don’t deserve to have nice things)”.

@electronicengineer 4 жыл бұрын

@@nickwallette6201 Hello Nick! I, for one, would love to see what you have on video. You're correct in that I see a lot of the same people on Adrian's, LGR, Technology Connections, xraytony, etc, etc, channels and it does appear to me as though we are a semi-tight-knit bunch of enthusiasts that like to share and learn from one another. This channel (Adrian's Digital Basement) brings me back to my teens in 1982, when I had my Vic-20, Timex-1000 (Sinclair ZX80), and being able to relive those days, vicariously through Adrian, just makes me feel good each and every time Adrian posts a new video. I really can't explain it any clearer. My point is that we (all of us vintage electronics/computers) enthusiasts are blessed to be able to employ KZfaq as a platform to share our passions via video and I absolutely love reading almost every one my fellow enthusiast's posts in all of my favorite KZfaq channels. It would be awesome to find additional, similar channels and, well, you could also be on my KZfaq subscriptions list of favorite channels! Post up your videos Nick. I will subscribe to you right away!!! Fred

@robertbruce7686 2 жыл бұрын

We do not remember lessons if we succeed - failure makes us revisit/ re examine our current approach. Hard but effective.

@BrunoDPO 4 жыл бұрын

Man, you're a beast! I just can't stop watching your videos, they're all great! And don't worry, because showing your wrong decisions may be better than filming only the right ones. Now this TI99 is back from the dead. Thank you so much for the electronic lessons and also for these extremely satisfying videos! Keep up with this great work!!!

@angieandretti 4 жыл бұрын

We went on a journey together with this one man! I'm happy to see it finally up and running.

@AxelWerner 4 жыл бұрын

THANKS to EVERYONE who puts so much love and sweat into restoring historic devices!! These devices are somewhat pieces of art at one point in history. they deserve to be working.

@crmccluskey 4 жыл бұрын

Good fight! And nice diagnosis work. It was fascinating to see the output levels change with the hot-cold. Hadn't seen that to such an extreme before. Thanks for keeping on it -- after Part 2 I wasn't sure there was going to be a Part 3.

@ProtonD1200 10 ай бұрын

From Denmark, A wonderful youtube channel you have I bought a TI 99/4A in 1982. It was a fun time because if there was something we couldn't figure out, we had to solve it ourselves since there was no help to be had. I quickly got hold of the game PARSEC, which I think was a great game at the time. But in Denmark there weren't many who had such a TEXAS, so there wasn't much support for it, so I switched to a BBC B which I was super happy with, I had it for 3 years, and then it became an ATARI 520ST in 1985. Today I have two TEXAS TI99/4A and an ATARI 520STfm., and my BBC B.

@Thunk00 Жыл бұрын

It's amazing to see how these old computers that seem to have so many problems and be so intractable to fix end up having just one or two chips gone bad every time, or a broken solder joint or two. From that perspective, these things are incredibly resilient.

@millenniumtree 2 жыл бұрын

My first computer was also a TI-99/4A (silver one), with several carts, the voice synthesizer, and later, a cassette recorder. I literally found it thrown out on the curb across the street from my house. I'm only 42, so that computer was already quite old when I found it on the curb. That computer inspired me to become the programmer (web developer) that I am today!

@ForViewingOnly 2 жыл бұрын

I was literally riveted to my laptop screen during this video. I'm glad you kept all of the mistakes in the final cut. Absolutely excellent 3-parter, and I learned a lot. Thanks Adrian.

@doug834 4 жыл бұрын

Don't be so hard on yourself for making a mistake here and there Adrian. Even when you think you're being "stupid" you are way smarter and more knowledgeable than most people. I love watching your work.

@zero0ryn 4 жыл бұрын

When I used to repair CD players and camcorders we have a saying "The more pins a chip has the less the likelihood of it being faulty" You proved it wrong :)

@kd5byb 4 жыл бұрын

EXCELLENT JOB!!! Making mistakes is how you learn. The only people who never make mistakes are people who never do anything.

@gianluca.g 4 жыл бұрын

This video reminded me how I fried my own C64: I was fiddling with the user port which has the Serial ATN IN line next to the 9V line (yep, no safety ground line in between), I slightly angled the connector (to pull it out, was very tight) and it ended up bridging the two lines together. Boom! Lesson learned: switch off everything before inserting or removing connectors

@808v1 4 жыл бұрын

all those spare parts that nice person sent you will be future content where you can build some of those custom expansions/carts/add-ons, that stuff was gold for you/your channel!

@marcgforc3 4 жыл бұрын

Certainly the most difficult fixing you had to do, it's a big thumbs up for your obstination to get this board fixed, thanks for all Adrian !

@fubaralakbar6800 4 жыл бұрын

Being able to do these kind of super-minute fixes is so great...you could almost make a computer last forever like that.

@gallgreg 4 жыл бұрын

Glad you finally got it to work!! Wow, was quite the ordeal!! If I had a dollar for every time I screwed up something in the process of trying to fix it, and ended up with much more to repair!! 🤣

@frankowalker4662 4 жыл бұрын

Holy crap, what a nightmare. Shorting out that pin could've happend to anybody! Great to see it working and not going in the parts bin. :)

@bsvenss2 4 жыл бұрын

This has to be the best learning series on KZfaq. 🤗 Why show how to repair old computers when you can do the opposite - show how not to. You learn a lot more by misstakes. Brilliant and ingenious. 😀👍 Thumbs up and thanks!

@ChairmanMeow1 3 ай бұрын

experience is the best teacher

@timmooney7528 4 жыл бұрын

You get bonus points for the recovery. Sometimes shorting something out has greater consequences

@Francois_L_7933 4 жыл бұрын

When I was a kid I always thought that the TI99 was a really beautiful piece of industrial design. Fast forward 40 years and I still find it quite beautiful.

@scottlarson1548 4 жыл бұрын

The whole 8/16 bit design was needlessly complicated and screwy, but TI was the only computer manufacturer who could design anything they wanted back then.

@xPLAYnOfficial 4 жыл бұрын

I agree. I'm a young lad and I love the designs of the older machines. This Ti is my favorite. Love it so much! My custom Ti-99/4A PC build is going to be amazing.

@ct92404 4 жыл бұрын

It looks cool, but from what I've read the Basic it has is extremely limited and you can't even use Peek and Poke. To me, that defeats the purpose of even having a vintage 8-bit computer. The point is to be able to program it. Otherwise, it's just a glorified game console.

@xPLAYnOfficial 4 жыл бұрын

@@ct92404 Well of course. I'm not into it because of mechanical nostalgia. I'm too young for that. I appreciate it for what it is and I enjoy having it in my collection.

@ct92404 4 жыл бұрын

@@xPLAYnOfficial Just curious, how old are you?

@gallgreg 4 жыл бұрын

I always find your repair series very inspiring!!! A week ago you inspired me to troubleshoot my dead Apple IIe and now I have it fully working again! Turned out to be 2 bad Micron 4164 DRAM’s!

@jmpattillo 4 жыл бұрын

In 1983 TI decided to get out of the home computer business, and so they deeply discounted the 99/4a. My mom got me one at Hill’s department store for $50. It was my Christmas present in 4th grade. I played games and learned to program basic. It had a great manual. Years later I got a printer and some productivity software for it. My mom wrote her Master’s thesis on it and we saved the documents to cassette tape. I used it until late 80’s.

@Schooner316 4 жыл бұрын

Oh man that solder bridge was rough! Without mask there that is such an easy mistake to make! Glad you got it working!

@projectartichoke 4 жыл бұрын

You have a lot of patience, and that is the most critical component needed for troubleshooting.

@Shmbler 4 жыл бұрын

No sunday morning is complete anymore without a fresh board repair vid by Adrian ;-)

@yuchong1704 4 жыл бұрын

Loved the cliff hanger in the middle and your persistence is satisfying to watch. Great work Adrian!

@Supadupanerd 4 жыл бұрын

Wow, now that was entertaining! A roller coaster of troubleshooting, loss, discovery and finally a bit of redemption at the end. i can't believe how terribly thought out that bus is mapped, having lines going going between pins like that. They really should have upped the budget for the circuit board!

@somewaresim 4 жыл бұрын

Excellent troubleshooting. So pleased you managed to get it working in the end. You have the patience of a saint!

@aitchpea6011 4 жыл бұрын

We've all bridged solder joints on occasion. Don't beat yourself up over it, you got it working in the end. Great trio of vids, Adrian, thanks for sharing!

@jedimatt42 4 жыл бұрын

I've got a small stack of dead-tone 4A motherboards. Love hearing your thought process as you troubleshoot.

@electronicengineer 4 жыл бұрын

From what I've seen of Adrian's skill, he is an excellent teacher and I bet if Adrian worked on a couple more of these TI-99A, like he did on this one, with you watching and paying close attention, you could repair them as well, just like Adrian goes through the ups and downs of his troubleshooting (it's a true asset that Adrian doesn't "edit out" his failures) you will ultimately find the same success. Fred

@CRG 4 жыл бұрын

We all make mistakes and I think its great that you keep them within your video, adds to the entertainment. Nice fix in the end and look forward to seeing you work on those various mods that came in the mail.

@myownalias 4 жыл бұрын

I personally like these more in-depth longer form videos, especially when things go wrong, showing the whole process helps us all learn, thanks for the great video.

@sampoturunen9337 4 жыл бұрын

The thrill and exitment is as high as the peaking of those datalines. In my opinnion its more interesting to watch these repair videos, where is the hole scale of emotions and try and error. I feel the exact same exitment when the computer boots. Great content and greetings from Finland.

@BlueXonar Жыл бұрын

Damn Adrian, I got really invested in this one, kudos to you for not just snapping that thing in half in frustration!! I just got an unknown untested TI99 and now I am terrified. 🤣 At least on my Apple II everything is socketed, and I can take the top cover off in a couple of seconds...

@greendryerlint 4 жыл бұрын

Glad you got it working. We all make mistakes like that. Sometimes we're our own worst enemies when troubleshooting. My troubleshooting skills are a bit rusty (or maybe 8 bits rusty) and your series helps me learn what is 'normal' and isn't when it comes to signals. Great series and channel for those of us that love the 1980s and 1990s 'glory days' of computing. When you mentioned the story about your viewer that was given a TI-99 by a teacher that had it in his basement, I remembered about 12-14 years ago I found one at a thrift store, cleaned it up a bit (it worked) and sold it on ebay to a teacher who wanted to use it to teach his grade school students how to program in BASIC. It would have been so cool if that was the very TI-99 that he got, but the timing and location were probably way off. I now wish I would've kept it, but I grew up with Commodore and it didn't have much personal meaning to me at the time, and I already have so much stuff and nowhere to put it.

@horusfalcon 4 жыл бұрын

It led you a merry chase! Sometimes it's like that, and it's good that you stuck with it to a successful repair. Solder bridges will always take their toll.

@otopico 4 жыл бұрын

I learned basic on a TI99/4A. So glad you got the thing working again.

@threepotMR2 4 жыл бұрын

Well done again Adrian, keep the faith! You went deep down the rabbit hole on this one. I bought a used lab stereo microscope about 6 years ago, out of all my test gear it's been the best purchase I ever made. It was actually from a gynecologist in London, and it had a funny long range focus lens screwed on it 🙂🙂🙂

@freemesy Жыл бұрын

This was the best episode I have ever seen in retro computer repairs. Thank you very very much for your effort to make such a high quality content! It's far more interesting and exciting than any Hollywood movie. :)

@r3tr0nic 4 жыл бұрын

Ya know whats great about stuffin up? You learn a hell of a lot more about specific things, that you otherwise likely never would of. And you also discover new things, and certainly are less likely ever to make the same mistake again.

@marksimcock8453 Жыл бұрын

I'm new to the retro consoles and I too find your episodes great to watch you are one determined person and never give up even when things go wrong. You got there in the end with your troubleshooting keep up the amazing work and restoring these retro almost forgotten consoles and pcs 👍👍👍

@mickmickymick6927 4 жыл бұрын

An emotional roller coaster. Great video.

@Renville80 3 жыл бұрын

We’ve all made goofs at one time or another, Adrian. One time many years ago, I had a motor drive unit in for repairs, and it used a pair of failure prone MOSFETs, so the usual course of action was to strip most of the semiconductors from the board and install fresh ones. I did so, along with a new brake resistor (10 ohm 50 watt), and reassembled it. I do a quick power up check and am promptly greeted with a foot-tall flame shooting out of the unit! I couldn’t yank the power cord out of the wall fast enough, and all the parts I’d just installed were bad, and so was the resistor (last one in stock too). I found out I missed one diode that is almost hidden between two big caps. 😑 The unit was eventually properly rebuilt.

@SkuldChan42 4 жыл бұрын

That blank rom for troubleshooting is a really neat trick!

@richardfarrant1902 4 жыл бұрын

This series has been inspirational and your tenacity is infectious. Your disappointment when things don't work and your joy when you are finally successful is really great to watch as it portrays the harsh realities of repairing these wonderful but complex machines. This attitude not to give up but keep working at it until you succeed is admirable. Thank you Adrian, keep up the good work!

@justindelpero 4 жыл бұрын

Amazing! Don't feel bad about that bridge, we all learnt something. What a great series this little logic board gave us! Being born in 84 and starting with an Amiga 500 / 386 I have little experience with TI and really look forward to follow up videos on these PCs.

@malgailany 4 жыл бұрын

I love to see many failed attempts before seeing the final successful repair which provides a great learning experience. Thank you!

@eayuwna 4 жыл бұрын

Def your best video series yet. Couldn't wait to find out if you fixed it! Glad you stuck with it to the end, found the solution and learned something new. Keep them coming.

@Riwwels 4 жыл бұрын

I'm looking forward to part 4: fixing the keyboard and finally assembling the machine. Keep on going.

@adriansdigitalbasement 4 жыл бұрын

Won't be a part 4 at the moment as I am still missing the keys. I did assemble that computer but it'll be a backup for the main silver one at least until replacement keys can be had. :-) Thanks for watching!

@m.m.radiochannel1969 Жыл бұрын

Adrian u did the best you knew how and being human we make mistakes. I had a ti-994a as a child remembering using the speech module making it speak and using a tape storage. Good memories and thanks.

@donpalmera 4 жыл бұрын

Some of the UV solder mask seems like a good pre-emptive step before working on these boards. I think you got lucky that the CPU wasn't the path of least resistance for the 12v and those other chips took one for the team too.

@SuperMoleRetro 4 жыл бұрын

Wow Adrian! That was a TON of work for a $50 computer. I understand the determination to figure it out though and the satisfaction it finally worked.

@MrGigi-dz9cv 3 жыл бұрын

Yes. But it îs not only about the money ...

@dminalba 4 жыл бұрын

This was my family's first computer, we got it cheap after TI pulled out of the computer market in 1983/84 as I live in the UK the TI-99/4A was a poor choice as there was a lack of support for TI's computers in Europe. However the dealer managed to get us the TI-99/4A packaged with the TI extended BASIC cartridge. We used the TI-99/4A until 1986 when the power supply blew up, we went with as our next computer an Atari ST 520 which was quite a jump from the TI. I still use the ST for MIDI purposes and have done a complete recapping 2 years ago and in good working order.

@simonlawson2236 4 жыл бұрын

Gotta give you the credit you deserve for sticking with it. 10 out 10👍

@ForaPhil 2 жыл бұрын

The fact that Adrian made a mistake makes him human and it also makes this series more interesting so it’s all good. Now he has an extra cpu for a future repair.

@aitchpea6011 4 жыл бұрын

You've been doing this a while now, you've got successful repairs under your belt, you've got all the right kit and you know how to use it. I don't think you're a novice at this. Journeyman, maybe, but definitely no longer a novice.

@rholyoak 4 жыл бұрын

I like the fact you never gave up.

@roberttilley3725 4 жыл бұрын

Enjoyed the debugging. Hope you will get it put back together and tested with a cartridge. Would like to see some of the PCBs built and tested as well!

@questionablecommands9423 4 жыл бұрын

Wow. I reacted to the working board before you did and I was even playing at 1.25x speed. I must've really be rooting for you!

@UpLateGeek 4 жыл бұрын

Ahh, nothing like waking up to another repair video to watch over coffee and breakfast on a Sunday morning!

@mrIceblink 3 жыл бұрын

What a useful and educational video, going through the process fully,INCLUDING the mistakes is a great way to teach others, thank you for posting.

@me0262 4 жыл бұрын

No part 4 for final assembly and cart play? "I'm still a novice". With an oscilloscope, a logic probe, a power supply, a vacuum desoldering gun...

@SlavTiger 4 жыл бұрын

I still use the big ol firestick iron and desoldering braid with an old analog scope.

@AmazingJeeves 4 жыл бұрын

You can be experienced in electronics and still a novice at working with computers. I’m good at working with computers, but if I tried to work on (for example) ham radios I’d be out of my element at first.

@KolliRail 4 жыл бұрын

Wow! This is the best troubleshooting video I habe seen in a long time! This is so helpful and much better than those videos where everything goes to plan.

@GadgetUK164 4 жыл бұрын

Great job, nice to see this one reach a happy ending =D Ouch at the 12v short there - easily done when there's no solder mask between the pins!

@adriansdigitalbasement 4 жыл бұрын

Indeed. Still what a crap motherboard LOL. Glad it's finally fixed!

@valentine_puppy 4 жыл бұрын

I'd say microscope the board after installing anything like that and removing any excess to prevent bridging and apply some solder mask.

@user-jp7tw3sd3x 4 жыл бұрын

Maybe if you know the board doesn't have a mask, you can put one before de/re-soldering. Maybe a bit of the green stuff that hardens with UV or something else that withstands heat.

@lauram5905 4 жыл бұрын

@@user-jp7tw3sd3x Clear nail laquer is a pretty good field-substitute for conformal coating according to Big Clive. A little bit where solder mask should be might help a little bit.

@noanyobiseniss7462 4 жыл бұрын

Guess I'm just old school as I'm amazed people don't probe for bridges automatically after their work. That was just basic SOP back in the day.

@BollingHolt 4 жыл бұрын

NICE! You should do a follow up video with it assembled and checking out some of those carts. My grandfather had one of those when I was a kid with the peripheral expansion box, disk drives, the works! I had so much fun with that computer as a kid. I wish I still had it!

@CoverMechanic 4 жыл бұрын

I feel your pain! I had a similar bridging issue with a C64, where the solder mask was worn on the top of the board under the PLA socket. When I replaced the PLA socket, solder wicked through the via to the top side and bridged across underneath the socket, so was impossible to see. Took hours to identify and fix. Thanks for your great videos and for not being afraid to show your mistakes.

@briantw 2 жыл бұрын

THANK YOU for putting a blanket underneath it when you took it apart. It irks me to no end seeing how disrespectful people are of the delicate brushed aluminium - putting carts on it, etc. It scratches so easily.

@drruncmd 4 жыл бұрын

Absolutely brilliant !! Thanks for sharing Adrian! I couldn't wait for part 3!

@Dtgr 4 жыл бұрын

This one had so many setbacks! It is great to see all the weirdness finally make sense when troubleshooting long enough.

@JeanPhilippeGravel-formix 4 жыл бұрын

OMG so much dedication an patience! Great job fixing this TI. I'm blown away by your skills.

@Retrocatone 4 жыл бұрын

What a great patience! Glad to see this board working again, and very impatient to see the next part of this ti99 restoration!

@darrenjkendall 4 жыл бұрын

7:22 RF shielding rainbow colours for a 2020 pandemic. Thanks Adrian, once again another high quality video from you, I love to follow your series of how-to videos just in case of retro reference, lol.

@ShayBlez 4 жыл бұрын

! Good morning!

@basecom70 4 жыл бұрын

I was a production test tech for a number of years and have made every mistake in the book. Don't kill yourself over making mistakes as long as you learn from them. My job was harder because we were fixing boards that had never run. Diodes in backward, IC's in backward, wrong parts installed, solder shorts and traces shorted under the solder mask, etc etc etc. Love watching someone else do what I did for so long. Thanks....

@adriansdigitalbasement 4 жыл бұрын

Wow that sounds tough! Was it always the same board or was it random stuff? Meaning, could you get super knowledgeable about the board so you could spot problems? Shorts under the solder mask -- that must be the hardest to figure out!

@basecom70 4 жыл бұрын

Adrian's Digital Basement we would do a box of 25 and then whatever was next! You would set up your test equip using the test procedure run all the boards to get the good ones out then start with the fun ones, shorts or fire. If all boards failed then you look for major artwork problems or wrong parts in the sequencer for auto inserted boards. I could talk about this for hours. System test was even more fun and government equip was tougher! This was a job and your were trying to get then done ASAP. They were parts of systems so it was not the whole picture. Just signal tracing for the most part. Not like a single board computer where the whole thing is in front of you. These were multi board systems with you testing one board of the whole systems. Power supplies were better as you had the whole thing sitting in your lap. Later in life I did a lot of wire wrap boards with filter caps soldered below the wire wrap. Shorts were hard to find. Sometimes you inject a little current and feel around. If time was short you took it to the parking lot and used a car battery. Fixed it one way or another!!

@timothyp8947 4 жыл бұрын

Really felt like you went through 'agony and ecstasy' with this repair - very interesting. Remember seeing the odd bit about ti99 in computer magazines back the first time around, but it never got the same kind of coverage as, say, the PET etc..

@pkneeyahx 4 жыл бұрын

What a wild ride! Thanks Adrian for sharing your both your successes and failures with us.

@75slaine 4 жыл бұрын

Fantastic series Adrian. Learned a lot as always. Congratulations on figuring it out. Looking forward to Pt4 where you get it all assembled and working with some of the upgrades that Sam sent along. I’ve never really seen much of the TI’s working before

@hghahn301 4 жыл бұрын

you put a smile on my face. Thanks for uploading.

@quincy1048 4 жыл бұрын

nice follow through getting it fixed. So tempting to just trash or push aside and move on.

@WentakFurenti 4 жыл бұрын

How could this have recieved 4 dislikes???! I always enjoy your content, especially in regards to troubleshooting. This was a new system I haven't seen much on and I really enjoyed it!

@josko50 4 жыл бұрын

What a fun ride! I loved this. Can't wait to see videos on the other boards.

@jefbed212 4 жыл бұрын

I had one of these growing up, as did a relative. We were pretty close to a TI facility in MA, so TI products had some regional popularity.

@NightimeDemon Жыл бұрын

Thank you for sharing what you do with your projects with us. I've and upon your channel recently, and you're a joy to watch. Your experience, knowledge, wisdom, and enthusiasm really show in all your videos. I really appreciate your explanations with what is going on, what you're looking for, and why. You remind me of Chris from HVACR Videos, but with electronics instead of HVAC equipment. Plus I'm glad you own your mistakes and show what happened. Things happen sometimes. You're human. Nobody is perfect 100% of the time. I wouldn't worry about it.

@XTronical 4 жыл бұрын

Thoroughly enjoyed this series, it was great to see your thought processes and trouble shooting. Thanks.

@nickbnash 4 жыл бұрын

That was quite the adventure! Thank you so much for the videos.

@stompreaper 4 жыл бұрын

What a journey. I really enjoyed this series!

@lunarmodule6419 4 жыл бұрын

8 years old do care about graphics quality 😃 I remember the pleasure I would get from a high quality cartoon vs a limited animated one.

@hugosimoes5119 4 жыл бұрын

Amazing! I'm looking forward for the part 4... the rebuild/rebirth of the ti-99

@3vi1J 4 жыл бұрын

Congrats on working your way through that tricky mess! Good job!

@FarrellMcGovern 4 жыл бұрын

It has been fun watching you work on the TI99/4A! I did a high school co-op term with a computer store that sold them, and Xerox 860 CP/M computers...I know, weird product mix...but they were primarily a stationary & copier store. The TI had an amazing speech synthesis module, and I certainly had a lot of fun with it. I used to teach the language LOGO on both TI and Apple computers. Also, why the graphics on the TI were better than the Vic20...the TI had the hardware Sprites support that was groundbreaking technology. There was actually a plug-in card for the Apple ][ that had a TI VDP with 32 sprites, the same one, I believe as in the TI99/4A, and could be used in LOGO.

@squeak_exe 4 жыл бұрын

This series was a roller coaster of emotions. Keep up the great work, Adrian! You're an inspiration to us all. 😊

@DJlegionuk 4 жыл бұрын

A great video series, we all learn so much more from mistakes, even if it's to double check our work. I look forward to a part 4 when you enjoy using it.

@valentine_puppy 4 жыл бұрын

Yes Adrian, I am super excited to see you do an episode on getting everything back together and most of all you creating and playing those game carts.

@ThePCPitChannel 4 жыл бұрын

I’m actually so relieved you got it working :)

@mapax5 2 жыл бұрын

Hi adrian! I just found a "still in the box" ti-99 that I bought as a consolation prize after the vic-20 I went to get was sold under me. Watching these 3 vids gave me hope and made me feel better about the purchase. I hope to see those boards get put to use so I have some goals for my 99. Hurry up. Lol. Thanks for the content.