I've been working with a friend on and off for about a year on a C128D project. We hit a bit of a roadblock, and my only fix (that I could think of) was to look for a donor machine. I actually not only found a donor machine, but even a spare donor (and fully populated) motherboard. So both machines should be 100% good to go here in a few days if I can get my act together. This time of year is busy...
Anyway, once I got my new C128D in the mail I needed to hook it up and make sure all was well.
The power light and disk drive light both came on, but I got a black screen. I pulled the case off and pressed down on all of the chips. Voila! She sprang to life!
The case is in very good condition (thank you metal cases!). The keyboard needs a clean, but
feels brand new.
The motherboard appears to have never been touched, either. Everything is 100% original. The previous owner told me he had to replace the character ROM. Other than that, though, minty fresh.
The only issue I'm seeing right now is the internal disk drive isn't reading disks. When I got the box open to my horror the disk the owner put in the drive during shipping had popped out. In fact, the latch itself seems to need some attention. The latch spring is missing (the one that pops disks out when you open the latch) and the latch itself looks like a Ken doll's very tan arm, which is a no-go.
But all in all, I'm very happy. I can't wait to get my original 128D finished up so I can show you folks it's nifty mods. It's pretty cool.
- The new C128DCR's video is perfect. Almost no jailbars in 128 mode (which I never use in 40 column mode), crisp and gorgeous 128 80-column mode and jaw-dropping perfect C64 mode. STOKED. I was going to trade my freshly refurbbed 1902A for a 2002, but I think I may be keeping it now.