Acorn Electron Repair - Faulty eBay Retro British Micro 

Thanks Vince REALLY appreciate the feedback. I was watching you playing a game gear with a blank screen last night... Classic! What a guy.

Great tip thank you. Really appreciate the feedback.

Good information jagmarc. Thanks so much for your comment

Thanks Roger, great suggestion.

I've done that with cars before now. Glad you enjoyed the vid and thanks so much for your comment.

@@RetroTechRepair Awesome! Let’s hope we don’t get to the wife stage... LOL!

LOL. There's been two of those as well... But not at the same time.

Interesting... it could well have been I think the computer had been kept in a shed or attic. Thanks for your comment. Hope that you enjoyed the video

That's a good idea. Thanks for the tip!

Yes totally get it! Thanks so much for your comments, really appreciated! 😊

Thanks for the tip

Great tip! Thanks.

That's great Retro4U. I will check out your channel too. I have an amiga but haven't yet attempted to fix it, might get some tips from your vids. Good luck!

Hi @Clarence Worley, I think quite a few people feel the same way... "Why am I watching this?" Nostalgia is a funny thing. I started the channel a couple of years ago for much the same reason you describe. I was enjoying videos of people doing similar things and I thought it would be fun to justify owning things I could never have owned when they were new (often because they cost so much). I am so glad you are enjoying the videos an update to the 30Kg video should be coming soon! I hope you stick around. Thanks so much for taking the time to comment, I appreciate it.

Oh and let me know if I can help with the astro wars.

Thanks @Belilgaril. It's an interesting game isn't it? It's tiring to play as it's so top heavy that it makes your hands hurt after a while. Glad you enjoyed the vid. Really appreciate the feedback.

Hi Roger, I didn't know about the jumper mod.... that's very good to know. I wonder why they didn't activate it at the factory. I suppose back then the composite in on a TV still wasn't common. I have to admit I did try the WD40 electrical contact cleaner although I didn't show it in the video, that "L" key was just so stubborn. Good to know the Beeb is better though I do fancy having a go at one of those some day. Thanks for your help and feedback. Much appreciated.

Thanks for your comments!

I had an "Acron" too, but I think secretly wanted a A BBC or later a C64. I keep watching for a beeb to repair at the right price, but I have to factor in the risk of not being able to repair it and losing my shirt on it. I have loads tied up in future repairs at the moment, but one day I will do a beeb. Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment. Makes a difference to me. Cheers

Thanks for the kind words. I had an electron as a kid, but perhaps really wanted a BBC. An Archimedes would be great to own, but probably beyond me to repair.

I quite fancy an Acron "Aotm" too, although I have never even seen one "in the flesh"

@@RetroTechRepair Yeah me neither. Seen them on videos but never in real life. Forgot to say for £11 that was a bargain!!

@@Retr0Rewind I remember seeing one in a shop when I was about 18, but that's it never one I could interact with. Yes £11 shipped was a great price. I got lucky there. Thanks again for your comments.

Great info. Thanks so much for your comments.

Thanks @Tomorrowsphere, so glad you enjoyed it. Interesting old tech early gate arrays and an early DIMM. Thanks, as always, for your continued support and comments. Always happy to see you enjoyed it. Hope you are doing well.

Hi Matthew, thanks so much for your kind words. I am really pleased you are enjoying the vids. I look back at some of my earlier stuff and cringe a bit sometimes, but its thanks to people like yourself who provide feedback and support that I keep on with this. I'd have given up ages ago on otherwise. So thanks! Thanks Also for the servisol tip, I just this minute used it and for the first time and it cleaned up a switch beautifully where a different brand has worked, but I'll be sure to get some proper its lube to add to the toolkit. Thanks again.

Thanks for the recommendation I had used a contact cleaner too but the stubborn "L" key wouldn't give in. Removing it was really for diagnosis, so I knew whether the key was the cause or something else. I will definitely try to find some EML though as the contact cleaner I tried didn't fix it. Thanks for the suggestion and thanks so much for your comments.

@@RetroTechRepair Agreed, it's not always so simple. Mine is my childhood model B so I know how it has been looked after. No Knowing what an eBay purchase might have experienced in it's lifetime. Both CPC Farnell & RS stock Electrolube EML.

Thanks for that, I will definitely get some I had been using WD40 contact cleaner, just got some servisol super 10 but haven't tried it yet.

@@RetroTechRepair Servisol is good too. I've not done any comparative tests, don't know if one has an edge over the others, they're probably quite similar in performance.

@@ches74 good to know. Thanks

Thanks Chris, good thinking. I'll try that next time too.

@@RetroTechRepair another idea could be using heat shrink tubing for the exposed part. In that way the presure of the tubing could help as well for strain relief. The only downside is the cosmetically may look not that good.

@@hernancoronel Also A good idea, one to try if I can't rescue a strain relief. Thanks!

Thanks Rando's really appreciate it

Thanks I Patel. Pleased you enjoyed it. Thanks so much for the encouragement and support, really appreciate it!

Great! Do you know you are the first person to offer an opinion on that? Thanks for your feedback, glad you feel I made a good choice. Thank you very much for your comments.

@@RetroTechRepair No problem, check your email bye the way, I'm off to work now.

Thanks Beendon. Glad you enjoyed the vid and appreciate you leaving a comment. Cheers!

Hi Giedralas. Thanks for the feedback I am very pleased you are enjoying the videos. Yes I have, In fact I have a zx spectrum awaiting my repair, also a ZX81. If British computers are your thing I also have a CPC464, Oric 1, A Dragon 32 and a bit of a problem LOL. I expect to repair the spectrum before too long. Its 48k issue 2 rubber keyboard version. I'll move it up the list a bit since you are keen to see it, but it still might be a while. Thanks again for your question

Thanks Mr cheese Bear, I appreciate the feedback I can definitely do that next time. I'm also thinking I might shoot some repairs in 4k see how they come out and how much video editing slows down

With dirty plastics (which don’t need retrobrighted), I just use a mild bleach solution to scrub the plastics. ;)

Oh I wanted a VL1 so much as a kid and when I finally got one the repair was a big job. I have a video on it you've probably spotted. Glad you enjoyed the vid. I do not script I tried it on one vid (LCD TV repair) but found it very time consuming. I do post edit only now and occasionally I do retakes when filming. Sound quality is a concern to me, I need to work on it and equipment. I haven't yet got it to a point I am happy with and keep having issues with mic placement, background noises. I have one vid yet to edit that had a dreadful 50hz hum (source now eliminated) but it's all over the raw footage. I'll get there eventually. Thanks so much for your comments.

That's a good idea. I tend to use window cleaner if I'm doing it at the bench or washing up liquid solution otherwise. I cut most of that out of the electron vid to get it down to 30 mins

A multi VL1 would be awesome!

I'm not an expert so don't take my advice lol... If you decided to do it let us know how it goes. Thanks for your comment... Good luck!

Thanks again Skyway, My best friend has the Vectrex, it was a "gift" on the basis that he must return it to me if he ever wants to get rid of it. He has a young family who hopefully will enjoy it too. I have to admit I am itching to do another, but need to to clear the decks of some other high ticket items I have awaiting repair. (High ticket being more than £11 LOL). Of the things I have owned it and the 65XE remain favourites. Thanks again for your support to the channel.

@@RetroTechRepair Ah that's great. Hey always broken units on ebay, be great if you could save them 😊

Thanks for your comments. Really appreciate it. Totally agree. I reckon a lot of the problem was the cost cutting resulting in the use of 4 64kbit RAM chips to get the 32k. Without that it could have been much faster. Thanks again for your comments. Hope you enjoyed the vid.

@@RetroTechRepair Thank you. Acorn fans will debate forever whether the Elk was worth it. But for my money, if it was Chris Curry's equivalent of Sinclair's QL or C5, I would say the Electron was way more a solution to problems they were looking for.

@@MrDustpile you're probably right there!

I’m a bit late with this comment- but I chose the Electron over the BBC because the bus was available at the back. I plugged a DIL socket onto it and wired it up to a veroboard and… party time! It was a nerd’s paradise. I was able to couple it up to all sorts of external electronics to control relays and motors. It was not a good games machine, but actually easier to expand than the BBC for the techie types with a soldering iron.

Maybe it's time to unearth it hand a nostalgia day! I enjoyed playing McDonald's and chuckle egg and of course Elite which had the best version of the day bar the BBC in my opinion.

Thanks so much much for your comment.

@@RetroTechRepair Elite - spent many many hours playing that! And Citadel!

I have often thought of "India Pale Ale" and many times there is a can of Punk, Scarborough Fair, or Beavertown Lupuloid off camera. My personal favourite is uinta hop nosh, which is a total legend amongst east cost IPAs but I haven't seen it on sale in the UK.

Yes. I did have one and it was so close to compatible in many ways just not close enough. The biggest problem was the memory access i think. A real shame

Oh dear... thanks for sharing though. Hopefully it will avoid someone making the same mistake.

Could be but a cracked solder joint is not out of the question, nor is that repeated key pressing may have worked off some surface corrosion. These things happen sometimes we just get lucky