Thanks for watching me try to save this beautiful vintage computer! For the best tool to save _your_ computer, try Recoverit: bit.ly/3qRl9hY Want more restorations like this? Please consider supporting : perifractic.com/support 🙏
Is that blue multimeter reliable?? I have bought two of those, one for home jobs and one for work at the shop but both died really fast. Contact problems, and powering off often when trying to measure anything.
This was my first computer EVER from the year 1988! It was an unexplored adventure in which I'll never forget. The manual was large and you actually had to read it to do anything. I didn't have a computer enthusiast as a friend, so I had to figure out everything myself. Best of times!
Always nice seeing a 128 being rescued. Just as a minor nitpick the RP6 resistor pack is pull-ups for the DRAM address lines, not limiting current in any form. So no matter how broken it can't really harm any chips.
Yeah you’re right. And the only person to notice! It did seem strange that the corrosion was at its base and what looked like the associated RAM line had faulty chips. But, that could be a red herring.
Great to see an old C128 getting resurrected. I'm going to have to get my 128D going again. All this retro stuff has me pining for the old 8 bit days...
@@RetroRecipes Would be glad to do it again for other projects. If you ever 'clean up' a C16, I'd be glad to send you a Saruman-TED and the new PLAnkton for TED computers.
Hey! C128 (with a cassette player) was my first personal 8-bit computer back in 1986 when I first start to use computers in my life! I was 14 years old that year! So many memories! My first game was a copy of "Comic Bakery"! Wow!
Awesome restoration!! Thank you for another great recipode 🙂 My good friend owned a C128, was such an impressive machine! Also good to hear Ray Carlsen was mentioned a few times in this video, he actually repaired 2 C64's I had, and installed Jiffy DOS on them, Ray is an honorable guy and a wealth of knowledge on C64's, so a big shout out to Ray!
I personally repaired several VIC20s, C64s, and C128, I upgraded the VDC ram on my own C128, I don't have a clue what the upgrade did. I will say I have never seen the wire swap of the resistors changing the memory banks, I doubt I will ever need it, but you never know. Thanks for the links, I may order some of the ram replacements, I could see them being handy. Thanks Lee
So satisfying to see this C128 brought back to a working state. It certainly gave you the runaround but hats off to you for persevering and ultimately succeeding with it.
That felt like a very retro-Retro Recipes episode (not to say I don't like the other newer stuff you do - I love all of it). But I just love it when you repair stuff. Satisfying all the way through. The only thing it was missing was an Ashley clip at Walmart. Lol. Great job as usual Christian! (Don't forget to replace LF's toothbrush.) 🤣
The 128, that brings back memories of playing buggy boy and gauntlet at my friend Ryan's house, he had the 5.25 floppy drive so had bring my c64 tapedeck
Ladyfractic: "This toothpaste says it is a fresh minty flavour, but I'm getting notes of 80's computer corrosion, and isopropyl alcohol". Perifractic: "Really honey? Can't imagine why...."
+1. This is same technique I've seen Adrian Black use, and he's rarely, if ever lifted a trace from the board. So I'd say this is the standard technique today.
Such tinkering skills, and the mindset that comes with it can be literally life-saving. My friend - also a retro enthusiast - once repaired his cat. No, that's not a joke. The poor thing was very sick, on the verge of a kidney failure. Veterinarians told him that the cat was beyond saving, and dialisis for cats simply isn't a thing. My friend took the cat home, started researching the problem, and learned how to dialise. He operated the cat himself. It took about a month of homebrew dialisis, and the cat was as good as new. This was more than 10 years ago, he's still happily purring, and very much aware that this human saved his life. My friend probably broke every single rule of ethics, but neither him, nor the cat cares. Cheers to them!
Wonderful vid! I wish I were half this talented with repairs... or video production... or humor!! Those are among the secret ingredients that make this channel exceptionally great!
"proud battle scars" Yes! I have left those numerous times before. We don't have to try to take away all of the character of machines that have been around for decades. My most recent was an Atari 65XE with marker all over and scratches. I took away all of the marker, but it has all its original parts and not painted or sanded and it looks great.
Excellent job, as always. I'm envious of people like you who have the patience with the soldering and such. I could repair a TON of my stuff if I had your patience and skill set, and trust me, I have a TON of stuff. I have an original Macintosh Portable I am DYING to get running one of these days.
I bought one of these on craigslist cheap long time a ago. Took it home and thought it was dead cause had nothing but black screen. 8 years later realize the 40/80 button was down and it worked! Now its spare to an ebay purchased C128 machine with jiffydos
Awesome work, and, the 128 is looking as great as it runs now. That was also very kind of you to retrobright Ladyfractic and Puppyfractic while working your magic on your 128.
Back when the C64 came out, there was an CARDBOARD rf shield and we found that it held the heat in too. So it was first thing to go when started having over heat problem. I am amazed how many people think removing the metal shield is a good idea. When removed the computer no longer has the structural integrity it once had. Putting a floppy drive on the top sideways and a monitor on top of that couldn't be done. Ray Carlson, one of the greatest repair people, even said "Don't remove the metal shield". I loved your video and think it is the greatest you have done yet except for the metal shield part. I have seen mods where they just cut out sections for their heat sinks or modifications.
As Adrian Black (Adrian's Digital Basement) found to his dismay, Apple's dirty little secret is that in a lot of early Macs, they used the RF shield as the ground plane (especially to the input/output jacks).
Another brilliant episode, so interesting all your fault finding and making it all shiny and new. Highlight for me was your cheer of 'Engerland' when it booted, I nearly stood up and sung the National Anthem! Well done for bringing dead history back to life. ⌨
Hi Mr. Fractic -- I've pulled up my share of traces while removing bad chips. Over the years, I've decided that, when removing a chip that I *know* is already bad, it's safest to Cut the pins on the chip, and then desolder and pull out each remaining pin leg one at a time. The method you were using is one I only apply when attempting to remove a chip that might be good.
It must be so satisfying being able to fix a computer like this, pretty envious of your skills! I'm a software guy, so have to do this sort of stuff with software libraries and other people's systems, and I know how good it feels when you crack the problems.
You might want to turn the heat up on your Hakko. I stopped tearing traces once I did this. I also count "one mississippi two mississippi" in my head while pushing the pin around in a circular motion with the nozzle and depressing the suction button. If for any reason I need to hold the Hakko to a pin longer than about 3 seconds, I remove the Hakko, let things cool back off, and try something else (more flux and/or more solder).
Just seen this video Feb 2023, But i must say your dedication and determination to get the 128 going is fantastic. Well done and is it still running today ??
@Retro Recipes I have to say, that thing is just sexy after you got it all finished. The board is just pretty after all the cleaning and repair. Fantastic work on this video too. ~Doctor Skodt
I remember being told I was red/green colour blind. I was at 8 and informed "you won't be able to be an electrician". At the time I wasnted to be Batman so I was completely unfazed.😆 Really appreciate your commitment to this restoration. I would have in no way completed it.
If you put heat sinks in, don't forget to label it as it is very hard to figure out which chip it is with the heat sink glued to the top. (Found out the hard way} C128 Diagnostic Rev. 785260 does a great job of Diagnosing/checking the C128 two ram banks, Z80, 80 column video chip and the rest but you have to have a 40 col screen working to use it!
Oooh! You're using some axial leaded MLCCs to replace that ceramic disc cap! I just discovered them and have used them in areas where space was an issue. They're pretty expensive though...
I use a Hakko 880 desoldering gun, and while not foolproof I've found while desoldering if you move the pin around in a circle with the tip while vacuuming out the solder it's more likely to free the leg, as it gives it a chance to pull the solder from all around it.
Awesome work, it looks lovely and the battle scars give it character! Ah, how fondly I remember the days when I joined the discussion about the original sunbrighting video on Ms Mad Lemon's twitter and was rudely insulted by her for being on the "it may be viable" side of things. I haven't watched a single video of hers again. On the other hand, I have been watching and enjoying Retro Recipes since the early days, and will continue to do so. Looking forward to many awesome retro videos.
I have to admit that when I watched this channel’s video on sunbrighting, I did check if the release date was April 1st, but when I thought about it, it made sense that it could work. Now it looks like it’s quite a lot slower than peroxide retrobrighting, but at lot easier and more environmentally friendly if you live somewhere hot and sunny. I have a stack of stuff to try it out on, but still haven’t got round to it yet.
I left school at 16 and went on a YTS scheme and with all that disposable income (£25 a week and my mum took £10 for digs) I treated myself to a C128. If I'm honest I think I used the c64 part 99.9% of the time, I honestly can't remember a single c128 program. Loved the video, brought back a lot of great memories, also your videos are just so well produced & watchable, long may it continue 👍
Great job bringing the machine back to life and looking as good as new! Not easy with a C128. I'm currently working on an Amiga 500, so I'm going to try the sunbrighting technique too. We don't have the California sun around here, but hopefully it'll work, even if it takes a few more days. Cheers!
Before you write off the old VDC chip as being bad, consider replacing the sockets on the motherboard and trying it out again. I have several 128s that I've repaired and every single one of them I ended up replacing the sockets on. Especially that socket the VDC sits in, I had nothing but trouble trying to get those solderless 64K VDC upgrade boards to work (and I tried about four of them). It's not a fault of the upgrade boards though. Only way that I can put it is that Commodore used the cheapest sockets they could get their hands on and after all this time they're not holding up. The pins on the boards (and the VDC) wouldn't sit right in the old socket and would cause intermittent video errors (or it wouldn't work at all). Replacing the VDC socket (might as well socket the VDC memory chips while you're in there too) fixes the problem permanently. Heck I just assume all the sockets on these old systems are bad and replace them while I'm in there. I've had issues with the ROM sockets being bad too. ...oh and yeah accidentally lifted a few traces. :( Just use a hot air station to get those parts out and you should be fine. Thankfully you can buy new replacement 128 PCBs now though (NEO128 & Open128).
Perifractic installed a Saruman VDC under his 8563 chip and it has slightly thicker pins than a normal DIP chip so there is much less chance of a bad contact. Yes, Commodore did use very cheap (single leaf) sockets. With my product Saruman-TED (64k for C16 computers), I had to use special thin pins because the 48 pin socket for the TED chip (MOS 8360) is especially low quality and only allows flat pins in. To anyone replacing sockets in Commodore computers I recommend avoiding those with machined pins. Use double leaf sockets. They are inexpensive, provide the best contact quality and are incredibly durable. My favorites are the DIPlomate DL.
Back in my board repair days, if I had to put in a new chip for a suspected faulty one the board safer method was: Use a set of flat cutters to snip leads very close to the chip body. Remove leads with tweezers and soldering iron. Use a #70 or smaller drill in a pin vise to clean the holes. Solder new chip or socket in. Less chance of damaging traces.
Lovely work , really a nail biting who-do-nit ... culprit discovered at the end as in any good detective story should be ! Happy sun tanning to Lady and Puppy Fractic !
Hey, does the dog like to be in the pool too?! That's why I really like this friendly dog, he knows how to enjoy the good things in life. Congratulations to everyone on the team (including the dog) for this video. I remembered my A500 that I still have and would need to be recovered.
If it hasn't been mentioned before. When I get really hard to desolder chips I know are bad, I take a snipper and cut the chip loose on the top. This let's you remove each leg individually It's a LOT safer and a LOT easier. Sometimes I even do this on chips that are common and easily available as a default.
17:00 - I once heard someone in a position to know say that Commodores were ideal for use in SCIFs (Sensitive Compartmented Information Facilities) back in the 80's, because they were small enough that they could be covered with a grounded Faraday cage inside the room and comply with RF emission security standards.
