Closed Acorn Archimedes A310/A410/A440/A540

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womagrid

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Looking for a machine from the original Archimedes range. If anyone has the base unit alone I would still be interested, so long as it has not been destroyed by battery corrosion.
 
I've just rescued an A310 from someones loft..i got it working again today by replacing some shorted tantalum capacitors.

Although not corroded from battery acid, the chassis does have areas showing some rust, the motherboard and powersupply however are perfect, no corrosion.
It also has the original keyboard and mouse which are working two.

I plan to start full chassis restoration in the next few weeks so if you dont mind being patient then i may well have a compkete system for you.

:)
 
As Dave Jones pointed out, those tantalums are b*****ds. Please let me know if/when your restoration is done.
 
Of course if you are up to respray the top lid yourself then you can save money and do the cosmetic restoration yourself, I will ensure the Motherboard is good :)
 
Give me a few days to get the system on the bench for some photos and we shall sort something out ;)
 
If you wish to check out my BetaGamma Computing page on Facebook, you will find photographs of the A310 Repair and restoration process ;)
 
Hi
The A310 is ready and fully working, i want to shoot a video of it so you can see its condition and that its fully working too, would be able to send you a dropbox link if thats ok.
Please let me know if you are still interested
Regards Bas :)
 
Good news! Yes, I am still interested. What did you have to do to get it working? I am currently dealing with a very strange RTC issue on a Commodore PC10-III :)
 
Recapping the board was the first stage, then i found her unstable so i removed all the PLCC chips and socketed Roms and cleaned the contacts on the sockets and roms and she was 100%..
The floppy issue was down to a faulty disc controller WDC 1772, which i replaced, this started the floppy head moving but the drive was rusty and worn so i carefully modified a PC drive physically and electrically and that solved that issue, all my A3000 discs load and verify fine..she also formats and verifies perfectly.

I upgraded the video circuit as outlined in an Acorn factory mod (this is a very early 310) to increase the RGB out levels so it is compatible with modern monitors and added a fast blank drive if you are using a Scart TV.

The keyboard and mouse have been stripped, cleaned and all keyboard contacts cleaned..

Prior to that of course i had washed the entire chassis, it's only the lid that could do with a respray and replacement of some rusty screws but i'm sure you can handle that..

The PCB is in great shape with no battery corrosion at all and i can promise you that all work i have carried out on the board is to a professional standard with all flux removed, difficult to spot my rework ;)

I shall take the video for you tomorrow and send you the link :)

:)
 
If you need to respray the case, Rustoleum Hard Hat oyster white/RAL 1013 is a perfect match for the original colour.
 
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