Dying A1200 - Looking for advice re:Repair/Replace

[Gg48]

Hi,

First-time poster, long-time lurker.

I was wondering if I could get some advice from the experienced people here. I have a well loved and still fairly frequently used A1200 which is sadly on its last legs. It no longer boots from the hard drive, it cuts out occasionally, and some of the keys on the keyboard don’t work.

What are my main options in terms of repairing or replacing this without breaking the bank? I’d love to have an amazing setup like some I’ve seen here but that’s just not financially viable right now.
Obviously I’ve looked at the well known auction sites but that seems to be a bit of gamble in terms of whether it’s in any better condition than the one I have now.

Any advice I can get would be greatly appreciated! I can probably afford around £3-400.

Thanks

 

[roy_bates]

if you can afford that much you can easily get it repaired without breaking the bank

just open a thread in services area and wait for a reply,plenty of people doing repairs

 

[Gg48]

Thanks, i’ll give that a try.

 

[RetroPassion]

I replied to you with some hints ;-) also do not spend that amount on a repair!!

 

[TheCorfiot]

I would be happy to have a look at it and recap the board for you too.
Retroheaven87 is right, repair costs will be a lot less than you are expecting



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[Gg48]

That would be great, thanks. I’ll send you a pm to work out the details.

 

[TheCorfiot]

PM replied

 

[TheCorfiot]

The A1200 was delivered by MyHermes yesterday with box looking like it had been sat on, and tbh it was not packed sufficiently either.

Inspection revealed Damage to the Rear Clips by the Floppy Drive, OK, not the end of the world but worse was to follow.

An old Heavy 2.5" Drive was laying in the usual place on the top shield but there was NO HDD Mounting Bracket, worse again though two large screws were fitted on the bottom of the drive and poking through the shield...

Along with MyHermes Rough Handling lets guess what happened...

See the attached Pictures


So what was probably a Nice low price repair has now turned into a nightmare.

I don't have a Spare Budgie chip so cant really do anything unless someone is kind enough to supply a replacement working chip.


**** Please Never use Hermes to handle anything of Value, especially an A1200 as they will wreck it end of, It didn't help that the HD was left fitted in that manner though that was what really killed the board... ****

 

[ajk]

Ouch tbtorro to the rescue? https://www.amibay.com/showthread.php?76759

 

[KBQ]

i think that the chip legs could be repaired. If you have very delicate hands and a microscope, they could be straightened out and patched.

Hermes is the most horrible delivery service in the world, I've never ever had a successful delivery, and that's both sending and receiving. I once sent a coat that went the long way around their bureaucracy before being given back to me instead of who it was addressed to. Another time I bought a bike wheel and had fifteen different "missed deliveries" despite spending each one of them sat outside on the front doorstep - eventually, after I'd already got a refund and the delivery was officially cancelled, it was slung over the back fence.

Both incidents took over a month to resolve, so nowadays if I buy something and get a hermes tracking number I immediately demand to cancel the order and buy from someone else instead.

So when you look at Hermes and wonder "how is it so much cheaper for a delivery?" it's because it's not a delivery. You're paying them to smash your stuff up, lose it, throw it away, or steal it.

 

[TheCorfiot]

The legs have been sheared off from the body of the chip, it’s not worth attempting a dremmel fix which may not work when we can get a new chip from tbtorro

 

[Gg48]

In all the time i've owned the machine i've never opened it up, mainly because I don't really know what i'm looking at. I didn't know that the hard drive wasn't mounted, wish i'd opened it to check before sending now.
If tbtorro has any new chips i'd be happy to pay for one and get it sent directly to you. Fingers crossed!

With regards to Hermes, i've used DPD and other couriers and had similar problems in the past. The only other time i've used Hermes has been fine.
I think regardless of who you use it's down to the luck of the draw as to how careful the people involved are. I certainly won't be giving them any business in the future though...

 

[Sardine]

the problem with hermes your deliveries are down to the local self employed lout or genuine person.

for a while we had a lout, would toss over fence or leave out in the rain. turned up in a shell suit in a clapped out hatchback.

now we have an older woman who has a small van and knocks on the door and if no answer leaves her mobile number to re-arrange.

so hermes is both good and bad depending on who they employ in your area.

dpd etc are employees and accountable to the company.


if it's with bas,, it will be fixed...I can't praise him enough for all the work he has done for me. (still want RGB on my dragon,,,, cough)

 

[KBQ]

the problem with hermes your deliveries are down to the local self employed lout or genuine person.

for a while we had a lout, would toss over fence or leave out in the rain. turned up in a shell suit in a clapped out hatchback.

now we have an older woman who has a small van and knocks on the door and if no answer leaves her mobile number to re-arrange.

so hermes is both good and bad depending on who they employ in your area.

dpd etc are employees and accountable to the company.


if it's with bas,, it will be fixed...I can't praise him enough for all the work he has done for me. (still want RGB on my dragon,,,, cough)

DPD drivers as well as most delivery drivers nowadays are all also "self employed". The business model that DPD uses to get it's high service standard is to expect it's drivers to act as a traditional employee does, ie wear the uniform, drive a company van, work shifts set by the company etc, but to be treated as independent contractors who work has been outsourced to. So if a DPD driver is poorly sick they are forced to still fly around everywhere delivering parcels anyway or be forced to pay ruinous penalty fees. I know of at least one poor sod who literally dropped dead halfway through his shift because of it.

Parcelforce and Royal Mail though, those have always managed to deliver my stuff on time and the company treats its posties in a humane fashion, so I give them two big thumbs up. Reliable service and a clean conscience is worth every penny, especially through parcel 2 go

 

[TheCorfiot]

In all the time i've owned the machine i've never opened it up, mainly because I don't really know what i'm looking at. I didn't know that the hard drive wasn't mounted, wish i'd opened it to check before sending now.
If tbtorro has any new chips i'd be happy to pay for one and get it sent directly to you. Fingers crossed!

With regards to Hermes, i've used DPD and other couriers and had similar problems in the past. The only other time i've used Hermes has been fine.
I think regardless of who you use it's down to the luck of the draw as to how careful the people involved are. I certainly won't be giving them any business in the future though...

Leave it with me, I will be having a chat with tbtorro
Of course it will take longer to repair the machine



- - - Updated - - -

the problem with hermes your deliveries are down to the local self employed lout or genuine person.

for a while we had a lout, would toss over fence or leave out in the rain. turned up in a shell suit in a clapped out hatchback.

now we have an older woman who has a small van and knocks on the door and if no answer leaves her mobile number to re-arrange.

so hermes is both good and bad depending on who they employ in your area.

dpd etc are employees and accountable to the company.


if it's with bas,, it will be fixed...I can't praise him enough for all the work he has done for me. (still want RGB on my dragon,,,, cough)

Totally agree with you regarding Hermes

BTW, COCOVGA has been proven to work with a Dragon

 

[TheCorfiot]

Thread Update

Thread Update

Thanks to Tbtorro supplying a Brand New Budgie The A1200 Motherboard Is back to life and 100% Fully Functional.

Tested with CF HD and 8MB RAM Expansion card and you can see the results.

Time for a Deep clean and Recap of the board then I will order a new Keyboard Membrane, Service the Floppy and Clean up the Case as best I can.

Looks like its going to be nice and stable and give good service

 

[Gg48]

Thanks for the update and pictures. I’m glad it’s all working out well so far.
I’ve replied to your PM as well.