Collector's Corner..On Fessing Up

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Steve B
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Collector's Corner..On Fessing Up

Post by Steve B »

Every Collector of the old chess computers has a current crop of defective computers
the Bane of the hobby and a constant painful annoyance
Some of Us choose to ignore the problem..preferring to "Block" the broken computers out of our minds...while others attempt repairs with varied success
i even know a collector that actually looks to acquire defective computers because he is an expert in the old electronics found in most dedicated computers and can repair almost any defect

in an effort to ease some of my pain i list my current crop of defective computers

SAVANT ROYALE - TOTALLY DEFECTIVE
SAVANT ll- SPECIAL EPROM WORKS OTHERWISE TOTALLY DEFECTIVE
SAVANT I- TOUCHSCREEN AND PROCESSOR WORK WITH PRINTER AND CLOCK
ROBOT ADVERSARY-NO.10403 TOTALLY DEFECTIVE
ROBOT ADVERSARY-NO.10368 TOTALLY DEFECTIVE
MILTON BRADLEY(MILTON)- RANDOM RELIABILITY
FIDELITY V6-DEAD C1 REED
FIDELITY ELITE PRIVAT BOARD-UNPLAYABLE
TSBIV LA REGENCE-WEAK A6 SQUARE
RUSSIAN MATTEL-DEAD F5-H8 SQUARES(12 SQUARES)
DDR VEB SC1(IN FOR REPAIR)

Handling The Truth Regards
Steve
Last edited by Steve B on Fri Feb 14, 2014 5:21 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Wardy
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Post by Wardy »

Glad it's not just me!

Scisys 432 defective
Saitek Conquistador defective
Radioshack 2150l defective
Mephisto Modena defective

The materials to attempt to resuscitate the 432 are on there way, the others I've not attempted to look at yet....
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Steve B
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Post by Steve B »

Bravo for admitting the ugly truth Paul
perhaps other collectors can summon enough courage to ....
Come Clean Regards
Steve
Wardy
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Post by Wardy »

It felt like therapy :-)
Larry
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Post by Larry »

I've had many, but to name a few recent ones:
Spare Septennial...rightmost display character, check light, 'a' file
lights all kaput. Otherwise it's working.
Fidelity EAG V9 bad reed switch, can't even remember which one it's
been so long. No problem really, I'm good at fixing these, just haven't
got around to it.
Novag Star Sapphire. A few dead files. Alas, they will have to stay dead.
Novag Connie Expert 5mhz. Arrived yesterday and am currently trying
to find the problem. (Separate post about this one).
L
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Monsieur Plastique
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Post by Monsieur Plastique »

Larry wrote:Novag Star Sapphire. A few dead files. Alas, they will have to stay dead.
That is surprising. You'd think given the era during which these were on the market, basic things like that would have been a thing of the distant past. Just curious, are the files "dead" in terms of the graphics no longer appearing or do they not respond to stylus pressure?
Chess is like painting the Mona Lisa whilst walking through a minefield.
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Post by Larry »

Monsieur Plastique wrote:Just curious, are the files "dead" in terms of the graphics no longer appearing or do they not respond to stylus pressure?
Graphics not appearing. It's still possible to play chess with it, you just
have to use a manual chess board and pieces, and transfer the moves
across. At the bottom of the screen it gives a readout of the move.
L
SirDave
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Post by SirDave »

Larry wrote:
Monsieur Plastique wrote:Just curious, are the files "dead" in terms of the graphics no longer appearing or do they not respond to stylus pressure?
Graphics not appearing. It's still possible to play chess with it, you just
have to use a manual chess board and pieces, and transfer the moves
across. At the bottom of the screen it gives a readout of the move.
L
Larry, the answer is simple: Just open that bad boy up and clean up those solder joints. :)

Hi-Power Microscope, Teeny-Tiny Solder Tip and Original Circuit Schematic Regards,
Dave
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ricard60
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Post by ricard60 »

My fidelity designer 2100 does not turn on. Hope i can fix it.

second time regards
Ricardo
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Bryan Whitby
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Re: Collector's Corner..On Fessing Up

Post by Bryan Whitby »

Steve B wrote: SAVANT ROYALE - TOTALLY DEFECTIVE
SAVANT ll- SPECIAL EPROM WORKS OTHERWISE TOTALLY DEFECTIVE
SAVANT I- TOUCHSCREEN AND PROCESSOR WORK WITH PRINTER AND CLOCK
ROBOT ADVERSARY-NO.10403 TOTALLY DEFECTIVE
ROBOT ADVERSARY-NO.10368 TOTALLY DEFECTIVE
MILTON BRADLEY(MILTON)- RANDOM RELIABILITY
FIDELITY V6-DEAD C1 REED
FIDELITY ELITE PRIVAT BOARD-UNPLAYABLE
TSBIV LA REGENCE-WEAK A6 SQUARE
RUSSIAN MATTEL-DEAD F5-H8 SQUARES(12 SQUARES)
DDR VEB SC1(IN FOR REPAIR)

Handling The Truth Regards
Steve
Steve

I'm suprised you haven't included a couple of Fidelity Travel Master's in your list as their failure rate is quite renowned.

Flip Open Regards
Bryan
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Steve B
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Re: Collector's Corner..On Fessing Up

Post by Steve B »

Chessmaster Ireland wrote:
Steve B wrote: SAVANT ROYALE - TOTALLY DEFECTIVE
SAVANT ll- SPECIAL EPROM WORKS OTHERWISE TOTALLY DEFECTIVE
SAVANT I- TOUCHSCREEN AND PROCESSOR WORK WITH PRINTER AND CLOCK
ROBOT ADVERSARY-NO.10403 TOTALLY DEFECTIVE
ROBOT ADVERSARY-NO.10368 TOTALLY DEFECTIVE
MILTON BRADLEY(MILTON)- RANDOM RELIABILITY
FIDELITY V6-DEAD C1 REED
FIDELITY ELITE PRIVAT BOARD-UNPLAYABLE
TSBIV LA REGENCE-WEAK A6 SQUARE
RUSSIAN MATTEL-DEAD F5-H8 SQUARES(12 SQUARES)
DDR VEB SC1(IN FOR REPAIR)

Handling The Truth Regards
Steve
Steve

I'm suprised you haven't included a couple of Fidelity Travel Master's in your list as their failure rate is quite renowned.

Flip Open Regards
Bryan
Actually
i had a defective TM(as well as two that currently still work)
i gave away the defective TM as a gift to someone who is trying to repair it
Good Observation Regards
Steve
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fourthirty
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Post by fourthirty »

My SAITEK KASPAROV POCKET PLUS TRAINER stopped working several years ago. Sad day. I spent hours playing games with that unit during flight connections (before the Palm Pilot & iPhone chess era).

One of the pawns on my Obsidian has a sheared head - does that count?
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Steve B
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Post by Steve B »

fourthirty wrote:My SAITEK KASPAROV POCKET PLUS TRAINER stopped working several years ago. Sad day. I spent hours playing games with that unit during flight connections (before the Palm Pilot & iPhone chess era).

One of the pawns on my Obsidian has a sheared head - does that count?
Well for the Obsidian any pawn can replace your headless pawn and the computer will still work fine
however a broken pawn for a piece recognition board such as the Mephisto Bavaria would officially render the computer...


Defective Regards
Steve
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fourthirty
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Post by fourthirty »

Steve B wrote: Well for the Obsidian any pawn can replace your headless pawn and the computer will still work fine
Well, luckily he is not a headless-pawnman. Only half is broken off, so he has more of a hemisphere situation going on up there. I've nicknamed him "Hemi".

Unfortunate for him, but fortunate for me - I got a heck of a deal on eBay due to the defect!

Half price regards... :o
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Monsieur Plastique
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Post by Monsieur Plastique »

Here I am trying to figure out how a Novag pawn can actually break into two parts. Did the previous owner's Tyrannosaurus Rex snack on it before realising that it was not food? Or perhaps it fell victim to a friendly neighbourhood nuclear explosion.

At least the good thing about the Obsidian is that there are likely a number of decent small wooden sets that can substitute for the stock set.
Chess is like painting the Mona Lisa whilst walking through a minefield.
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