Problem- Turbo King

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Celadus
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Posts: 256
Joined: Sun May 06, 2012 11:29 am

Problem- Turbo King

Post by Celadus »

I played 6/7 games about 3weeks ago using batteries. Today I pressed GO
to start and the A1 square lights lit up and the machine froze. I could not get it to work.
Remove batteries. Press the ACL button. Try an AC adaptor.

Nothing works. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
I tried pressing a combination of, PLAY,GO, NORMAL with no result.


Thanks
User avatar
Sargon1972
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Posts: 348
Joined: Sun Jul 14, 2013 9:30 am
Location: Dussen

Post by Sargon1972 »

Hello ,

Have u done press play and go together after u have pressed ACL for 5 sec?
Also if u do that remove the battery,s and put it on a AC power supply ,do u have the right one with 9V and enough Ma ?
If then the same problem is still there i am afraid it is broke
There are some company,s who can repair it

Kr,Hans
Hello
I am from Netherlands and many years involved with computerchess
It,s a way of life i suppose :p

Kr,Hans
Celadus
Member
Posts: 256
Joined: Sun May 06, 2012 11:29 am

Post by Celadus »

Sargon1972 wrote:Hello ,

Have u done press play and go together after u have pressed ACL for 5 sec?
Also if u do that remove the battery,s and put it on a AC power supply ,do u have the right one with 9V and enough Ma ?
If then the same problem is still there i am afraid it is broke
There are some company,s who can repair it

Kr,Hans
Thanks for your reply Hans. I tried what you suggested but with no result.
It must be broken :(
I think that TB King wont operate any more because I won one of the six games we played together :)

Again thank you for your reply.
Larry
Senior Member
Posts: 2269
Joined: Wed Aug 01, 2007 8:42 am
Location: Gosford, NSW Australia

Post by Larry »

If you take the back off the game you will see a few flexible
plastic ribbon leads. Over time they build up a coating of
oxide which breaks the circuit and stops the program from
initialising. Jiggle the ribbons around and then try powering
up again. If no luck then pull the leads out from under the
spring steel clamps holding them, and give the conductive
surfaces on them a gentle rub with a steel object, eg, a knife
blade or small screwdriver. Put it back together and try again.
Hope this works
Fingers crossed regards...
Larry
Celadus
Member
Posts: 256
Joined: Sun May 06, 2012 11:29 am

Post by Celadus »

Larry wrote:If you take the back off the game you will see a few flexible
plastic ribbon leads. Over time they build up a coating of
oxide which breaks the circuit and stops the program from
initialising. Jiggle the ribbons around and then try powering
up again. If no luck then pull the leads out from under the
spring steel clamps holding them, and give the conductive
surfaces on them a gentle rub with a steel object, eg, a knife
blade or small screwdriver. Put it back together and try again.
Hope this works
Fingers crossed regards...
Larry
Hello Larry. I was unable to get the leads out to clean them. They are held in place by a plastic cover which will not open. So I jiggled the leads.
The TB King will not power-up. Only the A1 square lights lite up.

Any way thank you for your reply and suggestions. Much appreciated.
Larry
Senior Member
Posts: 2269
Joined: Wed Aug 01, 2007 8:42 am
Location: Gosford, NSW Australia

Post by Larry »

Just took the back off my TK to have a look. Yes, I'm sorry, I thought
the setup was the same as the earlier TurboStar432, but it's different.
The clear plastic pieces come out alright. If you look just next to them
you will see two holes. You will need a tiny star screwdriver or similar to
poke into both of these holes, one at a time. Then with a bit of levering
you will notice you can lift the plastic out. It's worth a try. Then lightly
brush any oxide coating off and with luck you just might get a positive
result. all the best....
Larry
Celadus
Member
Posts: 256
Joined: Sun May 06, 2012 11:29 am

Post by Celadus »

Larry wrote:Just took the back off my TK to have a look. Yes, I'm sorry, I thought
the setup was the same as the earlier TurboStar432, but it's different.
The clear plastic pieces come out alright. If you look just next to them
you will see two holes. You will need a tiny star screwdriver or similar to
poke into both of these holes, one at a time. Then with a bit of levering
you will notice you can lift the plastic out. It's worth a try. Then lightly
brush any oxide coating off and with luck you just might get a positive
result. all the best....
Larry
Hello Larry. I got the plastic covers off and cleaned all of the ribbons with a knife. Unfortunately only the A1 squares lite up and the TBK does not power up. I should never have won that one game. I think TBK is sulking.

Thanks for your concern Larry.
Larry
Senior Member
Posts: 2269
Joined: Wed Aug 01, 2007 8:42 am
Location: Gosford, NSW Australia

Post by Larry »

We are almost beat but not quite. A lot of defects with older chess
comps are just time related, eg, dried solder joints and oxidation.
Taking the back off again, you will see a few chips that are just push
fit. Gently lever them out with a very small screwdriver, working
at one end, then the other until it comes loose. Take note of which way
around they went in, they must go back the same way. Take particular care not
to break or bend any of the legs. Brush the legs with an old toothbrush
or some other brush. Re insert them carefully.
If you are a muslim this is when you pray to Allah. Now plug it in and
try again. If this fails, I'm all out of suggestions.
L
Celadus
Member
Posts: 256
Joined: Sun May 06, 2012 11:29 am

Post by Celadus »

Larry wrote:We are almost beat but not quite. A lot of defects with older chess
comps are just time related, eg, dried solder joints and oxidation.
Taking the back off again, you will see a few chips that are just push
fit. Gently lever them out with a very small screwdriver, working
at one end, then the other until it comes loose. Take note of which way
around they went in, they must go back the same way. Take particular care not
to break or bend any of the legs. Brush the legs with an old toothbrush
or some other brush. Re insert them carefully.
If you are a muslim this is when you pray to Allah. Now plug it in and
try again. If this fails, I'm all out of suggestions.
L
No luck. The machine is Kaput. But thanks a lot for the help.
May the dedicated chess computer gods be with you.
Larry
Senior Member
Posts: 2269
Joined: Wed Aug 01, 2007 8:42 am
Location: Gosford, NSW Australia

Post by Larry »

Here we are about six weeks later. I need you to tell me
Did the Turboking start working again, or is it still broken?
Regards...Larry
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Sargon1972
Member
Posts: 348
Joined: Sun Jul 14, 2013 9:30 am
Location: Dussen

Post by Sargon1972 »

Hello Guys,

Well after try ACL press play and go at once and only A1 will light up.... this means i think something of a simple error ,a connector ore something small electronics is broken , ore the problem comes that the display is broken
i think for +- 20 years back i had a same problem with a Turbo King , a company in Holland Wegam Trading could not fix it, well it was fixed and after some weeks same problem... then i decide to send it to NIGGEMANN ore Arno Kreuzberg in Germany . 100% working till the day of today .
So i think a visit of your TK to http://www.fernseh-berger.de/ will help .
Good luck with it . U can write English to them of course.

Kr,Hans
Hello
I am from Netherlands and many years involved with computerchess
It,s a way of life i suppose :p

Kr,Hans
Celadus
Member
Posts: 256
Joined: Sun May 06, 2012 11:29 am

Post by Celadus »

Larry wrote:Here we are about six weeks later. I need you to tell me
Did the Turboking start working again, or is it still broken?
Regards...Larry
Hello Larry. The TK just lights up square A1 and freezes. So still inoperable.
Thanks for the concern.
Larry
Senior Member
Posts: 2269
Joined: Wed Aug 01, 2007 8:42 am
Location: Gosford, NSW Australia

Post by Larry »

Celadus wrote:
Larry wrote:Here we are about six weeks later. I need you to tell me
Did the Turboking start working again, or is it still broken?
Regards...Larry
Hello Larry. The TK just lights up square A1 and freezes. So still inoperable.
Thanks for the concern.
Hi Celadus, sorry to hear that. Check your private messages.
regards....
Larry
IvenGO
Member
Posts: 298
Joined: Tue Oct 18, 2011 5:37 am
Location: Moscow, Russia

Post by IvenGO »

Try to change RAM - this probably could solve a problem.

Model: M5M5165P-12L is originally installed one. Check your local electronic stores or Ebay. Anyway it will not be expensive at all...
Larry
Senior Member
Posts: 2269
Joined: Wed Aug 01, 2007 8:42 am
Location: Gosford, NSW Australia

Post by Larry »

IvenGO wrote:Try to change RAM - this probably could solve a problem.

Model: M5M5165P-12L is originally installed one. Check your local electronic stores or Ebay. Anyway it will not be expensive at all...
Hi IvenGO. I read somewhere a long time ago that mental telepathy has
no respect for distance, nor political boundaries. Maybe it's true. Your
thought waves in Russia were picked up by me in Australia, or possibly
vice versa. Just this morning I was wondering if RAM chips decay gradually
over time. I noticed my risc2500 would play a normal game fine, but when
I set up a simple endgame position where it would search deep on the
"infinite" level, it would soon freeze with "ERR TRAP" appearing on the
display. I upgraded the RAM from 128kb to 2mb and the problem went
away.
Reading the blurb on the risc2500, it was said that the program needs
56kb of ram to function, and with 128kb onboard ram this only leaves
72kb for hash tables.
Could it be that what was once 128kb of ram chips were now, 22
years on, perhaps something less than 100kb, and causing problems?
Could it be that some of the solder joints holding the ram chip in place
need melting with a soldering iron, and this would fix everything?
If so, then this could in fact be the cause of the failure of the TurboKing.
How many chess computers with collectable value around the world
go into rubbish bins when they could have been repaired in minutes?
It makes you cry....
Larry
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