Author Topic: Turbo Express repair  (Read 217 times)

Custm42435

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Turbo Express repair
« on: May 21, 2009, 01:49:10 PM »
I purchased a Turbo Express off of ebay last week for $50 bucks and figured i could fix it after seeing the information on this site... it was listed as (worked a month ago, but now graphics are jumpy so being sold AS-IS)

recieved it in the mail yesterday and when i pulled it out of the box it looked brand new, no scratches whatsoever and even came with original $299.99 Electronics boutique box.
I originally had one of these when they first came out and wished i had never sold mine, so i was happy as my 6 year old son was when i unpacked it for the first time.
upon turning it on with included Keith Courage HuCard ( gotta get bonk again soon!) i noticed that it started out playing fine then within a few second seemed like the clock speed had been divided in half (extremely slow) and graphics started jumping up and down..  so i went ahead and pulled my capacitor box out ( i have done many cap kits before for arcade monitors and systems since i used to work for an amusement company) and began to change them all out except for the 4 that controlled the audio section ( figured i would deal with later since the sound was still EXTREMELY LOUD!)
after finishing and closing it back up i put batteries back in and STILL had the same problems with the speed issue and the graphics issue... i was getting frustrated at this point.. so i opened it back up and started messing with the 2 pots that are on the pcb ( which now i have determined only move the screen up and down, and left/right, and if you move them too much in either direction the brightness will also go up and down and brightness control on side of express will no longer do anything until you get them back exactly how they should be)... so i closed it back up and gave up for the moment..


Pulled it back out today and opened it back up determined to find the culprit..  evidently this thing hadn;t had much use as most of the caps i removed didnt seem to show any signs of leakage... although upon shining my flashlight closely i did finally notice something.. the top left larger chip (with pins on 4 sides) that had been under the shield had the top left most 3 pins appearing to have some sort of corrosion on them. ( possibly cap above it at some point when guy from ebay put batteries in last month could have spewed onto this chip?)   when i touched the pins with my finger, i could see wetness on my finger from where i had touched the pins... and thought AH!!!!!   i quickly cleaned the spot up, and carefully scraped the corrosion off of the legs of the chip and polished them clean again before closing the express back up and batteries back in and  with the flip of the switch everything finally worked like it should! i was definately happy that i had finally figured out what the deal was with it.. anyway this is my first post, just thought i would share... 

bacteria

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Re: Turbo Express repair
« Reply #1 on: May 21, 2009, 09:42:17 PM »
Nice work. Good you got it to work - $50 is quite a bit to gamble on the fact that something can be repaired so it is gratifying when it can be done!

Necromancer

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Re: Turbo Express repair
« Reply #2 on: May 22, 2009, 03:18:44 AM »
Welcome aboard and nice steal on a minty fresh 'Express.  I hope the guy you bought it from doesn't come around here, else he'll be kicking himself for selling off such an easy fix (relatively speaking).
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vestcoat

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Re: Turbo Express repair
« Reply #3 on: May 22, 2009, 06:53:16 AM »
It's always nice to hear more troubleshooting tips.  Welcome to the boards.
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Custm42435

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Re: Turbo Express repair
« Reply #4 on: May 30, 2009, 04:17:39 PM »
finally got my bonks adventure i won off of ebay in the mail today for it and definately love playing it as much as i did in 1992..
i got bonks for 10 bucks... has anyone noticed that there are people on ebay asking 200 bucks for just bonk? thats crazy! i know its one of the best games but seriously thats just insane
« Last Edit: May 31, 2009, 05:03:23 AM by Custm42435 »

vestcoat

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Re: Turbo Express repair
« Reply #5 on: May 31, 2009, 09:25:18 PM »
Continue to watch ebay for a few months and you'll start to learn how to differentiate the inflated Buy It Now prices charged by parasite resellers from what games are actually worth.  There's a number of BIN price categories on ebay: 

1) totally ridiculous, insanely high BIN items (about half of everything you see...seriously);

2) everyday BIN prices (still WAY too high, like $50 sealed common games);

3) fair BIN items (sellers like SimpleSamson, West Exit (RIP), some DreamStars stuff (is Toshi still around?).  These tend to get slowly bought up and resold by scumbags.  16-Bit is a decent seller that falls somewhere in-between 2 and 3.

4) dirt cheap holy grails that disappear in seconds ($20 US DE2, $200 for a boxed Duo with Godzilla, etc.;).  Refresh your search button all-day, everyday and you might find one! :roll:

Finally, there's the prices that auctions actually close at.  Be patient, wait for a real auction, and you'll get stuff for a fraction the price of the everyday BIN crap in category #2.

The real worth of a game can be determined by following these easy steps!

1) watch ten different auctions for the same game close over the course of a year.
2) average the total of the two cheapest copies that sold domestically (foreign exchange rates and shipping charges skew the results, duh)

You now know the actual worth of the game.

3)  Wait six months for another copy to appear at this price.
4)  Buy it.
5)  Brag about if here.
6)  Wait for Nat to tell you that you were ripped off and he found it for $100 less than the price you paid.   :wink:
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