Uploaded May 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
I'm nearing completion of my restoration of COMPUTER, the name I have given to my Apple ][+ clone made by MCA of Japan... that is, if the silk screen on the motherboard can be trusted. And I'm going for a restoration here, with exceptions made for adding a Super Serial card and any expansion cards needed to make the ones that were included work.
Tuesday, I was feeling confident that the MCA 128K RAMCARD (a clone of the Saturn Systems 128K RAM Card) was repairable, and we have potentially repaired it. When I put the 128K RAMCARD in slot 0 and ran Computer Inspector, I got a memory error; when I removed the card, the error went away.
The plot thickened when I found and installed my Dead Test card, as Dead Test was consistently reporting zero page errors. And sure enough, when I used the Retro Chip Tester to test some of the 4116's, I found 5 out of 6 that were marked "marginal" that either fail the pre-test or at bit zero. But they weren't in the zero page.
The plot thickened even more when, after replacing those chips, I can now occasionally get Dead Test to run if I power cycle it after an initial zero page issue.
Will I find more bad 4116's? Will I find a bad logic chip? Will I decide to not trust the "new" power supply? Or will it be an issue with the reset circuit? You'll have to watch to find out!
*
Ways to Support the Channel:
☕️ Tips or Support via Ko-fi: ko-fi.com/jdmcs
🈷️ Support me on Patreon: patreon.com/jdmcs
📦 Amazon Wishlist: jdmcs.net/wishlist
... or simply do the YouTube things: Like/Dislike, Comment, Subscribe, Enable Notifications, and participate in the Chat. These things help the channel, too!
**
Read Computerized Start™, my Official Blog: jdmcs.net/myblog
Follow me on Instagram: jdmcs.net/myinstagram
Follow me on Twitter: jdmcs.net/mytwitter
I'm nearing completion of my restoration of COMPUTER, the name I have given to my Apple ][+ clone made by MCA of Japan... that is, if the silk screen on the motherboard can be trusted. And I'm going for a restoration here, with exceptions made for adding a Super Serial card and any expansion cards needed to make the ones that were included work.
Tuesday, I was feeling confident that the MCA 128K RAMCARD (a clone of the Saturn Systems 128K RAM Card) was repairable, and we have potentially repaired it. When I put the 128K RAMCARD in slot 0 and ran Computer Inspector, I got a memory error; when I removed the card, the error went away.
The plot thickened when I found and installed my Dead Test card, as Dead Test was consistently reporting zero page errors. And sure enough, when I used the Retro Chip Tester to test some of the 4116's, I found 5 out of 6 that were marked "marginal" that either fail the pre-test or at bit zero. But they weren't in the zero page.
The plot thickened even more when, after replacing those chips, I can now occasionally get Dead Test to run if I power cycle it after an initial zero page issue.
Will I find more bad 4116's? Will I find a bad logic chip? Will I decide to not trust the "new" power supply? Or will it be an issue with the reset circuit? You'll have to watch to find out!
*
Ways to Support the Channel:
☕️ Tips or Support via Ko-fi: ko-fi.com/jdmcs
🈷️ Support me on Patreon: patreon.com/jdmcs
📦 Amazon Wishlist: jdmcs.net/wishlist
... or simply do the YouTube things: Like/Dislike, Comment, Subscribe, Enable Notifications, and participate in the Chat. These things help the channel, too!
**
Read Computerized Start™, my Official Blog: jdmcs.net/myblog
Follow me on Instagram: jdmcs.net/myinstagram
Follow me on Twitter: jdmcs.net/mytwitter
![Lets Go [Pentium] Pro: If At First You Dont Succeed, Try Another Regret (Computerized Start™ Live)](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/jmqP9LX0nZ4/mqdefault.jpg "Lets Go [Pentium] Pro: If At First You Dont Succeed, Try Another Regret (Computerized Start™ Live)
This description will be updated when I have a few minutes...
*
Ways to Support the Channel:
☕️ Tips or Support via Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/jdmcs
🈷️ Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/jdmcs
📦 Amazon Wishlist: https://jdmcs.net/wishlist
... or simply do the YouTube things: Like/Dislike, Comment, Subscribe, Enable Notifications, and participate in the Chat. These things help the channel, too!
**
Read Computerized Start™, my Official Blog: https://jdmcs.net/myblog
Follow me on Instagram: https://jdmcs.net/myinstagram
Follow me on Twitter: https://jdmcs.net/mytwitter")
