Color Classic Video Oddity

[macosten]

I assume the problem is bad caps on the AB, but I'll share this anyway:

The gist of it is this: Whenever I have my LC 550 board in my Color Classic, the video is, upon closer inspection, a bit wavy - more so on the right-hand side of the screen than on the left (though that might just be my eyes playing tricks on me).

However! When I have the stock board in it, the video waviness goes away completely.

What's the likely cause here? It was subtle enough that I didn't notice it before, but I do now... and I'd like to know if it's an AB problem as soon as possible, 'cause if I'm recapping that AB I figure I'm going to do the resolution mod while I'm in there.

Edit: Not even a few minutes later, seems like reseating the board solved my problem. Oops. Now I feel dumb. xD

I suppose I should clean the contacts on my LC 550 board; I suppose I won't ask for this to be deleted or anything in case it helps someone else

...and I shouldn't use this as too much of an excuse to put off AB Recapping.

 

[macosten]

Alright, this might make it more interesting: the video waviness only occurs when I restart the computer; in other words, when the CRT powers down and then immediately powers up again. I suspect it has something to do with the way the LC 550 boots up its monitor?

But if I turn it off (power switch included), unplug it, and wait a few seconds, then turn it back on, the video is stable (or, at least, more stable) for a while.

...Strange. I'm not sure why this is going on, but I wouldn't suppose there's a way to fix this, is there?

 

[olePigeon]

Could it be power supply related?

 

[Johnnya101]

I would assume power supply, HOWEVER I am having a similar issue with my entirely recapped SE/30. When reading from floppy it gets really slight wavy lines.

 

[macosten]

Color Classic Power Supplies *are* their analog boards.

...it's possible that the electricity in the dorm building is crap, though - my Desktop's PSU bit it recently (as I was using it, it just shut off, and then the PSU made arcing noises and smelled plasticy!) even though it was connected to a power strip. Come to think of it, maybe my Power Strip is bad, I dunno.

Then again, the waviness is reduced when the brightness is reduced, so I too would imagine the AB caps are just showing their age.

 

[Johnnya101]

That's AB caps then. Those caps... and there's a lot too.... always need to be replaced.

 

[macosten]

That's AB caps then. Those caps... and there's a lot too.... always need to be replaced.

I've been reluctant, mostly because I want to replace them *all*, and I haven't been able to find a complete list yet. Perhaps I should abandon my obsession with replacing all of them and just settle for most of them? Plus the ones needed to do the "proper" VGA mod (as is stickied)?

I've recapped, successfully, three logic boards so far, but no analog boards/PSUs yet. I imagine that'll change soon, though!

 

[techknight]

you cant just replace "most" of them unless you test each and every single one of them  for capacitance, and ESR, plus visual inspection for corrosion or leakage. 

IF you cant do that, you need to change them all. period. 

Plus a power strip really is useless and has no protection at all other than a MOV that is designed so when the voltage rises momentarily from a surge, it will attempt to clamp down and trip the reset breaker on the side. IT WILL NOT under any circumstances protect from sags, or spikes that are very RAPID in nature. You need a line conditioner for this. And even then not all are perfect. 

Also your power supply blowing up is probably a fluke. components break down, things fail. shit explodes. There would have never been TV repair shops or radio repair shops back in the day if things didn't just happen. Grand majority was either design faults, or wear and tear on components. 

 

[macosten]

Also your power supply blowing up is probably a fluke. components break down, things fail. shit explodes. 

Figured as much

But yeah, my main problem is that 

...

IF you cant do that, you need to change them all. period. 

...

And that's exactly what I'd want to do since I can't do that, and even if I could, I wouldn't want to. I'd rather my CC have as much new good stuff as possible. I just find myself unable to find a 100% complete list of all the caps I'd need to replace, and I want one before I dismantle my one and only CC Analog Board. I remember that one list-that's-also-a-picture cataloged *most* of the caps, but not all of them.

...does anyone have a complete list of all the caps on the board?

 

[mraroid]

I like buying caps from Mouser.  They probably have every cap you may need for your board. 

http://www.mouser.com/Passive-Components/Capacitors/_/N-5g7r/

They don't charge rip off prices for postage.  I like them.

mraroid

 

[Johnnya101]

Digikey is also good.

 

[macosten]

No, that's not it - I've ordered caps off Mouser twice already. How else could I have recapped my 3 recapped boards?

I'm looking for a complete list of capacitors to buy. From what I saw, the other list I was able to find (the one that looks like a picture of the board with labels on most, but not all, of the caps) had some unlabeled caps, and thus, I'm reluctant to buy them, since I'd like to buy them all at once.

 

[Johnnya101]

You can always just look at your board at the caps if you can't find a list...