Calling all technicians

[Brian Hoskins]

Hello,

I recently purchased an Amiga CDTV from a friend of mine, purely for the collectability and coolness factor of it.  Unfortunately, the Royal Mail have done me the courtesy of damaging the unit - it's had a sharp bump to the rear aerial socket (snapping it clean off) and on power up I was left with no Graphics output, neither from the composite, RF or RGB conectors.

Having taken the CDTV apart, I have discovered that the aerial and composite output is actually on a removable "video board".  The aerial socket had been snapped off so I decided to remove the video board and inspect for further damage.

Because of the heavy hit on the aerial connector, the PCB board has sustained a small crack along it's connector.  The crack broke one track of print, and went directly underneath a surface mount capacitor, ruining the end cap of the component and rendering it useless to a capacitance test.  I have repaired the damage to the PCB board  and fitted a guesstimate capacitor value in place of the surface mount (unable to determine the value of the old component) and the CDTV does now produce graphics output, both from the video board and RGB (which is located on the motherboard).  The problem now, is that it wont switch between the animated CD screen and the normal workbench screen - pressing the CD/TV button does nothing at all, it remains on the Workbench screen in both modes.  Before I attempted a repair, the unit would switch between absolutely no output on the CD screen, to a very VERY poor, dim Workbench screen

I think this capacitor was on the switching line for these two video outputs, and I'll need to obtain the correct value to restore normal operation.  I have downloaded some hand drawn schematics for the CDTV but I cannot find any reference to the video board, which is seperate to the motherboard electronics.  I can provide pictures of the damage and therefore show the position of the affected component but there are no circuit reference numbers for the device.

Is anybody familiar enough with the CDTV to be able to point me in the right direction? If any technicians have this model, perhaps they could remove the video board (two screws and it pulls out), locate the component and put a cap meter on it for me?  Other than that I'm back to searching for a better schematic.

Any advice greatly appreciated - the CDTV has become my new patient, and I never let a patient down

Thanks in advance,

BrianH

[Brian]

Ahhh... know the feeling of opening a suspicious looking package to find ruined stuff inside. Isn't there some kind of insurance on Royal Mail that you can claim?

For the problem itself I can't help you much but I think the video board is included in this CDTV Schematics package.

[lempkee]

ah man... i would have killed the postman!! ..

good luck with fixin it brian!..

[Brian Hoskins]

Yes I might have been able to claim off the royal mail, only it was sent standard delivery, and the insurance on that nowhere near covers the cost of the Amiga.  In any case I'd still want to nurse it back to health anyway

I'll take a look at those schematics, thankyou.  I did download some for the CDTV off an Amiga technical resource, but the video section was to do with Denisse and her accompanying components / ICs, it was nothing to do with the seperate video board itself.

Toaks: Thanks

BrianH

[Stedy]

I just had a quick look at the CDTV schematics, they do not show a separate Video board but I did notice something. The CDTV video slot has pin 26 marked as nCD/TV which I guess is a signal to control CDTV/Amiga mode. If this track is open circuit maybe it defaults to Amiga mode?

Hope this helps,

Ian

[HopperJF]

I sold Brian the CDTV, and I must say I am quite angry at the royal mail now, it was a nice system and everything was fine and i believed i packaged it very well so it would not get damaged easily. i also labelled the box clearly "FRAGILE".

now these werent glasses, this was a solid computer.
these guys must REALLY bash these things around regardless of whether they are fragile or not  :-x

[crown]

Buy a new motherboard+video at Vesalia, they are really cheap.

[Brian]

@HopperJF

I belive that "FRAGILE" internaly on most post offices meen "free soccer break" or something simular.

[Brian]

@crown

12.40€, Can't argue with that. And send the bill to Royal Mail. ;-)

[AccyD]

Brian wrote:
@crown

12.40€, Can't argue with that. And send the bill to Royal Mail. ;-)

I must say I've claimed for small amounts from Royal Mail in the past and they are very helpful and will often pay promptly if it is a reasonable price.

Although there used to be a rule that the poster had to claim I'm not sure if this is still the case.............

[The_Editor]

HopperJF .. Let me tell you a little "true" story ..

As most people know .. I am a truck driver..

I've done agency work for various companies including Royal Mail ..

Let me explain what happens.

Truck is loaded at main hub  ...  Pick any Mail order establishment .

We then drive it carefully  (usually at night) .......  to wherever.

We back up to the door and a big conveyor belt goes into the rear of the trailer.

Workers climb into back of lorry and THROW parcels/packages onto belt...

Thats NOT the best bit..

at the bottom of the belt there are various Large bins ..  Postcoded.

One man/woman stands with barcode readers in each hand like six shooters checking in the load..

Postcodes are then sorted to their individual BINS.

Ie:  Parcels are thrown into them...  thats ok for the first two .. But then you get ..

Microwave ovens landing ontop of portable tellys etc..

Use your imagination.

When lorry is empty.. we drop trailer and couple up to previously loaded one for our area..  

repeat cycle.     :-o

I was completely Gobmacked,  when,  After driving carefully from Peterborough to  ... Next to Avommouth..  To see them chucking stuff about like this.

To be fair to them ... they DON'T have the time and more importantly ... The manpower to do it properly.

Thats no consolation to the recipricant of the damaged goods though ..is it.

Now you know why the likes of Ebuyer uses a huge box full of shock absorbant for a tiny component.



You have been warned.

[Brian Hoskins]

Ian Wrote:

"I just had a quick look at the CDTV schematics, they do not show a separate Video board but I did notice something. The CDTV video slot has pin 26 marked as nCD/TV which I guess is a signal to control CDTV/Amiga mode. If this track is open circuit maybe it defaults to Amiga mode?"

I noticed that as well Ian, but I can't make head or tail of it because that switching line appears to be on the motherboard itself (according to the schematic) and the motherboard is not damaged.

I counted the pins on the video board connector and there are no connectors that size on the video schematic, so I can only conclude that the schematic I require for the seperate video board is not included in the archive.

That, my friends, is Sod's law hehe

Thanks for everyone's comments, keep them coming maybe we can spark an idea somewhere.

BrianH

[Brian]

The video module cost 2.5€ on Vesalia... just in case you give up on the project.

[StevenJGore]

I must say I've claimed for small amounts from Royal Mail in the past and they are very helpful and will often pay promptly if it is a reasonable price

I posted a Commodore 1084S monitor (the nice black version to match the CDTV) to someone who won it from me on eBay, and it arrived with a cracked casing and with impact marks on the glass screen. Luckily, I still had the high-res digital photos which I took for the item description, and the guy at the other end took digital photos of the damage. I sent both sets of photos and a print-out of the eBay item page to Royal Mail. I've never known anyone, particularly Royal Mail, to pay compensation so quickly!!! I got the full final auction price reimbursed!  :-)