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Just brought my old Atari 800XL back from the dead with a simple fix
I pulled my childhood Atari out of the attic last weekend and it was totally dead, no power light, nothing. I was ready to give up, thinking the power supply was fried. After opening it up, I found the issue in about 15 minutes. The main power switch on the board was just full of old dust and grime from sitting for probably 20 years. I didn't even need a new part. I just sprayed some contact cleaner into the switch, worked it back and forth a bunch of times, and plugged it back in. The power light came on right away and it booted to the BASIC prompt. It's crazy how a machine that seemed completely broken just needed a basic cleaning. Has anyone else had an old computer or console come back to life with something that simple?
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schmidt.grant15d ago
Seriously, you fixed it with just a can of spray?
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aarons3615d ago
Sometimes the simplest fix is all you need, @schmidt.grant. It's crazy how a cheap can of spray can save you a huge repair bill. Makes you wonder what else we're overcomplicating.
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