gtoal@castle.ed.ac.uk (G Toal) (06/22/91)
In article <1991Jun21.211726.3647@watdragon.waterloo.edu> gcwillia@daisy.waterloo.edu (Graeme Williams) writes: >(And if I can't is there an Acorn fix it chappie on the N. American >continent??) You'll be lucky. I can't find one in *London* to fix it. I have a 440 whose video is shafted. I can point to the TTL chip which is broken. I phone up Acorn dealers and say 'If I bring my machine in with me, will you fix it and let me take it back with me.' Hell, I'd even let them keep it overnight, - I just don't want to send it by mail or truck. *Every* Acorn 'service centre' I've approached refuses to do anything except swapping socketed chips. It it's soldered in, they don't want to know. They all direct me to a place in Newcastle. Even Acorn's ISV support company says the same. I'm too paranoid to truck my Archie that far away :-) Does anyone know of a local (London) service centre who isn't afraid to unsolder a chip and replace it? Preferably while you wait? Thanks Graham
csuwr@warwick.ac.uk (Derek Hunter) (06/23/91)
In article <11238@castle.ed.ac.uk> gtoal@castle.ed.ac.uk (G Toal) writes: > >Does anyone know of a local (London) service centre who isn't afraid >to unsolder a chip and replace it? Preferably while you wait? Well, I don't /know/ (even if they're still around), but when I took my BBC B over to Solidisk, they got the soldering iron out before you could say `Naff speedup board capacitor kludge'. Granted that an Arc is slightly different compared with a Beeb, but if you're desperate, they /might/ be willing to do it for you. (Their technician did the deed while I hung about making desultory remarks about their DDFS to him. It took about 1-2hrs). They live at Southend which isn't /very/ far away (depending on where in London you live). - A skate and a penguin living in close harmony, but the fish was a bit flat. - Derek, The Prune Hunter csuwr@warwick.ac.uk ^^^ But not for much longer :-(
osmith@acorn.co.uk (Owen Smith) (06/24/91)
In article <11238@castle.ed.ac.uk> gtoal@castle.ed.ac.uk (G Toal) writes: >Does anyone know of a local (London) service centre who isn't afraid >to unsolder a chip and replace it? Preferably while you wait? Teach yourself to solder and then do it yourself. To remove a chip when you haven't got one of those amazing chip desolder tools, you use cutters to cut all the legs off the chip. Then you can desolder the legs one by one. You will need a solder sucker for this - otherwise you'll never get the solder out of the plated-through holes. Getting a friend to help you also works wonders - one person with the soldering iron on one side of the board, the other person with the sucker on the other side. Solder a turned pin chip socket in, and put the replacement chip in the socket. No problem. I use one of those dirt cheap Antex 17W soldering irons, so you don't even need expensive gear. Owen. The views expressed are my own and are not necessarily those of Acorn.
gtoal@castle.ed.ac.uk (G Toal) (06/25/91)
In article <7961@acorn.co.uk> osmith@acorn.co.uk (Owen Smith) writes: :In article <11238@castle.ed.ac.uk> gtoal@castle.ed.ac.uk (G Toal) writes: : :>Does anyone know of a local (London) service centre who isn't afraid :>to unsolder a chip and replace it? Preferably while you wait? : :Teach yourself to solder and then do it yourself. To remove a chip when :you haven't got one of those amazing chip desolder tools, you use cutters :to cut all the legs off the chip. Then you can desolder the legs one by one. :You will need a solder sucker for this - otherwise you'll never get the :solder out of the plated-through holes. Getting a friend to help you also :works wonders - one person with the soldering iron on one side of the board, :the other person with the sucker on the other side. Solder a turned pin chip :socket in, and put the replacement chip in the socket. No problem. I use one :of those dirt cheap Antex 17W soldering irons, so you don't even need :expensive gear. : :Owen. I *can* solder - in my formative years I soldered 200 BBC Micro Ram/Rom boards (remember the Acorn User sponsored one?) which is mainly why I never want to see a soldering iron again :-) I _could_ if I felt like it cut off the legs and solder one on that way, but I'd rather desolder it properly, and I'm not really happy with desoldering and resoldering a board like this. I'd rather leave it to someone who does this sort of thing regularly, even though it's a simple job. It's *because* it's a simple job that I'm annoyed that so-called Acorn 'service centres' refuse to do it. Graham
Gavin.Flower@comp.vuw.ac.nz (Gavin Flower) (06/25/91)
The Archimedes is a good machine, but it still needs to have good service to back it up. It is essential that suitable service be assured for these machines as only then can a professional recommend anyone to buy one and maintain ethical standards. Also major companies normally consider the level of support for a micro to be very important. Not to mention the average home user who *DOES NOT* want to get involved with soldering in any way. Therfore Owens Smith's remarks may have been relevent in the days of TRS80's *BUT NOT NOW*. In short his comments seem to demonstrate a lack of understanding of the support demanded by users in todays computer market. Come on Acorn, and get your act together!!! -Gavin. -- The main "user" of well brought up, and educated, children is the community at large. So if you really believe in "user pays", charge the correct users - stop overloading parents with financial penalties. ******* These comments have no known correlation with dept. policy! *******
gtoal@castle.ed.ac.uk (G Toal) (06/25/91)
In article <1991Jun24.215955.4061@comp.vuw.ac.nz> gavin@comp.vuw.ac.nz (Gavin Flower) writes:
:
:The Archimedes is a good machine, but it still needs to have
:good service to back it up.
:
:It is essential that suitable service be assured for these machines
:as only then can a professional recommend anyone to buy one and
:maintain ethical standards. Also major companies normally consider
:the level of support for a micro to be very important. Not to mention
:the average home user who *DOES NOT* want to get involved with soldering
:in any way.
That's exactly the position I'm in. I've just finished a system for
indexing free text on CD Roms. The client code runs on PCs, but tje
creation code was created on an Archie 540. I *had* intended to
sell turnkey systems based on A540s, but my experience of Acorn kit
(which as a hobbyist I think is great) and its reliability is such that
I'm having serious thoughts about porting my stuff back to DOS. (With
a 4Mb DOS box and dos extender, it'll just about run :-( )
And it's not just my own hardware failing (two archies, three keyboards,
umpteen disk drives) that worries me -- I have once before persuaded
a client to buy Acorn kit (someone who did heavy TeXing and bought
a top-end 440) - and he has had his hard disk die once and the replacement
is now starting to wobble...
I've had a Dell PC for 3 years without a single fault.
So yes, I too am having serious doubts about recommending Acorn
equipment to clients.
Grahamosmith@acorn.co.uk (Owen Smith) (06/26/91)
In article <1991Jun24.215955.4061@comp.vuw.ac.nz> Gavin.Flower@comp.vuw.ac.nz (Gavin Flower) writes: >Therfore Owens Smith's remarks may have been relevent in the days of TRS80's >*BUT NOT NOW*. In short his comments seem to demonstrate a lack of >understanding >of the support demanded by users in todays computer market. Not so. I accept that good service should be available. I used to be system manager of a large (3 washing machine size boxes) Data General minicomputer. Although I did play around with the boards and cabling from time to time, I greatly appreciated having a four hour call out maintenance contract. In short, I tackled the jobs I could handle myself, and I called in the engineer for the jobs I couldn't handle. This is what I would recommend anyone to do, unless you have problems with invalidating warranties and maintenance contracts (I knew the engineer personally) in which case you should always use the proper service facilities. I was suggesting how Graham(?) could get out of the immediate problem that he has a non functional machine and he couldn't find anyone to repair it ie. I was being pragmatic. I agree entirely that the service centres should be prepared to take the job on. If they can't change a chip, then what can they do? Is installing podules the limit of their capabilities? Owen. The views expressed are my own and are not necessarily those of Acorn.