Altair 8800b received

[Randy McLaughlin]

From: "Richard A. Cini" <rcini at optonline.net>
Sent: Wednesday, June 08, 2005 8:39 PM


> All:
>
> Today I received the Altair 8800b that I won on eBay last week. I
> honestly say that this is the first machine that I'm honestly afraid to
plug
> in. It was billed as "working but in need of a good cleaning" which is an
> understatement. The interior is filled with greasy dust.
>
> Among the other atrocities buried therein:
>
> *  two bus connectors (out of 10) have destroyed pins
> *  poor repairs/lifted traces on the display control board
> *  repairs on the other boards (CPU and two memory boards) in need
> of a solder reflow
> *  the main filter cap was replaced with two smaller (but equivalent
> uF) caps which were unsecured,
> banging around the inside. These broke one of the card
> supports.
> *  the top cover has three 3/16" holes drilled into it
>
> I've asked the seller to give me a rundown of the history of the
> machine if he knows it. On a positive note, the switches appear to be
intact
> and the panel graphics seem to be OK.
>
> Now, I remember someone asked me to look at the CPU board for some
> sort of identification. The CPU board has the following designation: "MITS
> 8800b CPU REV 0".
>
> For those who keep track, this unit is labeled SN#5400280K.
>
> Rich
>
> Rich Cini
> Collector of classic computers
> Build Master for the Altair32 Emulation Project
> Web site: http://highgate.comm.sfu.ca/~rcini/classiccmp/
> /************************************************************/

Just in case you are unfamiliar it is best to take a pair of vise grips and
break up the bad S100 connectors.  After that you can remove the pins one
pin at a time.  It is very very bad to heat up the Motherboard and by
removing the plastic and just leaving the 100 metal pins that means you need
to apply less heat.  This even applies if you have a desoldering station.
Trying to remove multiple pins at once is near impossible, 100 pins is
impossible.

Mouser (www.mouser.com) has a great selection of caps if you are looking for
a replacement.


Randy
www.s100-manuals.com