Vintage computer restoration project

[Fintek]

I dug out all my old computers from the 80's/90's to play around with them a little. Anyone have any suggestions/ experiences on the procedure that may help? Obviously I am going to open them up, clean the dust out, and correct any corrosion issues first. My concern is the age of the electrolytic capacitors and floppy disk drives. Has anyone had success with just a good once over and boot them up? Or is it likely something will pop?

 

[danadak]

Certainly caps will and do cause problems. Look for bulging caps, leaking caps.
Usually around CPU.

https://imgur.com/s5HWA

Google motherboard burn pictures for other problems.

I have repaired power bricks as well with similar problems. More difficult because
of plastic molding/cement used to assemble brick shell.



Regards, Dana.

 

[Ramussons]

The biggest problem I have faced with old PC's are the Floppy drives and floppies.

 

[Ian Rogers]

Cool... A C64C... Is it working? I have the rest!! And more..

Recapping amigas and C64's is a simple task.. Many Many vids on google..

 

[Fintek]

Thanks for the info everyone! That's what I expected, caps and disk issues. I haven't tried any of them yet, having a busy weekend with car maintenance. I'll post back here when I have some successes or failures. I hope things go well!

 

[Fintek]

Well, this will be easy....all I have to do is press this button!

 

[Pommie]

That reminds me of the "Undo" button in a car for undoing any accidents.

Mike.