¢SUPPLIED BYT THE CHAOS BBS¢(517) 371-1106¢¢¢XE CONSOLE KEY FIX...¢... that really works.¢¢¢I found that I was not alone when I¢started having trouble getting my¢console keys to work on the ATARI¢130XE the CHAOS club used for its¢BBS. It seems that very many of¢the machines develop this problem.¢I asked around and found several¢others that had done as I did,¢opened the keyboard and cleaned the¢button contacts, only to get good¢results for a week or so before¢losing them again.¢¢I then received a couple reprints¢of articles suggesting hardware¢fixes. I tried a couple that did¢not work, but one that worked the¢best came from Alan Haskell¢(printed in the SBACE GAZETTE,¢April/May '86). Heres how, with a¢small modification to save you the¢trouble I made for myself trying¢his recommended installation.¢¢You will need a small phillips head¢screwdriver, needle nose pliers, a¢small soldering iron, and three 3k¢(3,000 ohm) resistors.¢Quarter-watt rating is plenty, in¢fact, the smaller the resistors are¢physically, the better.¢¢1. Turn over the XE computer and¢remove the 4 screwss that hold it¢together. Turn the computer over¢again and remove the top half of¢the case.¢¢2. Lift out the keyboard and¢gently pull the ribbon out of its¢connector. DO NOT OPEN THE KEYBOARD¢as cleaning internally will not¢help, and you may damage the carbon¢tracks on the baking sheet inside.¢¢3. Remove the motherboard from¢the lower half of the case by¢removing the phillips screws¢holding it down.¢¢4. Remove the top and bottom¢metal sheilds from the board by¢carefully straghtening the bent¢tabs that go through the board.¢¢5. Observe the top and underside¢of the connector you pulled the¢keyboard ribbon out of. As seen¢from the top as you would look at¢the computer normally, there are 24¢connections, with connection #1 at¢te left and #24 at the right.¢Connection #3 (from the left) is¢the ground connection. The last 4,¢#21, #22, #23, #24 are the START,¢SELECT, OPTION, and RESET¢connections. When a connection is¢made from these points to the¢ground, the computer will know one¢or several of the keys are being¢pushed. Due to a design problem,¢the console keys have a bit too¢much resistance to always register¢even when you really lean on them.¢So, we will install the three¢resitors between the connections¢and ground so as to "leak" a bit¢more ground signal to the computer.¢That way, not nearly so good a¢connection is required by the¢actual keys when pressed.¢¢6. Identify the proper pins on¢the bottom side of the circuit¢board. We will install the resitors¢under the board.¢¢7. Solder one end of all three¢resitors together. Then connect¢this common end to the ground¢connection (pin 3). Then solder the¢free end of the resiters, one each,¢to pins 21, 22, and 23. (The reset¢system never seems affected, nor¢any other keys.)¢¢8. Be certain that the wires on¢the resistors do not touch each¢other nor any other circuitry! Use¢as little solder and as short a¢heating time as possible. Tape the¢resitors to prevent shorting if¢needed, and press them close to the¢circuitboard.¢¢9. Reassemble the shields to the¢board, bending back the tabs to¢hold it all together. Look inside¢to be sure the resitors do not¢touch the lower shield.¢¢10. Complete the re-assembly,¢taking extra care not to stress or¢insert the keyboard ribbon too many¢times. The spring contacts bend¢easily, and the conductive coating¢on the ribbon, if scratched¢through, will cause the keyboard to¢be useless. Don't worry too much,¢thats hard to do if you are¢careful. (The original mod¢suggested pressing the resistor¢leads into the connector so as to¢make it solder-free and simpler....¢but that "simplicity" ruined my¢connector and made hour more work!¢Solder it!)¢¢11. Test the repair. Power up the¢machine and type in this one line¢basic program:¢¢ 10 PRINT PEEK(53279):GOTO 10¢¢Then type RUN. You will see a row¢of 7's down your screen. Push¢OPTION. They should turn to 3's. ¢SELECT will give you 5's, and¢starts will give you 6's.¢Combinations will give other¢numbers from ) to 7. If each key¢responds, you have finished the¢repair.¢¢¢This has permanently fixed the¢problem on dozens of XE's. It has¢restored my keys to "feather touch"¢after a long siege of having to¢boot 5 or 6 times mashing the¢OPTION key trying to get a boot¢without BASIC. It WILL work for¢you.¢¢¢John Nagy, SYSOP of the CHAOS BBS¢(517) 371-1106¢¢¢EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
