Excellent! A model case of how to provide exactly the right information!

But it does look a little ugly. There are definitely "lifted pads" on the IDE header of unit#1 -- a result of the crooked factory solder job, short IDE cables, and possibly a bit much heat from the soldering iron later on. I can fix that.

Dunno about the CS4231A on unit#1 -- it's failing right now, but since it shares the bus with the bad IDE header, anything is possible. But the USB & ethernet also share that bus, and they look okay in the logs. Won't know until the header is fixed up.

The one thing I cannot do is replace large surface mount chips like the CS4231A. I can diagnose them, but lack the steady hand to swap them out for new ones.


Unit#2 looks like it may have three bad pads on the CS4231A -- a couple of them are definitely lifted, and I cannot tell about the third. This I can fix, but whether anything else is wrong, well.. fix what we know about first, and then see what else is still failing.

I suggest you take robricc up on his transport offer, and let him remail them to me on the North side of the border. Getting stuff back to you is easy, it's only the incoming direction that's tricky here.

There are a couple of ways we could tackle this.. I basically only fix units when I have time and feel like it -- that way the job is done well, but timing then becomes quite unpredictable.

One way is I can offer you one good working Mk2a in trade for the two duds. You keep your drives, I keep my drive. Then someday I might fix one or both of the dead units, at my own risk.

Or I could diagnose/fix them as best I can, and you pay whatever we agree upon for a fee once that happens. Normally I charge around US$100 for attempting severe repairs, or more if it takes an inordinate amount of effort.

On the plus side, those are NOT the worst units I've seen (and fixed) to date. But they're up there.

Cheers