06-08-2026, 03:46 PM
An update.
So the existing, complete power supply and cable harness was tested to see if it still worked - and was showing +15VDC. That seemed rather higher than the 9-12VDC suggested, so as soon as the new power supplies became available I put in my order.
For all my "take it slowly" approach mentioned earlier, curiosity got the better of me... plugged everything in, switched the power on and the Microbee suddenly gave a very confident beep. Decided to throw all caution to the wind (though a fire extinguisher was standing by) and fire up the monitor... which resulted in neither fire nor smoke, but an illuminated RED LED and a flickering, rolling display. After about five minutes of fiddling with the various controls I managed to set a stabilised, somewhat centred image. So far so good...
.... and surprise surprise, the keyboard is having issues. Most of the "centre" keys either worked from the off, or started working with some repeated attention, but pretty well all the "outer" keys are dead. Suffice it to say, that's put the brakes on further testing.
Currently the "standard" keyboard replacement kit is out of stock. Is it worth attempting to pull apart and clean/fix the existing switches? Or just wait out until the kits become available again?
So the existing, complete power supply and cable harness was tested to see if it still worked - and was showing +15VDC. That seemed rather higher than the 9-12VDC suggested, so as soon as the new power supplies became available I put in my order.
For all my "take it slowly" approach mentioned earlier, curiosity got the better of me... plugged everything in, switched the power on and the Microbee suddenly gave a very confident beep. Decided to throw all caution to the wind (though a fire extinguisher was standing by) and fire up the monitor... which resulted in neither fire nor smoke, but an illuminated RED LED and a flickering, rolling display. After about five minutes of fiddling with the various controls I managed to set a stabilised, somewhat centred image. So far so good...
.... and surprise surprise, the keyboard is having issues. Most of the "centre" keys either worked from the off, or started working with some repeated attention, but pretty well all the "outer" keys are dead. Suffice it to say, that's put the brakes on further testing.
Currently the "standard" keyboard replacement kit is out of stock. Is it worth attempting to pull apart and clean/fix the existing switches? Or just wait out until the kits become available again?