Amstrad CPC 464 Check Up and Restoration

[@deanconnolly1065]

Ah that's my old 464 which I sold on eBay in January. The mysterious connector is a barrel jack to supply 5v to a Bluetooth module which I had inside which was connected to 2 locations for the audio in mod. Worked a treat. I removed it before I sold as buyer may not have known how to use it. I had to power Bluetooth module separately as when I took a 5v from internal it caused interference on the speaker. Mystery solved😊

[@NoelsRetroLab]

Haha! That's awesome that it came from you! 😃Indeed mystery solved. Thanks for letting us know!

[@Lim95]

Honestly, I think the Amstrad is my favorite looking micro.

[@simontay4851]

I remember that i used to have a CPC 464 when i was little and we lived in the country side 40 miles from the nearest game shops so i had 1 game, which was Roland in Time. I discovered that pressing H key would pause the game. I was only 6 in 1990 so i was too young to fully appreciate the 464. I never wrote any of my own basic code. I don't play games now (my job is fixing electronics for others and myself) so i probably won't buy a 464 on eBay but i did enjoy this video.

[@NoelsRetroLab]

I was about 8 years older than you when I discovered Roland in Time, and for me, it made me realize that I *could* make a game. Everything there seemed attainable, so it set me in the path of making games 😃

[@geofftottenperthcoys9944]

To me, it almost seems like more is being done for old systems, as in extras, than were done when they were the in thing. Which is fantastic!

[@NoelsRetroLab]

I think you're right. Back in the day... we used them to play and program and that was mostly it. But today we can extend them in all sorts of great ways. Give these machines a wonderful second life.

[@frankowalker4662]

Have you seen all the modern add-ons for the ZX Spectrum ? It's awsome.

[@TheSulross]

making powerful custom electronics is now more feasible for lots of people than ever before. Everything from custom PC boards, FPGA solutions, 3D printable components and small cases, customized keyboards and that so much tech knowledge is available on the Internet - and then the communities of shared interest that span the globe. Amazing when think about it.

[@psteier]

I love your way preserving the Amstrad CPC, as I've also have some of those machines. You've used the car lights polish to remove the scratches from the tape window, but it doesn't remove all of them. The deeper scratches can be removed by first sanding down the plastic with sandpaper and a very high grit like 1000 and higher. So you can first take out the deeper scratches by sanding the surface down and then use the polishing cream to get the plastic transparent again. This works like a charm, mostly after 1-2 passes. Keep up the good work!

[@NoelsRetroLab]

Thanks! Yes, it didn't take the deep scratches away, just the light ones. I once tried sanding it down and it made it not transparent anymore! I probably used too large grit or something, but I had to throw it away. I should experiment with thinner sandpaper.

[@psteier]

​@@NoelsRetroLab yes, 1000-1200 grit sandpaper will do the part. After sanding, two passes with the polishing fluid and maybe another extra one to repeat should bring the transparency back...

[@emorelama]

I have an Spectrum +2 and this video of yours has encouraged me to do the same with it. The machine will appreciate it. Thanks for the video...

[@NoelsRetroLab]

Really glad to hear that. Good luck!

[@djdublo]

A nice easy repair this time, no faults! Some great games, memories!!!

[@NoelsRetroLab]

Yes indeed! A bit too easy, but it allowed me to go throught he usuall check-up procedure, so hopefully that was still useful.

[@mogwaay]

Nice to see your CPC tester in action, great work looks really polished!

[@NoelsRetroLab]

Thank you! It has come in handy multiple times already since then too! 😃

[@Starchface]

@@NoelsRetroLab It is great. I'm sure it will be a tremendous help to Amstrad users. I do notice that sometimes it says V1.0L and other times it says V0.AL.

[@cbmeeks]

I do the same thing with the screws. One thing I do is write on the lid where the screws go. I use a Sharpie for that. When I am done, a little IPA takes the Sharpie right off.

[@NoelsRetroLab]

That's a great tip, especially for long-term repairs where the screws are going to be off for a while. Making videos as I repair computers makes things much slower, but one benefit it has is that I can always go back and see where a certain screw or piece goes 😃

[@harisalic2568]

A nice Thing also are Magnetic Plates, I use 2 cheap Ones and they really make keeping the screws simple

[@franciscomeza8905]

It's always cool to learn how these machines tick, now I wanna tinker with my cpu 464.

[@NoelsRetroLab]

Do it! So much fun!

[@franciscomeza8905]

@@NoelsRetroLab Thanks for the words of encuragement.

[@minombredepila1580]

An excellent bench to test your brand new Amstrad test ROM!. It works like a breeze !!!. And the video ending was a complete deja-vu. Congrats again Noel :-)

[@NoelsRetroLab]

Glad you liked it!

[@MartinSteed]

I miss my old Amstrad 464.. Was the computer I had inbetween the VIC20 and Amiga when I was younger.

[@bottipoika]

same here

[@fredsmith1970]

My 464 came between my Spectrum and Amiga 500.

[@tenmillionvolts]

@@fredsmith1970 Yep. Mine too. I recently got nostalgic and now I have a Speccy, Amstrad and Amiga again. I think I'm having a retro crisis :-)

[@RetroDream]

Mesmerising as always :)

[@NoelsRetroLab]

Thanks a lot 😊

[@VladoT]

Few months back my neighbour offered me a mint Amstrad CPC (Branded as Schneider here) but after watching some videos on KZbin now claims that "he could not find it". So great, now we cannot afford those retro machines anymore 😀

[@NoelsRetroLab]

Bummer. The good news is that Amstrad/Schneiders are not that expensive, unlike other models. So if you're interested you can probably find a decently-priced one.

[@VladoT]

@@NoelsRetroLab Yes and probably watch your restoration videos again after the purchase 😀

[@jason_a_smith_gb]

It is a bit small. Easy to misplace.

[@TranceTrousers]

I'm so glad you decided to clean the keyboard at the end, my OCD would never have forgiven you if you hadn't lol. Seriously though, if you're going to do something like restore an old computer then you may as well do it properly :-). There were some great looking games at the end of the video. I'll have to give them a go on my 464 and 6128 that I bought on eBay a while ago and totally restored. I fitted a Gotek to the 6128 so that makes things a lot easier :-). Keep up the good work Noel, I susbscribed recently after watching a few of your videos beforehand.

[@jason_a_smith_gb]

Paintbrushing works well for cleaning dust from grooves and fans... 6128 would be horrible without a Gotek. I really like Winape as it is compact and just as nippy. Plus can load images. There really.needs to be a v5 Kickstarter...

[@NoelsRetroLab]

Thank you! Glad you're enjoying the videos. Yeah, once I put the keyboard next to the case I realized there was no way I could leave it that way 😃

[@NoelsRetroLab]

I'm a sucker for the 3" drive and disks, so I like the Gotek as an external drive. 90% of what I do, I use disks, and I go to the Gotek as a quick way to test things or transfer stuff to disks.

[@jason_a_smith_gb]

@@NoelsRetroLab 3” discs are much more enjoyable as .dsk in 2021.

[@simonstergaard]

Nice. I should pull the one i have from the stack, and fix it.

[@NoelsRetroLab]

You should definitely do that! It's a pretty robust computer, so it'll probably work.

[@LaserFur]

I use AL antioxidant stuff from the electrical isle for copper contacts.

[@Ditt_o_datt_fran_bon]

Great video as always. Thanks

[@NoelsRetroLab]

Thanks for watching!

[@RetroTheory]

Great video, and wonderful selection of games. Grew up with the 464. I had that version of the 464 and my neighbour had the tall keys version. I preferred my version.

[@NoelsRetroLab]

Glad you enjoyed it! Although I have to say I'm partial to the tall keys version 😃

[@alexandermirdzveli3200]

What a fine selection of games!

[@lovemadeinjapan]

I went for a Ulifac instead of a Dandinator. That is basically the same price, but comes with serial, connectors for bluetooth/wifi, USB drive for quickly loading programs and 512kB of RAM so you can upgrade a 464 to be a 6128 with a virtual floppy drive. The idea is to put it inside, instead of on the cartridge slot. My CPC is a shortboard so plenty of room.

[@RetroGameCoders]

Just got one of these monsters and fortunately mine worked with the one tape game that I got with it. What an amazing machine, such a shame the software companies didn't give it the love it deserves 😳

[@NoelsRetroLab]

Very true. I mean, it did get a lot of software, but it did get a lot of shoddy ports mostly. That's one of the things I like so much about modern homebrew development, that they're finally unlocking what the CPC can do.

[@RetroGameCoders]

@@NoelsRetroLab considering the sales numbers it really was a success and deserved better but as you say, home brew scene is strong and hopefully I can help build a new generation of bedroom coders :) I’ve hopefully got an M4 cart on it’s way 🥳

[@mattcorby]

I use that car dashboard stuff too. I think the shine is given by glycerol, but the plastics definitely get "something else" too.. not sure what!

[@NoelsRetroLab]

They sure do. And I suspect it blocks UVs as wel, so white plastics might take a lot longer to become yellow. We need to set up some kind of scientific test.

[@dandare8361]

Nice job Noel!, let's make your diagnostic rom the default one for the CPC Dandanator ;)

[@NoelsRetroLab]

Thanks! I already mentioned it to OverCLK in case he wanted to use it with the next ROM generator release 😃

[@ΓιώργοςΠαρασκευάκης-ν7ε]

an exellent job ... as always !!!!!!!!!!

[@NoelsRetroLab]

Thank you so much 😀

[@EmilOppelnBronikowski]

I like the fact you're doing Amstrad work. Being a C= guy myself I want to have this second hand experience of other 8 bit systems. And both 646 and 464 were mighty uncommon around my parts. I actually saw only two of them back in a day. And the XT clone but I don't count that.

[@NoelsRetroLab]

Thank you! Yes, as you can see I try to cover a variety of 8-bit (and sometimes 16-bit) computers, but I'll always have a soft spot for the Amstrad CPC range 😃

[@toxotis70]

Very nice. Can you make some tutorials for us, how to use the cpc 464 in detail ? I had it before 35 years an don't remember anything any more.

[@NoelsRetroLab]

Great suggestion! I made a note of that 👍

[@lovemadeinjapan]

You could check CPCwiki and the original manual.

[@jonwheal]

Happy to see Dizzy making an appearance as an example of a great platform game! I think I would have included Mission Genocide as a must-see shoot-em-up, if only to admire its astonishing full-screen hardware scroll (on a system not generally known for its smooth scrolling...)

[@NoelsRetroLab]

You know, I'm not familiar with Mission Genocide. I'm writing it down to check it out later. Thanks!

[@Pubvoice]

It's like the improved ZX Spectrum :)

[@NoelsRetroLab]

You're not wrong 😃

[@gregskuza7166]

Hi, great video. I just got my first 464 but my tape deck plastic window is in really bad shape and you mentioned you can use a replacement? Is it possible to buy these anywhere? Thanks

[@sonic2000gr]

464, my second machine. Still have the Schneider version that belonged to my brother, in mint condition.

[@NoelsRetroLab]

Nice! Take it out for a spin. It deserves it! 😃

[@ropersonline]

People who wish to use their hardware in mint condition might wish to try out one of these old mini-jack to cassette adapters that used to be sold to connect portable CD players to car stereos that only had cassette players with no aux input. These were especially favoured in countries where FCC-like regulators didn't allow radio transmitters. Maybe testing one of those old compact cassette adapters might be an idea for another video.

[@NoelsRetroLab]

Yes, I've never tried it, but I know of people doing that successfully. I think the audio-jack solution is a lot cleaner. If you don't want to drill your case, there are ways with extension port attachments too.

[@moterov4]

Hi Noel, thanks for the video, I write down all your maintenance tips. You coment that normally perform a replacement of the scratched tape deck cover. Where could find this kind of spare part? And also I annotate on my txt some of the games you show, some did not remember them as the Sorcery, others I just discovered them as the Dominator. Thanks!

[@NoelsRetroLab]

You're welcome. Glad you enjoyed it. You can find those replacement covers here hobbyretro.com/retro/ventana-casete-amstrad-cpc

[@moterov4]

@@NoelsRetroLab Thank you so much!!

[@paulmacknight]

@@NoelsRetroLab it looks like they only ship to a few countries in Europe... any idea how I could import a couple of those to the US?

[@jason_a_smith_gb]

Roland in Time has a bug - a disc crack fixes it lol. I would also add Ikari Warriors!

[@NoelsRetroLab]

Which bug was it, do you know? Was it just that some gem was unreacheable? I was really good at the first couple time levels, but I never played much beyond that.

[@mattmyers9351]

Can you repair Amstrad monitors?

[@NoelsRetroLab]

I haven't tried yet, but I have two I need to repair. So it'll eventually happen 😃

[@mattmyers9351]

@@NoelsRetroLab I have a guy in ireland who's needing his CPC monitor repaired.

[@gwynhood6900]

Hi, my name is Jose, I have an Amstrad 464 and the plastic base of the monitor has white spots because I sanded it with sandpaper back in the day. with liquid polish and after many months I have managed to recover the color in some areas. Can I restore the plastic case of the monitor and remove those stains with something effective and fast?

[@NoelsRetroLab]

Hi Jose! It's hard to say without seeing it. I would try a car dashboard cream like the one I used in the restoration. That might help hydrate the plastic. You may have scratched it though, so maybe you need something to sand down the fine scratches first. Not sure.

[@gwynhood6900]

@@NoelsRetroLab I can't sand it because when I sanded it months ago there were some white spots, how do I remove them?

[@talideon]

Another great option for screws and bits is a piece of polystyrene.

[@AClockWorkKelly1]

What signals are needed from the CPC for the dandanator to work ... Could we emulate them easily?

[@NoelsRetroLab]

In order for the tests to work from the Dandanator? We need a working Z80, a working address/data bus, and the little bit of addressing logic that enables the ROMs I guess. Now you're making me wonder if it works without a Gate Array (probably not). It could be an interesting thing to test though.

[@AClockWorkKelly1]

@@NoelsRetroLab I was actually wondering what was needed just to add new ROMs to the dandanator. To allow one to program it without a working CPC .... I might try programming one and stick a logic analyser on the expansion port ... I suppose I could record the signals and try to figure out if I could program an Arduino to emulate the CPC. I absolutely adore your channel by the way!

[@anvz6]

Can someone give me an advice? I've got an MSX with a horryble noise in 5v rail that shows in video output. The noise is 21Mhz which is the frequency of one of the oscilators. I've checked some of the caps related to video output and it looks ok.

[@NoelsRetroLab]

You could try adding an electrolytic capacitor right at the 5V pin of the video chip. A bit like what I did in the Spectrum +3 video. You can try different values until you find one or a couple that minimize that noise.

[@simontay4851]

I think for 21Mhz frequency, an electrolytic will have too much ESR. You probably need to use a 100n ceramic or a film capacitor as well as a electrolytic.

[@williamsquires3070]

A touch of very dark-grey, flat enamel paint ought to take care of that nasty scratch there on the Amstrad label. I’d say, probably about 10 parts black to one part white ought to match the color. Probably a good color match for automobile/bicycle/motorcycle tires, too. HTH. 🙂

[@NoelsRetroLab]

I haven't done anything with paints yet, but that seems like a fun side-project, matching that up exactly.

[@GORF_EMPIRE]

I need to look and see if there is a nice emulator for the Amstrad machines for Linux. This machine needs a port of Gorf.

[@thomaskalbe6018]

RetroVirtualMachine! I'm playing a bit around with this emulator, so far its great! Can emulate Spectrums and even some HW (Dandanator, DivMMC)

[@GORF_EMPIRE]

@@thomaskalbe6018 Does that run under linux?

[@thomaskalbe6018]

@@GORF_EMPIRE yes

[@GORF_EMPIRE]

@@thomaskalbe6018 Thank you Thomas. I'll look it up!

[@GORF_EMPIRE]

@@thomaskalbe6018 Just installed it! Looks good. I'll have to find some dev tools and software for it. Maybe I'll even try to port Gorf to it

[@MrFlint51]

Toothpaste is also good for scratches

[@NoelsRetroLab]

Right! I've heard that but I never tried it. Good tip.

[@WacKEDmaN]

i really dont like the audio jack mod, you need to modify the case which imo is bad for a retro system... back in the day when the CPC was my daily... i made my own audio mod...an old cassette tape with the tape replaced with the head from an old tape deck (ya can buy em these days!)... wires running out to a headphone jack..the great thing...it was OUTPUT aswell... could save to digital audio... sure it wont work for 6128...but for the 464 it works really nicely (doesnt the 6128 have audio in already?!..i seem to remember hooking tapedeck up to a friends 6128 so we could play some of my 464 games on it)

[@NoelsRetroLab]

Yes, the 6128 has audio in already, but not the 464. I definitely respect not wanting to modify the case. I'll talk about an alternate way that I've seen. It involves using a 3D-printed case that hooks up to the printer port and just serves to put the jack there.

[@OTuit]

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