Restoring an Amstrad 6128 | Trash to Treasure Pt2

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● This Series
Part 1: • Meet the Amstrad 6128 ...
Part 2: • Restoring an Amstrad 6...
Part 3: • Celebrating the Amstra...
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● Description
We have the parts, now lets test and restore the Amstrad 6128 to its former glory, ready for some serious play testing.
● Music
Death Wish 3 Title Music - Amstrad CPC
Trapped - Quincas Moreira
Magical Gravity - Asher Fulero
Liberation - Asher Fulero
Lusciousness - Asher Fulero
Delta Wave - Asher Fulero
8bit Meltdown - @ItsNathanDivino (Twitter)
/ kaotique

[@TheRetroCollective]

Thank you for watching, I'm excited to relive my early computer years through this restoration and am genuinely excited to get the upgrade I never had. As always please share your experiences of Amstrad ownership in the comments I'd love to hear your stories. Neil - RMC

[@InsaneWayne355]

RetroManCave As always, the production quality is excellent. I always look forward to these series.

[@BertGrink]

I completely agree with +Wayne Christopher... Your attention to detail is remarkable!

[@PJBonoVox]

Great video. One thing I might say though is that the music during the final reveal seemed awfully loud relative to your voiceover.

[@NavJack27gaming]

RetroManCave have you ever watched 'look around you'? Your style is very reminiscent of season 1 and I love it.

[@TheAnkMan]

Isn't there a third part? Can't find it. May be still in the making? Did you ever start CP/M on this Amstrad? I really like CP/M and it's really cool the Amstrad can do this. At kzbin.info/www/bejne/p4TXh6ucZb2fe5I I show how I did it even though it was "only" on an Amstrad 664.

[@ridley68]

Takes me back. Whilst working for a large UK based company I used a CPC 6128 to write the code to drive a gunnery control system for use on a Pakistani T59 Tank. Even took the 6128 out into the Thar desert to support the trial of the system so I could rewrite in the field. Never let me down.

[@gezalinko]

A walk down memory lane, playing hours and hours of Elite on the 6128. Thanks mate.

[@fattiger6957]

I don't know about anyone else, but I find old tech restoration videos incredibly soothing. Doesn't hurt that our host has a nice soft voice.

[@Lemonidas75]

Brings a tear to the eye to see a 6128 in this brand-new looking condition ... thank you very much for these videos.

[@nickmoore385]

Thanks so much for your interesting and very useful guide. I recently bought one of these off Ebay and sure enough the on/off switch did nothing and failed a continuity test. I cleaned it and sprayed some contact cleaner in it and now the computer is working fine. It took a minute at first, but I expect the capacitors hadn't been used in a very very long time.

[@kjamison5951]

I still have my 6128. I opted for the colour monitor and I also purchased the TV tuner for it. I bought a 3.5” floppy drive, built a ROM box with 2 sockets from scratch and as well as archiving the 178k floppies to a 720k disk, I was also able to read and write to PC FAT12 disks. I wrote my university assignments on the 6128 and transferred the text files to Word Perfect 5.0 and reformatted the text over many’s a late night session in the computer suite. I hacked more games to correct spelling errors by coders, altered the high score tables to include friends and wrote menu screens to automatically run programs. I even designed labels for the floppy disks and printed them on the DMP2000 printer. I use a MacBook Pro these days but the 6128 was my first computer and will always be a big favourite. Edited to add: my regret was never being able to buy a Winchester drive for the 6128.

[@jeremylindemann5117]

"...and we don't want to be caught slipping, in life as in our disk drives..." That's some next level deadpan, sparkling commentary right there.

[@Kerveros1904]

6:43 This SHIFT key has a metal wire underneath. I cannot stop thinking that the way you removed it, you broke the plastic legs of the key in which the wire is inserted. Nevertheless this, along with the VIC restoration of the 8 bit guy are my favorite restorations.

[@TheRetroCollective]

Thank you for the kind words. The key survived without breaking but yes it's a good spot and hopefully others will avoid damage by being cautious. Glad you enjoyed it

[@Kerveros1904]

@@TheRetroCollective actually i used your video as a reference to do the same work for my cpc 6128 i bought 3 days ago. I did all the steps yesterday and finished the clean up. The only part i followed a different approach was when removing keys because i did not have the tool. i turned the keyboard upside down and pushed the the 2 clips of each key so to pop them out. My unit was not as dirty as yours but the clean up improved the looks and gave me a false belief that i own something that just got out from the factory haha ;). It is great to own again my first computer i had back in 1987 when i wrote my first pieces of basic code.

[@Blitterbug]

Excellent, excellent. Little tip from a fellow restorer: Where captive springs prevent immersion in water, a j-cloth dipped in white spirit will eat all grime off those keys without touching either plastic or decals. I've seem people advocating acetone (will eat the plastic and decals) or denatured alcohol (doesn't work well enough). You can use the other side of the j-cloth moistened with soapy water to clean the spirit off.

[@TheRetroCollective]

Thanks Chris I'll add that useful tip to the armory for future restorations. Very helpful

[@respergu13]

Great job bringing back to life this beautiful 8 bits computer ! 👍👍👍

[@truezulu]

What I like about this channel, is the intelligence in the general commentary. Hope that makes sense :)

[@Thiesi]

FINALLY the second episode! I still remember myself going to department stores and hacking together my first BASIC programs on Amstrad (or "Schneider", as they were called here) computers when I was young(er) and before I got my first Amiga back in '87. Brings back so many memories. Thanks for this TtT series!

[@TheRetroCollective]

Thanks for watching. Strangely I rather like those chunkier ports on the Scnieder models. They look more robust

[@zgbapl]

Thanks for another quality vid. My way of cleaning keys is to use an ultrasonic washer with some dedicated liquid. Works a treat and you don't risk scratching the surface. As for the moisture that could damage metal parts, I'm not afraid of it, a quick blast from a hair dryer doesn't leave a drop.

[@aminekostone1411]

Can't wait for the next episode. Having gone through the restoration myself of a 6128 it was fun to relieve it. I use a Gotek drive externally with mine though. Took me days to work out how to plug it in of course, just like it did on my Atari ST, Spectrum +3 etc.....

[@SuperJet_Spade]

Really enjoyed seeing the poor Amstrad 6128 being restored in this part of the Trash to Treasure series

[@osgrov]

Such a beauty it turned out to be! Job well done, it looks almost as new. :) This T2T series is really a gem. It's just so satisfying seeing old junk being transformed into shiny examples of their glorious past.

[@MindFlareRetro]

A very nice clean-up. That 6128 really deserved. It looks fantastic now. Well done.

[@wag-on]

Great Job! I loved my CPC 464, saved my pennies to buy the infamous 'DDI-1' external disc drive direct from Amstrad; and it cost an absolute bomb £149.95 in mid '80s.... they never delivered it! After 3-4 months cancelled my order and the sods charged me 10% restocking fee.

[@markk5764]

The CPC464 with green screen monitor is where it all started for me. Harrier Attack, Oh Mummy, programming in BASIC - happy days. I develop software for a living but it was that 464 that got me started. Always fancied a 6128 but my next computer ended up being the Amiga 500.

[@TheRetroCollective]

Sounds very familiar. Harrier attack was fun. I once wrote a scrolling engine on PC and callied it Harrier in homage to it, hoping to create a remake with it lol. I never did get around to it.

[@TheSliderW]

I remember typing out a few of the listings from the users manual with my cousin and having a tiny game come to life which was pretty amazing. We didn't really know what anything meant but looking back, that manual was huge and pretty complete with technical details and basic tutorials. Also, Fruity Frank was probably the best game we ever played on that system ! X)

[@RetroComputingwithMike]

Can you please share a link to that solution you used to freshen up the black plastic? :-)

[@TheRetroCollective]

That's bumper restoration cream, there are lots of brands like "Back to Black" or Meguiar’s Black Plastic Restorer . Any Halfords or car cleaning shop in your area should have at least one option for you

[@RetroComputingwithMike]

@@TheRetroCollective I will have a look at the local car-pimping shop! Thankyou :-)

[@alanpwhelan]

Great idea for bringing back that new look to the black plastic. Might try that on a Spectrum + I’ve recently restored. 👍🏻

[@antonnym214]

Very nice restoration. At this time I was programming a TRS-80 model I and model III. Great days indeed.

[@TheRetroCollective]

Thank you. My current restoration is a TRS80 model 1

[@antonnym214]

Wonderful! my first computer, when I was 17, was the model 1 with level 1 BASIC and 4K of RAM. It was great for learning. I ended up writing Games Pack I for the TRS-80 in Level 2 BASIC and Z-80 Assembly language. We published on cassette tape through a company called Micro Pro International. Those were the days. Later we got diskettes and even the voice synthesizer. All good wishes!

[@esseferio]

Mandatory thumbs up, as usual shall I say :) I've never been really enamored with an Amstrad myself (my 8-bit computers were an Apple 2e and an MSX), but it's so cool to see one of these puppies alive and kicking. Merci :)

[@TheRetroCollective]

De rien!

[@10p6]

Another great video. I am amazed to see that Amstrad included an internal jack for the power switch. That could have saved Alan a few penny's a machine.

[@antiphlex]

Your videos are fantastic! The way you work, your humour, your choice of background music, everything is done really well. I love your channel. Keep it up!

[@TheRetroCollective]

Thanks so much, I do enjoy making them and hope you continue to enjoy the content

[@CommodoreFan64]

Awesome, it always makes me happy to see these old machines saved when possible.

[@asgerms]

Genuinely excited on your behalf. For computerphiles, nothing beats reconnecting with your first micro; no matter what model it was.

[@fortnitegod2647]

What a job you've done so far it just looks like it's come off the production line . I loved the Amstrad I had the 464 with external floppy and colour monitor. I never had any trouble with it. I did think you may have had to change the keyboard membrane at the least but you are lucky this time Neil 😋 can't wait for episode 3. A great mini series with excellent results thanks RMC......kim🙋🙋🙋🙋🙋🙋🙋

[@22hannit]

Very enjoyable watch and great to see another old console restored. Looking forward to seeing some game play. I had that same disc but was for the PC I think. Some fun edutainment.

[@SergiuszRoszczyk]

As always a pleasure to watch. Can’t wait for part 3. This machine looks like a brand new now.

[@paddycoleman1472]

Looks great. I loved my 6128 back in the day. Looking forward to episode 3.

[@nosferadu]

Awesome! The trash-to-treasure series are by far my favorite RMC content.

[@TheRetroCollective]

I find them super rewarding, glad you like them

[@MM-gt8cg]

That was an incredible amount of labour of love. Well done.

[@104d_3rr0r_vince]

CAUTION: At 10:55 you can see a golden blob above the screwdriver. This is the write pin and nothing holds it there, so if you rotate the drive you may loose it and the drive will not be able to write again.

[@TheRetroCollective]

Sound advice - Look out for your write protect pin!

[@104d_3rr0r_vince]

:-D Where are the Atari guys? loved them.

[@paulb4uk]

If you lose them replacements are available but it pays to just be careful.

[@BertGrink]

Yes, this is indeed a VERY IMPORTANT CAVEAT! I have lost one of those pins myself, once, forcing me to buy a replacement drive on ebay. At the time, i didn't know where to find replacement pins.

[@electronash]

Vincent GR Good point, and even though I knew that before servicing my first 3" drive, I STILL had to go searching through the carpet for that damned pin. lol

[@MarkFixesStuff]

Absolute belter of an episode. Looking forward to seeing some games on this machine next!

[@StuffWePlay]

Been loving this series! Love seeing these old machines getting a new lease on life

[@bprepared5869]

Good to see the 6128 up and running, I was a C64 kid, but was always wanted an Amstrad (until I got an Amiga).

[@missionpassed4584]

Brought a little tear to the eye.

[@eazypeazy]

so nice, i can almost feel the love you gave to this amstrad. great job. cool video!

[@Godfoder]

Wow love the Deathwish 3 intro music, I love this series. Brings back awesome memories of going round my mates playing on his 6128 the floppy drive was so cool against my Speccy 128 tapes..

[@TheRetroCollective]

You may enjoy this cover.... kzbin.info/www/bejne/fYWunqt4qcaAfJY

[@RetroRecipes]

Very satisfying! Lovely work. And hasn't Bono come far since U2. 👍🕹️

[@Horzuhammer]

Another extremely satisfying video my friend. That computer sure looks content now. :) My only experiences with the Amstrad-library are through emulation and KZbin, so I'm really looking forward to pt. 3.

[@dmnsonic]

It's the best video series you do, Thrash to Treasure is awesome!

[@WiggysanWiggysan]

These *T2T* videos are so much fun. It's the reason I subscribed to your channel & I'm so glad I did. Excellent production (as always) *RMC* . Oh yeah, I have a C64 C (like the one you fixed up from Matt). Unused for decades, very clean inside, only a pale bit yellowing. Not sure if it works as I have no leads. Do you want it? Or do you know anyone who would like it? Free of charge. I just want someone to have it & give it the love it needs.

[@BrentWalker999]

What a fantastic channel and insanely well produced and soothing videos

[@ryanyoder7573]

Great video. I’m glad to see the preservation of a European machine. I am a huge Tandy fan having owned two growing up in the US. That was the personal computer for the working class living in rural America. Any plans to revive one?

[@SteveStoltz]

I really enjoy watching your restoration series, its interesting seeing some of the other platforms that were available back then.

[@linuxretrogamer]

Beautiful. Love the attention to detail. Can't wait for part 3.

[@electronash]

Another great vid, and classic machine which holds some great memories for me (excuse the memory pun). The power switches do go wrong on these quite often, so it's good that you showed how to disassemble and clean them. A lot of people don't realise that the switches can be repaired quite easily. The power switch on my Atari 130XE, 6128, and C64C had the same issue, and would cause no power at all, or intermittent boot. The Atari would often show a fixed background colour, but then crash shortly after, as the power switch was high-resistence, thus not allowing enough peak current to pass. (I call it a "Gandalf switch".) P.S. I searched for "monster joysticks" on Google Images, and I don't think I'll ever quite recover. lol

[@TheRetroCollective]

You think Monster Joysticks gives naughty results, try searching for Thrust Master! I like the term Gandalf switch!

[@KuraIthys]

ooh boy. Google can be quite the mental health hazard at times... xD

[@natgrant1364]

Nicely done! That turned out quite well. Looking forward to seeing you run some things on it.

[@garzonimpleks]

Is such a joy to see this machines from the time when, to break a computer, you really needed to try.

[@NuclearFisshin]

I love your stuff! You have an amazing voice, and the videoes are relaxing and almost therapeutic. Keep retro and carry on! :)

[@JohnGotts]

Nice to see these exotic machines fixed.

[@theghettogentleman]

This was my first computer. I remember everyone else having a Commodore or Spectrum, and I felt like a bit of an outsider having one of these, but it created some of my fondest memories. For some reason, I can't find anything online about some of the games I remember. :(

[@TheRetroCollective]

Thank you! Refurbishing machines (when it goes right) is a pretty cathartic hobby and it's nice when that comes across in the videos.

[@pneptun]

your videos have a strange soothing quality to them :-D similar to 80s documentaries!

[@trainer368-t9g]

This brought back great memories of owning a CPC6128 back in 1988-1990

[@DJlegionuk]

I was 16 and worked every day over Christmas including Christmas day at Index just so I could buy that very same Sony Trinitron for my Amiga. Happy days !

[@swk38]

your green work mat is the tops, love it

[@peterbrandt7911]

Wow, looks really shiny now! Well made. And nice video, again.

[@startedtech]

I just got a load of late 70s/80s 8-bit computers, and some of them really need some restoration work and love. (As an example, the Atari 800 I have is dark orange). Too bad they'd probably cost more than they're worth to send though :/

[@roasthunter]

Good stuff, I can't believe you took every key off, I'd be too worried about breaking plastic. I've washed these keyboards in the bath, take out the membrane, paintbrush, in the bath, dry out with a hair dryer then in the airing cupboard overnight.

[@TheRetroCollective]

The keys shouldn't break although you should unhook those clipped from the rear to be safe before pulling.

[@gingercat6128]

Good to see one of these classics getting some special attention. I did my degree using one of these, which I was forced to retire when the drive belt failed. Does anyone know what size replacement belt it needs?

[@NeilGrevitt]

Great video! My grandad had a green screen 464 back in the 80's.

[@lactobacillusprime]

I always love seeing old machines getting revived! Thanks for sharing this video! You make it seem easy! The Amstrad is quite an amazing machine. My cousin had one back in he day and while I was using my C64 the Amstrad CPC /Schneider was an amazing machine with superior capabilities when it came to certain graphics etc. Nothing could beat the C64Sid but Amstrad really had quite a few wonderful games for it making proper use of the hardware, sadly it did receive a ton of lazy Spectrum and MSX ports.

[@TheRetroCollective]

Those lazy ports always annoyed me but with a much smaller user base you can understand it from a business point of view. The Dizzy games were usually good because they were made on the CPC and ported from there.

[@danielgreen878]

I HAD THAT BOOK. :) - wow, I forgot it even existed. 464 for me though back in the day, we had a corner shop that used to sell the tapes.

[@TheRetroCollective]

What was your favourite program from the book? Can you remember?

[@Edman_79]

Must have done something right in my previous life - I'm early again! Another trash to treasure treasure (no, I'm not stuttering) :D Love these! Glory to the Cave! Edit: I'm done watching, God, I adore your attention to detail! Seriously!

[@Charlie-Cat.]

Ah, Looks like Neil has very much to offer. Looks like I have plenty on my hands to catch up on for sure. Nice to meet you kind sir. I'm now following you on your channel. 8^) Anthony..

[@Rocky1138]

That music at 10:40... whew! Good thing I'm sitting down ;)

[@peteclln5175]

Fantastic as always, love these trash to treasure episodes

[@paulb4uk]

Love the 6128 much nicer looking than my plus 3 .i had one in the past but only bought it for the colour monitor to use with an amiga should have kept it instead of selling it on.

[@hindel6141]

Wow man.. looks absolutely new! Nice work!

[@CrisBlyth]

@03.34 - I wish I could share a pic here.. but my tools on my bench next to me ARE the same, and layed out in the same fashion... bonkers..

[@TheRetroCollective]

Drop me a tweet with a pic if you like @theretromancave

[@CrisBlyth]

sent :)

[@catgirl_eva]

While it sucks that you don't have an Amstrad monitor to pair with the computer, that Trinitron really does look nice. Definitely the right choice for the job.

[@TheRetroCollective]

I was impressed with the output, it looked just how I remember it. However.... part 3 may see this change

[@vanderaj]

The 6128 was the first computer I owned. Many happy memories!

[@benbaselet2026]

In the middle I felt like watching a surgeon explain how he removed that pesky tumor :D I guess that's a good sign :-)

[@AndreasKoepkeAU]

What an an amazing transformation, well done

[@zxkim8136]

Nice restoration Neil 😁😁😁 Kim 😁😁😁

[@TheRetroCollective]

Thanks Kim, hope your lab is keeping you busy

[@DarrenMcCowan280470]

Another quality piece of content - huge kudos and thanks

[@TheRetroCollective]

Thank you Darren!

[@Tossphate]

Beautiful result 😀

[@alexcochrane1966]

cheers, i'm needing to get both mines serviced

[@CrisBlyth]

nicely done !! I like the uplifting music at the end too ! :)

[@KarlAdamsAudio]

Really came up nicely - probably best not to let the wood lice move back in again, though I'm sure they'd be delighted at how you've renovated the place...

[@ncc74656m]

It shouldn't be an issue, but it's always worth actually neutralizing the vinegar when cleaning metal parts after use with some baking soda and water.

[@GuruMediator]

Loving this series of videos. Now that the "wars" are over.....

[@mUbase]

"Lets go thru the keyhole", LOL. "Who lives in a house like this?"... A family of woodlice for one.. ;)

[@cheater00]

Love the music. Great content all around. Subscribed!

[@martinh4982]

I believe Barry Scott now works for Aldi or possibly Lidl. Such is the cruel hand of fate. If only RMC could restore failed acting careers as well as he fixes old Amstrads!

[@NacZR]

Oddly therapeutic to watch. I recently treated my 6128 to a new drive belt. As it has been kept under wraps it’s very clean. Just waiting on a couple of power supplies and I should be able to use it with a scart screen like you did. I cannot find my original colour monitor.

[@VRMS_VRMS_VRMS]

T2T is my happy place. So chill.

[@paulb4uk]

I have gauntlet and 1943 for the cpc no idea if they work and some lose disc,s i do not need .

[@MichaelOglesby]

Fantastic job! Well done.

[@raymoreton3184]

Nice job, looks brand new.

[@DerMartexus]

That was a hell of key cleaning! ;)

[@rkornilo]

Another fine production. Did I miss something?? You don't have to replace the capacitors?

[@TheRetroCollective]

On this occasion they seem good and it's not a system with a reputation for bad caps like some of those Amigas. Should be fine for a few years yet

[@gavinc74]

'Perspiration over a game of chunky egg' hahaha nice

[@em00k]

Please make sure you mention the demos on this glorious machine.

[@GenerationAI2024]

What about the continuity test? Are you not sending what ever voltage your multimeter is running on through components that are only made for 5 volts? Thanks for sharing :)

[@Longlius]

Test voltages are usually very low so there's very little chance of it blowing out any components.