- a nice full 4MB RAM
- replacement PSU when the original failed. I presume it was a refurbed unit, or perhaps simply pulled from another ST; it's a DSP-508A on an SR98 base.
- TOS 1.62/2.06 switcher
- internal 2.5" IDE HD, 170MB from The Upgrade Shop
- 56kbps modem upgrade, which I've never used: IIRC Dave at The Upgrade Shop installed it when the HD upgrade was delayed
Questions:
The machine has always had one persistent problem: DMA audio requires I put pressure on the bottom of the unit, to push something up. Like, just a slice of cardboard to nudge a couple of millimetres is all that's needed, and then DMA audio seems good. I've never known what the actual problem was. Were there similar problems on other units, or do I just have the tiniest little unhappy solder joint somewhere?
The HD still spins, and I'm going to find a way to archive the contents. That drive must be 20 years old, and I don't want to rely on it. Has anybody used one of these upgrades, then subsequently removed it? What is the current best internal HD setup for old STs? Alternatively, what can I get away with via the IDE interface I currently have?
PSU: I did buy one of exxos's red boards, and this is the unit I want it to go into. But I think that work will wait until after I've relocated to the US in the next few months.
Audio: via the phono ports on this machine, I hear a lot of the buzzes and whirs mentioned on this page. If the PSU exacerbates this, then I'll wait until I've done the PSU switch to investigate further. If I still have some glitches, I'll consider some of the fixes for this.
The 56kbps modem upgrade is pretty certainly never going to be used. So I could remove it, just leaving the hole in the case.
So, the topic. Given this machine, how would you go about fixing it up/modernising it?