A Torch - well every adventure game needs one of those, doesn't it? - Torch Triple X Part 1

Not that sort of torch. This is a Torch computer. Specifically a Torch Triple X (I say!). Released in 1986 this was a UNIX workstation based on a 68010 CPU with floppy disk, hard disk, UNIX SysV and a colour GUI with a mouse. This might seem rather advanced for 1986 but, to be fair, the Amiga was a contemporary being released in July 1985 and that had a similar, if rather more orange and blue, OS and a rather uncomfortable mouse.

It's a Torch. With two monitors.
Nice.

This particular Torch Triple XXX (which I shall refer to as the T3X to save my middle aged typing fingers) was once used as part of a command and control system and was last switched on sometime in the 1990s. As a project, this is going to be a rather long term thing. There are several slightly odd things about this machine that have to be sorted before any electrons from the mains supply go near it. 

Under the hood. Floppy to the left, winchester in the middle
and power supply on the right.

Under the hood 2 - The main board but note the 'Limpet 
Board' on the right giving an extra 1mb of RAM

First up, the power supply. It has a battery. Which has leaked. It also is essential for the correct operation of the system as it uses an innovative (for the time) capacitive 'on/off' button that would rely on the capacitance of a finger to switch the machine on. If the machine was on and the button was pressed, it automatically shut the system down gracefully. Innovative? Maybe. A pain in the arse over 35 years later? Yes, yes it is, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Second, the hard disk. It uses a small winchester disk and, if you're a regular reader, you'll know that I don't have a lot of luck with ancient hard disks. The Mac Classic II and the Cifer spring to mind.. Fortunately, I have a full set of SystemV floppy disks in a box. Which leads me nicely on to..

..The 'key disk'. This is a floppy disk that MUST be inserted when the system is factory reset. Without it, the unit is a nice heavy doorstop. When it's been inserted once, the battery in the power supply (remember that?) keeps the information stored so you don't need to use it again. Until the machine is reset. Or the battery dies. Or it goes into storage for twenty years before landing in my garage.

Let's take a proper look at the power supply first. It looks fairly standard but when I took it out it was obvious that some moisture of some sort had got in to it. At this point I hadn't realised that there was a battery, but this innocence was soon lost when I realised why the damage I was seeing looked startlingly familiar... 

Battery damage. :(

White barrel battery. I sentence you to be removed...

Quick aside. There's a freakin' huge RIFA in there with a dirty great crack down it. Magic smoke has already leaked out clearly.

Smokin'...

The battery damage is extensive on the bottom of the board. I scraped away the solder mask on the tracks that were affected. Then I carefully re-flowed all the joints that had become dull and grey. This wasn't straightforward as the battery chemicals react with the solder joints to create a grey, crystalline blob that doesn't really melt very well. I had to take my soldering iron and copious amounts of flux. Heating each joint I could see when the solder under the gunk started to melt and then used the solder sucker to get rid of the worst.

Repairs in progress.

Despite my best efforts, there are at least four pads that have disappeared or broken. One track has basically been eaten away to nothing and will need a chunky bodge wire to repair.

Track eaten away by battery leak.

On the other side, there were several component casualties too, although they were all resistors. Seven in total basically fell of the board due to the corrosion of their leads from the leaky battery. These should be easy to source and replace though. No other components seem to have been affected as badly. A simple scrape and clean up of the diodes, transistors and capacitor legs seems to have done the trick.

Casualties of (battery) war..

And that's about it for part one of this project. I need to order some new resistors (don't feel happy using the uber-cheap skinny bits I bought from a man who claimed to be in the UK but was clearly located somewhere in China) and, of course, a replacement for the RIFA smoke generator.

More soon..