Conference 7.286::atarist

    To get some idea of the price of an upgrade, I phoned around a few
    mail order places... Ladbroke Computing sells the kit for just
    40 quid including VAT! I couldn't believe it! I'd resigned myself to
    having to pay about 100 quid for the chips alone (after being given a
    quote from Computercare South)!
    
    So I suppose my next question is a bit of a begging letter! Is there
    anyone in Reading who's done an upgrade who wouldn't mind helping me
    perform mine ? Failing that, I may get tempted to do it myself anyway,
    but the bloke at Ladbrokes reckoned you had to be fairly careful since
    the chips were heat sensitive. I soldered up a switch a couple of days
    ago and the wire got so hot while I was soldering it that some of the
    insulating plastic started to melt!!!
    
    Alternatively, my request in .0 is still open...
    
    
    Cheers,
    
    
    				Jamie.

    I don't know of anywhere in Rdg etc that do the upgrade. When I did
    mine I bought the chips from Ladbrokes and I used chip holders instead
    of directly soldering the chips into the board. The biggest problem was
    cleaning the solder from the holes before mounting the chip holders.
    Even with good solder extractors I found it difficult. I would
    STRONGLY reccomend you send it to Ladbrokes (insured and not Post
    Office!!!). It could be cheaper in the long run.f
    ...Howard

    
    
    Jamie,
    I suggest you use an upgrade with SIMM memory chips. I've read too many
    war stories from people that couldn't get their systems back together
    because of space limitation.
    
    I recently just upgraded my 1040ST from 1 MB to 4MB using JRI SIMM kit.
    No complaints.....
    You can get 80ns SIMMs here for ~$50.00 U.S. In addition, SIMM chips
    can be ported to future machines if you upgrade. 
    
    Just my two cents (U.S.)
    Bill N.

    
    Suggestions/comments:
    
    I can confirm that a D-I-Y chip upgrade is not for the inexperienced.
    
    The SIMM option is reputed to be easy-peasy, but more expensive.
    
    I've dealt with Ladbroke on two occasions - no problems or hassle, prompt
    service both times. Don't know what they're like on upgrades.
    
    Don't forget to take into account postage costs - could be significant.
    
    Go through the ads in the latest ST magazines, there are several firms
    offering upgrades.
    
    Brian.

>    
>    I don't want to send the machine through the mail!
>    


    Jamie,

    Should you change your mind, three places that do cheap memory upgrades
    are: Evesham Micros, Best Prices, and Third Coast Technologies. All of
    them, especially the second and third offered virtually turnaround
    service. I sent my computer via Red Star at about �19.00 to arrive next
    day; the computer was returned the day after.

    You can find the number of any of these in any copy of NCE.

    Regards,

    Carl

    O.K.! You all scared me off!
    
    I've ordered a 1/2 meg plug-in upgrade from Third Coast Technologies
    for 80 quid... a bit more than the kit from Ladbrokes but at least
    there's little chance of my machine blowing up!
    
    I'm also getting a disk upgrade to put my internal to 1 meg and with
    the memory upgrade this costs 50 quid. Pretty good really!
    
    And cheaper than the 130 quid offered by Computercare South for
    chips and fitting!!! - I get a disk drive too!
    
    Thanks for the advice.
    
    
    				Jamie.

Hi All,

	I suggest that you go into Computer Care South as they did my upgrade
for me within 1 day and no problems or hassle. The engineer there is very 
competent and you should have no problems. However, the counter staff do not
have a great deal of knowlege as they are all Amiga biased!!!(more profit on
Amiga's). Also, CCS will give Digital Staff 10% discount on production of their
employment card, but you are still talking of �90-100 for the upgrade.

	This information comes from my son who worked there until he went to
university this september.

John

    Aha!
    
    Maybe they should get the engineer to man the phonelines!!! I got well
    and truly scared off by their lack of knowledge...!
    
    Does the 10% apply to software ???
    
    
    Cheers,
    
    
    				Jamie.

Hi All,

>    
>    Does the 10% apply to software ???
>    

	As far as I remember it was not qualified in any way.

John

    I plugged the 1/2 meg board in and it's all working fine...
    
    DESPITE... putting the video controller chip back in the wrong way
    round the first time... attaching the ribbon cable from the new board
    in the wrong way round etc etc...
    
    It *still* worked...!!! Mind you, it had me sweating for a moment
    there...! I could *never* have done it with a soldering iron!
    
    
    Thanks for all the help,
    
    
    
    				Jamie.

    I have just been in CCS to ask about this 10% discount, they told me I
    could have 10% off software & 5% of hardware if I worked for Digital.
    
    I want to get a second drive, but they are still expensive even with
    5% off from CCS, I may send off to one of the adds in STFormat.

    I've just tried to install a 2meg kit from Evesham micros and my
    ST won't boot with it. If I reenable my old memory banks it works
    as before so I haven't bust my Atari.
    
    When I get time I'll call Evesham up and send back my kit.
    
    Stephen.

    Stephen,
    
    If you're still around, or if you've still got an AtariST:-
    
    What was the solution? Did you manage to get it to work?
    
    I've just finished fixing in a 2mb SIMM upgrade kit from Evesham,
    and it works ok, except the piggy-backed socket whcih fits over
    the MMU keeps coming lose!
    
    I've opened and closed my ST so much, that the shielding case pins
    are started to come off in the pliers!
    
    
    				Lewis.

    I've sent the kit back but haven't received a replacement yet.
    
    
    Stephen.
    
    PS. I've got a new toy (it's arrived this morning): a 105 Mb 11 ms Hard
    disk!!