Sord M68 repair - UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum

arjoll · 23rd Jul 2008, 9:44 am

This is a bit of a long shot....

Has anyone here got any experience with servicing this mid-80s Japanese machine? They use two processors - a Z80A and a 68000 - and can be booted in either 8 bit or 16 bit mode.

The problem with this one is that the 8 bit part of it seems to have issues - it will not boot up in 8 bit at all, and the 16 bit mode (which uses the 8 bit parts for I/O) comes up with a corrupted screen display, although it appears to at least start loading the OS.

Fortunately we have two of these but I'd like to do as much as I can to keep them both working!

GrahamN · 23rd Jul 2008, 10:12 am

I'm not familiar with this machine, but a very common fault on machines of this time was RAM. When I used to service computers in the 80s, the very first thing I did was check the RAM chips weren't overheating. About 30 or 40% of machines had one or more very hot chips - and a replacement often cured the problem. If you haven't already tried that, it may well be worth checking.

arjoll · 7th Aug 2008, 12:09 pm

Just an update, I decided to fax the founder and former president of Sord this morning - he sold the company to Toshiba around 1986 or so but is still in the Japanese IT business.

He has suggested a division of Toshiba that might be able to help, so I'll fax them tomorrow (can't find an email on their website).

Seeing the older M23 started fine after > 15 years of disuse hopefully there's not too much wrong.

23rd Jul 2008, 9:44 am	#1
arjoll Dekatron Join Date: May 2006 Location: Invercargill, New Zealand Posts: 3,458	Sord M68 repair This is a bit of a long shot.... Has anyone here got any experience with servicing this mid-80s Japanese machine? They use two processors - a Z80A and a 68000 - and can be booted in either 8 bit or 16 bit mode. The problem with this one is that the 8 bit part of it seems to have issues - it will not boot up in 8 bit at all, and the 16 bit mode (which uses the 8 bit parts for I/O) comes up with a corrupted screen display, although it appears to at least start loading the OS. Fortunately we have two of these but I'd like to do as much as I can to keep them both working!

23rd Jul 2008, 10:12 am	#2
GrahamN Hexode Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Burnham on Crouch, Essex, UK. Posts: 391	Re: Sord M68 repair I'm not familiar with this machine, but a very common fault on machines of this time was RAM. When I used to service computers in the 80s, the very first thing I did was check the RAM chips weren't overheating. About 30 or 40% of machines had one or more very hot chips - and a replacement often cured the problem. If you haven't already tried that, it may well be worth checking.

7th Aug 2008, 12:09 pm	#3
arjoll Dekatron Join Date: May 2006 Location: Invercargill, New Zealand Posts: 3,458	Re: Sord M68 repair Just an update, I decided to fax the founder and former president of Sord this morning - he sold the company to Toshiba around 1986 or so but is still in the Japanese IT business. He has suggested a division of Toshiba that might be able to help, so I'll fax them tomorrow (can't find an email on their website). Seeing the older M23 started fine after > 15 years of disuse hopefully there's not too much wrong.