Hello Schachcomputer fans!

First, I am sorry that I write in english, but my german is bad. You are welcome to answer me in german and I'll do my best to understand.

Last week I bought a Mephisto Lyon Exclusive 32 bit computer. I has original Board, figures, instruction manual and adapter. The board has few minor scratches but otherwise is in solid state and all electrical functions (lights, sensors, LCD screen...) are working well. The guy that sold me the computer knew that it was extremely expensive when it was new (I am form Slovenia and back in 1990 we were still in Yugoslavia where German products were very hard to get), but he thought that now old computer has no value any more, so I bought it for 100 euro

Now my question are:

1. As I said the Mephisto is working fine except the CL button, witch is not responding well. Sometimes you have to press it three times for computer to recognise. Always it eventually responds but is there any way to fix this? The button is in allround bad condition the CL letters are totally erased. Is there any chance to buy new button or maybe to get it from one old not working Mephisto?

2. I want to keep the computer for now. But if some day I want to sell it and the button will be like it is now, does this have big affect on the value of the computer? I checked the prises on the forum and ebay and I see that that kind of computers are sold for 500 and more euros.

Thank you for reading and your help!

Gruß,
Blaz

Hello Blaz,

mabey some little contactspray can work
otherwise contact these persons for repair
Fernseh-Berger
ore
Schachcomputer | elpeon.com

Well buyers want to buy a good working machine, i think repair will cost not much, and mabey u can do it ureself only u need a cl button

Well have u a 32 bit 68020 ore the 68030?

Kind regards,Hans

Hello Blaz,

a bad working button of a Mephisto module isn't a problem at all. These buttons are robust and of best quality and you can repair them yourself. You can lift off the plastic cap of the button by levering it carefully at its corner with a (very) small and flat screw driver. Inside there is a small metal plate, and when it is pressed down by the plastic cap, it connects two metal contacts below. These things are not too small to handle them, it is easy. Lift the metal plate and regard the metal contacts: you clean them (some stain is certainly the problem), perhaps you scratch them for cleaning, put everything together again and the button will work like it was new.

Regards,
Walter

Hello Hans and Walter!

Thank you both for your valuable informations!

It is the Lyon 68020 32 bit version.

I have repaired the button and now it works perfectly! The problem was exactly what Walter said. The button has a small metal plate inside and under the plate there was a lot of dirt.
When I took the module apart I saw that a big chip in upper left side of the chipboard (if the buttons are in lower right end) has a Lyon 32 bit V 207 text on it but there is a smaller chip just under the procesor with Portorose 32 text on it. Is this ok? Or did someone allready made modifications on the chipboard? I've seen that Portorose is the 1989 version of Mephisto computer.

Sorry for all the questions, I have only one more I played a couple of games yesterday and I noticed that b4 field sometimes doesn't recognise the figure on it. If you than put the figure again right on the center of the field, it is ok.
Is this possible to repair by myself? I do not see how to open the board to get to the magnetic sensors?

Thank you very much for your help!

Besr regards,
Blaz

Hello Blaz,

So it seems, that the Reed-sensor itself is not really defective (just not working perfectly ) Sometimes such things happen, when the board resp. the sensors have not been used for a long time. Maybe it helps, when you just "train" it by putting and lifting a piece or a strong magnet on that field for 10, 20 or more times...

Good luck!

Robert