The Sinclair QL Forum

edit: based on what you are telling, it sounds a lot about bad sitting ICs on the sockets.
Whatever, congrats!!! :)


I agree, it does and I did consider replacing the ZX8301 socket as well, just in case the socket was at fault and not the ULA. Having said that though, I had previously cleaned ...

I think it's the CPU socket.


It wasn't the CPU socket.

I finally got around to replacing the CPU socket yesterday. While I had the motherboard out I also soldered the voltage regulator directly to the board and soldered the LED cables onto some pin headers, which are easy to remove and are ...

I think it's the CPU socket. I was using the QL last night, and true to form, it froze after 30 minutes or so of use. I hadn't completely put the machine back together after opening it up to take the pictures, and so I rebooted it, and with it running, I applied some gentle pressure to each of the ...

I bought the Voltage Regulator from Retroleum in the UK. If you search in this page for "MuRata OKI Switch Mode 5v Regulator for Spectrum 128 "Toast Rack"" you'll see it. Note, you're seeing the back of the regulator in the pictures of the QL I posted. I haven't noticed any new issues, e.g., snow ...

I don't see the 2 resistor mod that should lay on the ZX8302, perhaps you removed for cleaning purpose. They were there?


No. This is how I got the machine. I think the mod may have been there in the past but was removed by the previous owner. What does the mod do? It doesn't prevent freezing by ...

Interesting choice of regulator - does it lock up if the original QL regulator with it's mahoosive heatsink are used?


Yes. I replaced the regulator in the hope that the machine would run cooler, which it does, but it didn't stop the freezes.

Looking back at my own pictures it doesn't look like ...

Here are some pictures of the top side of the board. Pictures of the bottom of the board, will take a bit more time as I'll have to take the whole thing apart. Let me know if you need to see the bottom side as well.


qlmb3.jpeg


qlmb2.jpeg


qlmb1.jpeg


I can post close ups of some areas if ...

Hi All,

I'm having some issues with my QL (Issue 5). The machine boots up fine and works without issue usually for about an hour before freezing. When the machine freezes there's no screen corruption. All that happens is that the cursor stops flashing and the computer stops accepting input. If I ...