I recently got a Sony HB-F1XD MSX2 computer from Yahoo Auctions Japan. It’s in good condition with only some minor scratches on the case, but the listing mentioned some issues:
- Loose A/V connectors
- Debris in the audio jack
- Soft sound output
Once received, I started out by fully disassembling and cleaning the machine. There is a lot of shielding in this machine whose clamps needed some prying to remove, but overall I’m impressed with how serviceable Sony made this machine. I gave the case a bath with some lightly soapy water, and brushed out the many dust bunnies that were inside. I reckon it was stored for many years in a dusty cellar without cover.
I cleaned the dust off the board with IPA and a piece of cloth, toothbrush and cue-tips. The underside had a lot of flux residue on it, probably should’ve left that alone since it was not very dirty to begin with and got a bit messy, but it cleaned up in the end. I have to say, this is a very nice looking board!
Next I set out to repair the A/V connectors; a dab of fresh solder on the connector pins put them back solidly in place. I also retouched the RGB connector pins for good measure, although they looked fine. I cleaned the inside of the audio jack with a cue-tip and IPA, no idea what got inside but it’s gone now.
At this point I felt comfortable to connect the machine and try it out. Although the capacitors of the HIC-1 A/V board are known to go bad, they didn’t seem to be leaking, and the replacements were still on order. It worked right away and gave a good picture on the RGB output. The sound output level was indeed very low though.
After trying out the keys on the keyboard, I found that the F1, F2, F3, CTRL, SHIFT, CAPS and GRAPH keys were not functional, but KANA was (on the same matrix row). This wasn’t mentioned in the listing btw. After opening it up there was a spot on the membrane traces above the space bar that was a bit discoloured, probably some liquid was spilled. The trace for the mentioned keys had a particularly dark spot on it.
I repaired it by scratching off the lacquer from the trace and painting a new connection using a pen with conductive silver ink that I ordered, sealing it off with a coating of nail polish. All keys are working great now!
Next I cleaned up the disk drive. It’s a direct drive type, so there was no worn belt that needed replacing. I tried it out and it works great, no issues there.
The new Kemet tantalum SMD capacitors I ordered for the HIC-1 A/V board (2x 10µF 16V, 1x 100µf 6.3V) had arrived, so I took off the old capacitors with flux, some fresh solder on the legs and a pair of tweezers. Once I got the fresh solder to stick they got off quite cleanly after heating and lifting up either side a few times. Used braid to remove the solder from the pads.
To put on the new capacitors, I put a small layer of new solder on one of the pads so I could lock it into place with tweezers and the iron. Then put some more solder on either side and it was done rather quickly. The polarity is clearly indicated on the board. Be aware that on tantalum SMD capacitors the bar indicates the positive side.
Finished up with cleaning the keyboard as good as I could. I didn’t take off the key caps, it didn’t seem necessary and I didn’t want to risk breaking one off.
Put everything back together and voila presto, a nice looking and fully functional Sony HB-F1XD!
