The Blog

Osborne 486 Boot-Sector Virus Cleanup with F-PROT

Nix McRetro // 23rd October 2012 // IBM PC, Repairs

Osborne 486 Boot-Sector Virus Cleanup with F-PROT

Looks like I am not the only one who has a virus at the moment. The trusty old Osborne ended up with what appeared to be an MBR or boot-sector infection. The Sound Blaster 16 installation disks I had been using were also detected as infected. At the time I... Continue reading

Osborne 486 5.25-inch Floppy Drive Addition

Nix McRetro // 22nd October 2012 // Apple, IBM PC, YouTube

The 5.25-inch floppy drive now living in the Osborne came from the Wyse 286 desktop I had a quick look at earlier. The Wyse isn’t mine anymore because someone else wanted it. All I really needed was the floppy drive anyway. It is always a little disappointing when an eBay... Continue reading

Aiwa Sega Mega-CD CSD-GM1 KSS-210B Laser Replacement

Nix McRetro // 22nd October 2012 // Repairs, Sega, YouTube

Compared with everything else this Aiwa has thrown at me, this was almost a straightforward repair. The video above covers replacing the Sony KSS-210B optical pickup in the CSD-GM1 CD mechanism. I had suspected the pickup earlier because the drive was struggling to read discs, although I had not wanted... Continue reading

Inside the Aiwa Mega-CD CSD-GM1 Game Unit

Nix McRetro // 21st October 2012 // Sega, YouTube

Here’s a quick look inside the Mega Drive and Mega-CD Game Unit that attaches underneath the Aiwa CSD-GM1. At the time I joked that it was pretty useless by itself unless you wanted a lead-weighted frisbee. Turns out I was wrong about that part. The Game Unit contains the Mega... Continue reading

Aiwa Mega-CD CSD-GM1 Repairs Part 2: Power Rail Testing

Nix McRetro // 20th October 2012 // Hacks, Repairs, Sega

The video above is not the one I originally intended to upload. YouTube messed up the upload, then I accidentally deleted the original while trying to recover it. It was gone. Never mind. Enjoy some transformer rantings instead. Reconnecting the power wiring These are historical test notes for my two... Continue reading