The Blog

Amstrad Sega Mega Plus PC Upgrade

Nix McRetro // 25th March 2012 // IBM PC, Repairs, Sega

The new motherboard went in and POST passed OK, hard drives were recognised perfectly. Sadly this indicates that the 386 board that was originally in the machine has an issue with the hard drive controller on the motherboard. It will still be a good backup board though. I will see... Continue reading

Sega Saturn Model 1 Power Supply Issues

Nix McRetro // 24th March 2012 // Repairs, Sega

Here’s how to replicate the fault: - Run the Saturn for an hour or more so it becomes nice and toasty. I found that the music player was more than sufficient to do this. - Next disassemble the Saturn apart while it is still nice and warm and video record... Continue reading

Amstrad Sega Mega PC Controller

Nix McRetro // 24th March 2012 // IBM PC, Sega

Picked this up on eBay from the UK and have given it a bit of a clean out. It has become my favourite Mega Drive controller now. The insides are equal to another Mega Drive controller I cleaned out yesterday also - sadly it had some tabs snapped off the... Continue reading

Amstrad Sega Mega PC Disassembled

Nix McRetro // 22nd March 2012 // IBM PC, Repairs, Sega

An Amstrad Mega PC overview. A Sega Mega Drive ISA card is installed. Arrived in not-so-good condition with corrosion from the NiCad battery. Continue reading

Co-Processors and You

Nix McRetro // 22nd March 2012 // IBM PC, Repairs, Sega

Or more specifically co-processors for the Amstrad Mega PC or Amstrad Mega Plus PC. The ULSI Advanced Math Coprocessor for 33MHz SX / SLC CPUs. Date code 9401. US83S87. 387SX co-processors pair up with either the 386SX or the 486SLC. You cannot install a DX type co-processor with an SX... Continue reading