Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Replaced the arms of a wooden patio chair that my daughter had caused to rot by picking at the sealant until water got in.

Im glad you were able to fix em buddy :)

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

The extending nozzle tube of the vac would not lock at any length, so it's now glued at full extension, held by Gorilla glue and a clove hitch of string.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Better than nothing. :tu:

Anybody know what's happened to the OP? No recent postings.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Last post 6 July. Maybe he's on holiday? :confused:

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

His last post was in Feb 2018 but he has visited in July just looks like he doesnt want to post here anymore.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

My noise cancelling headphones. I hope.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Cassette deck is now fully functional and re-cased. The slight kink in the belt that drives the capstan seems to have straightened out and is not affecting playback.

I needed to exercise some of the switches to get them working right.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Waiting for quotes for bathroom floor tiles renewed. Just hope it is someone who can do a good job,

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

4 way extension lead: The red warning neon had failed. They eventually do if left on continuously.

I have a small LED circuit using a capacitor dropper that replaces the neon and fits inside the box of the lead. A few minutes rummage in the bitsa* box for some parts and run one up. In this case using a couple of red T3 LEDs.

Nicely fixed.

*Bits of this and bits of that. :D

The scale in our kitchen stopped working again..... I tried the same I did last time and finally smashed it again but this time it didnt work.... My father took it upstairs to look ity and he also tried changing the batteries (but it didnt work) but then when he put the original cells back in,it started working again!!!


I wonder if its dirty inside??

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

If you are smashing an electronic scale then it will likely be knackered now and way out of calibration, so useless for weighing things accurately.

Maybe the battery contacts need a proper clean, failing that just buy a new one.

Yes you have a good point mate!!

I last fixed a cassette I got..... The pad fell off (I bought it with the pad off) so i took some super glue and secured her in place :) (Most cassettes and 8 tracks do not sound good if the pads arent there)

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Just freshened up my paint work in the living room and kitchen ,

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Fixed a door knob and improved the radio reception on the car with a bit of wire brushing and vaseline.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Remote key fob for the car (Mitsubishi Colt) was getting hit and miss. Just needed a new CR2016 battery. Had to get the owners handbook out to see if any special re-synching was needed. Not in this case as the car and fob are factory matched.

Came back to the PC and the wireless keyboard had stopped working. Batteries again.

Now I wonder which other appliance is going to need new batteries today. :scratch:

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Noticed a few long cracks had appeared along our garage walls. Scraped out the bits, applied outdoor filler, and when dry painted the entire garage. Sorted! :)

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

My daughter's PC has a 1Tb and 4Tb drive in it. She bought an extra 6Tb drive and installed it using the same power lead the others were on (4 connectors daisy-chained).

The 6 Tb drive was not recognised or spun up.

Disconnect either the 4Tb or 1TB drive and it worked perfectly.

I suspected some sort of current limiting on the power supply.

So I connected the 6Tb to the other 4 way power lead that fed just the DVD drive, and it all started working.

I told the tech at PC Specialist and he would not believe it until he tried similar himself. He is now contacting the power supply manufacturer as those supplies are supposed to be able to run 4 drives per lead "with loads to spare".

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

I don't fix things, I just break them occasionally. Those are jobs for the tradesmen, to whom I am absolutely indebted.

Mind you, they are all the richer for having me on their patch! :D

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

My motorbike

Fitted new clutch and brake levers, battery box , rear mudguard, speedo cable and complete rear braking system.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

The wife hasn't seen much of you lately, then? I hope you washed the bath after you!

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

I replaced the OSB3 shelving in a garden cupboard, It all got wet after a roof leak and distorted to heck. The new roof will be sealed with fibreglass this time....

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Bluetooth/Sync on my wife’s Fiesta

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Dehumidifier: Came from my mum's place. Fan stopped working. Tried some oil but it was still too stiff to run properly.

Took out the motor and dismantled it: Loads of black crap inside and the armature had far too much end-float and was fouling the casing.

I guess whatever was used to control that had broken up and got ground down.

Thorough clean of bearings and armature in white spirit, added sufficient plain steel washers at each end to set the end-float to about a mm or so. Lubricated with graphited grease. Works a treat now. :)

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Water leaking out of fridge onto floor, so turned off the electrics, pushed a plastic straw up and down drainage channel and poured very hot water down, did the trick. :)

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Thanks for the tip my fridge was doing the same thing, I really do not like this drawer kind as my last one was shelfs ,

A good fridge tip :)

Congrats everyone!!!!!!!

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

What bike have you got CycoSymz.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Bedside digital alarm clock: Hour set button not working.

Dismantled the unit. The "click domes" that back the buttons are secured in place with sellotape like stuff, peeled it off with the domes. Cleaned the PCB with some Brasso and applied contact cleaner. Re-assembled with fresh tape.

Works fine now ready for tonight's hour change.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Kitchen cupboard doors: 3 of them wont stay open but don't shut properly. It's a spring-loaded thingy in the hinge housed in a small plastic moulding which splits and gets misplaced over time. Simplest fix is to take the faulty hinge off, disassemble it by removing a "U" shaped pin and remove the offending parts, then re-assembling them.

Doors now operate properly, just not as positive as they should be but still OK.

Saves buying new hinges at the extortionate price they are. :)

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Hve you tried Youtube to try and get them purfect?

I last fixed the 8 track I just got (Barry Manilow II)

Thankfully she opened w/o a problem...... Most cartridges do not!!

The tape came apart where it was spliced together (Looked like it wasnt done well) -- I took some masking tape and taped the two pieces together. (The foil was still there so I just left it in place (The foil is good))


I put the masking tape on the backside of the tape leaving the foil so it can be sensed....

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

My favourite pair of jeans. (Low rise, skinny) Worn through in the crotch area so I used some heat bonded mending tape. Good as new.

I'll need some new ones but it's so difficult to get ones I like the fit of on me. These are size 12. ;)

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

I hope you took them off first.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Faithful old golfing umbrella: A spoke had come loose from the retainer at the top as the hole in the spoke that the wire in the retainer goes through had corroded.

I used a wire loop made from a paperclip to go in the retainer and then secured the spoke to that using the metal inner from a chop-block. Job done. :)

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

PC: The capacitors in the graphics card (FX5200) had gone US (Bulging and zero value) I've put some temporary ones in, they're 470uF vs the 1000uF that should be in there but seeing as the card was still trying to work anything is better than nothing. (Ran in safe mode only)

I can order the correct ones after Boxing day as I need to get some stuff from Farnell anyway for the business.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Microwave oven door. It's been sticking for some time and getting worse: Looked at the operation and the lower catch seemed to have lost motion compared to the upper one. Both catches operate individual safety cutouts

Dismantled the door and found that a hole in the operating strap to the lower catch was elongated. 35 years of use had worn it oval. The operating strap has two small dog-legs in it so by straightening them out with a mole wrench sufficient lost motion could be recovered. They were there to prevent the strap falling off the operating pins. A general bend in the strap performs the same function now.

Catches now work without sticking. Job done. :)

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Same age as mine is it an Hitachi ?

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

No, it's a Nikkai (Korean). They were an opening promotion in a new electrical shop in the town, now long gone. It's BIG as in American and 800W. All touch panel and digital display with temperature probe. My mother also had one (which I have now as a spare). Worked faultlessly apart from an internal fuse going from fatigue over the years. Easy to replace.

One Christmas I did a 20lb turkey in it. That's how big.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

A Baxi electric heater. Thermostat kept cutting out when barely warm. Took apart and ' de-dusted' , now seems fine. Just aswell as the cold weather is coming...

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Put an inline switch on a touch lamp that stopped working. Now have a spare lamp. :D

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

My Ballcock, a strong spray of limescale remover on the outside of the switch has made the cistern fill quicker and stopped it dripping and overflowing.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Replaced light bulb in coal effect electric fire, and attached new washer/dryer to existing plumbing :)

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Yes touch lamps are crap and soon fail. I have a couple now that have had switches put on them.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Repaired another vacuum cleaner for yet another elderly neighbour. Just out of warranty and she fell over it and snapped the stem at the flexible joint.

A long screw and gorilla glue should hold it for years.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Toilet brush: It's made in two sections with a screw like coupling but the end that goes into the bottom half has stripped the hole in the wood.

I wanted a small dowel of hardwood but where to find just a small length?

Lightbulb moment: A pencil!

Drilled out the hole to make the pencil a tight fit and wood glued it into position. Drilled a new hole to take the thread. Some glue on the two sections facing and screwed it together. Wiped off the excess glue. Shouldn't come apart now.

Good as new!

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

I would have just bought a new loo brush! :D

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Probably. But I'd rather have the money in the beer fund.:D

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Just finished redoing the silicon around the bathtub, this is the first time i have done it and it looks pretty good, i have a couple of bits i am not happy with but everytime i go to smooth them out i make it worse, but for now i am happy with the result.

How long does it take to go off before i can use the bath again, 24hrs?

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Depends on the humidity as the setting reaction uses water from the atmosphere. By product is acetic acid (Vinegar). Usually fully set in 24hrs.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Yes to be safe i will leave it 24hrs.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Car battery. Used a 12v bench supply with isolating diode (to prevent the battery reverse feeding the supply) to keep the electrics "live" during the swap. Avoids having to re-enter radio codes etc. Easy 15m job.

Turns over nice and sharp now. :)

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Husbands glasses. Swapped the lenses into an old prescription pair of sunglasses exactly the same shape. Not very adventurous with style is he (luckily in this case).

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

The bog roll holder doesn't fall off the wall any longer!

Also replaced the floor beading around the bathroom floor as the old stuff looked terrible after getting wet over the years.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Test probe for my Avo-Megger test meter. Accidentally trod on it and it broke in half.

Super glue had it fixed.

Good as replacement probes are VERY expensive.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

PC power supply. I'm adding an extra HDD to the XP SP3 machine that hosts my media server amongst other things but the PSU kept cutting out on startup. It's a 350W unit and the machine takes far less than that.

Pulled the PSU box and opened it up. What I saw was much what I expected: Capacitors with swollen tops. Eventually replaced 4 that showed zero value. I didn't have exact replacements for two of them (680uF vs 1,000uF) but I reasoned that some value was better than none. Next time I order some components I'll tag a few of these.

Replaced unit in PC and it all works fine now. New 2T HDD is partitioned and formatted. Now just copying data. :)

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

1090MHz masthead pre-amp which was supposed to be weatherproof.

Copious applications of contact cleaner, emery boards and some freshly reflowed solder has sorted it out plus a load of silicone sealant around the inner enclosure. Also added to the tower assemblage is a home-made j-pole for military airband - ready for a bit of listening in on Joint Warrior which starts next week ;)

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Repaired the outflow from the pond filter. Hopefully the cats will stop jumping onto it now.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

12V 4amp Power supply (Chinese) for the LED strip lighting in the kitchen: It was coming on dim and then going to normal after a few seconds.

Took it apart and found what I expected: Bulging capacitors on the output side, both read low value so I fitted some premium grade replacements. Works fine now.

Congrats all!!!!!!!!! -- Its fun being able to fix stuff ourselves!!!
 

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Something non-electronic this time: My St Justin celtic bracelet has developed a crack and was in danger of coming apart.

It's made of pewter which has a fairly low melting point around 200C so I fitted a short #9 bit to my magnastat 50W soldering iron. This set the temperature to 450C.

Together with some solder I was able to melt the crack away on both sides and fuse it fully together.

Then using my hobby drill and a selection of burrs and diamond grinders recreated the damged pattern in the area of the mend. Job seems a good'un. :)

Front view: https://www.cableforum.uk/board/atta...9&d=1556886706 Rear View: https://www.cableforum.uk/board/atta...8&d=1556886706



Attachment 27859Attachment 27858

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Made a new lid for the BBQ and repaired its door.

---------- Post added at 19:29 ---------- Previous post was at 19:27 ----------

What type of pewter is it (i.e. is it the old lead type?) and what solder did you use?

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

It was bought about 20 years ago. So I guess it's the old fashioned type. I used 60/40 rosin cored solder. Seemed to melt easily with the hot iron bit.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Our shed - replaced 3 full planks and 4 half lengths (next to the window), than put Ronseal* on all that side.

Will replace it next year, as it’s over 10 years old.

*other coverings are available

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

I had a friend who repaired pewterware and he warned me that you have to get the right solder mix, or it can make an odd alloy which can be very fragile. He opted for solderless joints where he could not identify the pewter makeup. But he was a very skilled solderer, I'd probably end up with a molten blob in front of me...

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Short trips = flat car battery after a while. And disconnecting the battery to charge it caused the ECU to lose its memory.

So I have opted for a smart trickle charger inside the house, connected to the battery via a 2 core mains cable. It allows for the battery to stay connected whilst trickling.

Let's hope it solves things.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Bedside radio, battery mains but the mains cable had become intermittant when moved. I made this up many years ago with a 3 pin Bulgin plug and socket on the side of the set instead of the orginal flying lead.

Attachment 27963

Turned out that over the years of moving it about one of the wires in the plug had separated. Re-made all the solder connections, cleaned the contacts and a spot of magic spray and no more intermittency. :)

BTW this style of connector predates the now popular IEC type.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Two new kitchen taps replaced,

I last fixed one of my 8 track tapes :) (Led Zeppelin II)

The person I got this from on ebay had this written "RE-CONDITIONED AND PLAYS WELL"

Well obviosuly he didnt check it after his conditioning!!


The pad is good but the sensing foil he put on left a piece of the tape dangeling on the back side and it would not play well @ all.... It kept stopping,etc....


I just put a piece of tape over it to keep it tightly against the tape so it wouldnt interfere....

I dont get it..... People "re-condition" this stuff but they dont care enough to make sure it works right??


I dunno..........

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Last week i attempted to tighten the bathroom sink basin tap which somehow caused the flexi pipes to split and leak, the isolation valves also leaked.

So after giving up trying to find the exact Flexible MonoBloc Tap Connectors Tails with the exact same fittings and isolation valves i needed at screw fix or Homebase i managed to work out what i needed and the parts came today after ordering online.

Luckily everything went together reasonably well as i am not a plumber and didn't have the equipment to start cutting things off pipes so everything had to be exactly the same.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Well done SnoopZ... you will find the more you do things the easier it will become. You have just saved your self a few quid.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

I'll attempt most DIY but only the most basic plumbing jobs. Scares the hell out of me. Water just doesn't play by the rules. :D

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

It always causes problems!

I also need to replace a bath tap ceramic gland but I cant get the screw out the handle so looks like I will drill the screw out and not done that before, if I manage that I hope I can unscrew the gland as I wasnt able to budge the other one and a plumber did it when he replaced the radiator valve. Strangely I never had issues replacing on the sink tap.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

You're a braver man than me, if it doesn't look like an 8 year old could do it then it's straight on the phone to the plumber. :)

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Our lad put his whole weight on the shower riser rail and stripped the threads off the top end screw.

So I had to search high and low for a replacement screw and then refit the riser.

He also pulled all the adhesive clips that held the shower curtain tight to stop leaks. The glue is now stuffed, so I shall have to find another adhesive to do the job.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Fan on our de-humidifier had started a low level irritating squeaking/rustling noise. It was also a bit slow to run up to speed when the unit had been off a while. Took off the covers and the motor was a bit stiff to rotate. It's one of those simple shaded pole types.

I took it out of its cradle and applied some oil to the sleeve bearings which are accessible without further dismantling.

Now runs super smooth and silent.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Work top mini oven/grill unit. A Lower element had failed so a fix with a user bendable element as before with the top elements. (Post #558)

Hopefully these larger diameter elements (8mm vs 6mm) will be more durable than the rather thin originals that were fitted.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Chain and sprockets needed replacing on one the bikes good time to do it as it's off the road for winter

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

My neighbors central heating three-way motorised valve.

I last fixed one of my cassette tapes......

t fell on the floor and I think thats when the pad came loose..... Playback wasnt good so I opened the shell and fixed the pad..... (Put it back in place)

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Had to get a friend to fix my IPad as I was locked out and could not remember my password,

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Had to go out to rescue a friend with a flat tyre and couldn't get the wheel off.

Some complete plonker must have lost one of the original nuts and they replaced it with a 20mm one; Good luck finding that size socket in a normal metric set! Took a few phone calls to finally get hold of one.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

I invested in a set of hexagon sockets that drive on the flats in 1mm increments from 10 to 22mm in addition to my normal star sockets. When you have an older car sometimes a nut will rust down to the next lower size but a flats drive will still undo it.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Yeah I have a set of flats, just didn't have the right size. Managed to get another mate who has a bike shop to bring a set down which has those odd sizes like your set.

We actually found the original nut rattling around in the wheel well when putting the flat back in so I probably could have ground the other one off.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

My sister's vacuum cleaner: The wheel under the handle release catch had broken away, her (ex) boyfriend had wired it back in place but it kept falling off again. This area is subject to quite a lot of force when the catch is operated by the foot.

Part of the moulding was missing when she gave it it me. I cut out some thin aluminum sheet with the snips to cover the damaged area and Araldited it into position. Once set I back filled the other side with some P40 resin impregnated glass fiber to about 10mm depth, working it well into the recesses in the plastic. I reinforced it with a nut and bolt at the front. Redrilled the hole for the wheel and secured it with a nylock nut.

Good as new!

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

A neighbour's wooden garden shed roof flapped during storm Dennis. I found that it had been attached with just 4 screws from the inside, so the screw tips only just entered the roofing sheets. The 12 screw holes are marked in red on the inner timber frame, so I have no idea what the assembler was thinking.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Output socket on my Zoom multi effects pedal kept cutting out. Opened it up and re-soldered the 3 pins to the main board, now good as new (well not quite . . it is 25 years old)

First (and hopefully last) problem with it in all this time :)

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Insect killing lamp: UV Tube started flickering and then glowing bright at one end. Usually means the heater at that end has gone open.

Last time it went I got two tubes so after a big rummage round I found the other spare. I decided to completely dismantle it so as to clean the killing grids more effectively.

I have a security screw set of bits so in no time it was apart and cleaned. New tube fitted, re-assembled and now ready to keep up with the fungus flies.

Old tube was completely burnt so it was on borrowed time. New tube is much brighter.

Yesterday I tried to fix a cassette I got.....

They did a crappy job on it... The volume kept going up and down slightly....... Besides that it wouldnt rew/FF in my player well @ all..... I took the cartridge apart and it was one of those shells WITH NO ROLLERS!! (Of coures its gonna have problems) -- I had gotton a few of them before.........

What kinda moron doesnt put Rollers in a cassette??


I put it in a new shell thinking the volume problem was due to the tape not spinning well........ It wasnt .......


Anyway .... I must have sliced the tape by accident with the knife used to pry the cassette open cause as I was listening to it,it just stopped and I looked and it came apart......... (The tape)


I didnt care,it sounded like crap........ 2nd one I had! (The 8track of this concert sounds goregous)


Its very sad......... A beautiful analogue copy of the concert and they messed it up!!

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

I'm constantly gluing plastic together with my new heat gun. A very useful thing that is worth buying, if there is no such thing.I often freeze the keyhole in the winter and in this case, I am greatly helped by heat gun. I bought a tool from protoolsadviser reviews .

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Done a patch up job on my hi-fi headphones until I could be bothered replacing the cables completely.

They're Grados so they suffer from an inherent problem with the stock cable being so thick that it just puts strain on itself. The PVC outer splits due to constant twisting and becoming brittle as do the inner cores of the transmission wires.

I might wire and fit some connectors to each driver so I can use the cables from my stage ears.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

My main desk PC: Yesterday it spontaneously re-booted and then fell flat on its face during POST. I re-booted several times and got cascades of errors on POST including not finding the floppy drive, not initialising the printer and not finding the boot drive.

Tried this morning and it wouldn't even start POST.

Last time I had these sort of wierdies when adding a new HDD it was down to the PSU so out it came.

Yes! More bulging capacitors. Changed three that were low or zero value. Two were on the 5V SB supply. Explains why there has been a subtle strange smell recently next to the PC: Capacitor "juice"

Tested the other main caps and they showed correct values.

Re-assembled and the PC POSTed correctly and booted Windows.

One wierdie: Somehow the year had got set to 2019. That makes for some strange errors when accessing websites. Reset the date and all seems OK now but I'm leaving the side covers off for a few hours to be sure.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Daughters bedroom door wouldn't stay closed.

Delicate work with a wood chisel, slight readjustment and 2 longer wood screws have sorted it . . .


. . . probably until the next time it's slammed shut when she goes off on one :rolleyes:

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Filled a crack in the concrete floor of the hallway area outside of the bedrooms and applied levelling compound ready for new LVT flooring. Messy job but someone's gotta do it.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

I fixed CF email the other day, not that anyone seemed to notice it was down ...

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

A garden table with rotten feet is now a few inches shorter with plastic feet. I intend to make all new garden furniture but the timber I need is scarce.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

My son's mother's selfish and autocratic attitude as to when I can have extra contact with him...

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

True, ironwoods, teak etc are expensive but do last without treatment. They can go a dull grey/green colour but form own protective layer.
When my brother-in-law put our deck in we would have liked to use ironwoods, we had the money for the timber but not for the tools needed to work them. As it was the deck grew from a small stand about half width of house to something all round the backside of house and round the side to back door, no step up/down. There are thousands of screws holding it together and the planks are all offset so easier to replace one and they don't all move at same rate.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

My main PC which is also my media server: It had been behaving oddly resetting or powering down out of the blue. I changed the PSU but the problems continued until it wouldn't start up at all. At least it ran long enough to get an up-to-date backup of critical data.

Seems a fault in the old PSU (+5v SB was 6.2v) had damaged the power control and reset circits on the Mobo. ( nForce3-A)

I'd almost resigned myself to a new build when on the off chance I googled the Mobo and found a tested and guaranteed one on ebay from Riga in Latvia. Amazing as it's 15 years old. Arrived beautifully packed with a CD of the test photographs.

Fitted and it works fine. (So far, fingers crossed ) The CPU supplied with it is an Athlon 64, my old one was a Sempron so a bit more horsepower under the hood. The installed XP SP3 was quite happy to accept the new CPU.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

One of the solar rocks had stopped working. Just needed the battery contacts cleaning up: Good tweak with the pliers, shot of engineer's magic spray, freshly charged battery and good to go.