Here’s the quick and dirty of the past consoles that have crossed the workbench…
#SEC-000 – Codename: Zero
This was the very first machine I started with and honestly did not think I would be able to rehome at first. I wanted to try my hand at diagnosing issues and this one absolutely taught me a lot. Started out totally dead and turned out absolutely awesome. I was so excited to list that one and even more so when it sold. I almost kept it for myself honestly. Thus began my journey/obsession!
#SEC-001 – My sister STOLE this one! (Okay, I gave it to her 😉 )
I originally intended to keep this machine but figured my little sister would enjoy it. Her kids do as well!
#SEC-002 – Codename: Rat
I don’t have a picture of Rat when it came in. I was too horrified by the gunk and animal fur that caked this guy to remember to snap pictures. It also had a very happy ending and even sold without needing any upgrades. You absolutely can not judge a book by its cover.
#SEC-003 – Codename: Scar
This machine made me nervous when I first opened it. It looks bad in the “before” picture but in person it looked SOOOOOOO much worse. Took some time and patience but Scar turned out to be a diamond in the rough.
#SEC-004 – Codename: Donor
Donor was a sad story that had a somewhat of a happy ending. Its previous owner attempted to swap out the player one joystick port and severely damaged the board in the process. They were apparently able to get connection to the mutilated traces they actually didn’t tear out but, I just wasn’t comfortable selling it as it could fail if you aren’t really nice to it. So, it donated its case to a machine whose previous owner decided to cut a cartridge storage slot into its deck, allowing “Donor” to remain in service to test freshly assembled A/V mods prior to installation and IC chips that may be suspect. Some days when I’m sitting at the bench I toss a cartridge in it and just play. Cause it needs some love too!
I’ll post more as I get some free time to do more updates. I started out keeping pretty shotty records but, got a lot better as time went on. I think it’s worth putting on the site cause even though it takes a decent amount of work, it is so satisfying when one of these consoles makes it to its new home. Many times I get updates on how the machine is doing and how much fun they are responsible for again. “Worth it!!!” Did you buy one of these and if so, can you identify yours? (That last one is mine, you can’t have it. LOL!)