Hello all,

I have an old hp 32s calculator. It has some bugles near by the display frame. The symptoms are that the display shows nearly ever symbol when switching on the calc.

I think that the calc is still ok, but the display contacts have to be repaired.

I think i can handle it when i know how to open the case of the 32s.

Can somebody tell me how to open my HP 32s?

Regards,

Martin.

http://www.hpmuseum.org/cgi-sys/cgiwrap/hpmuseum/articles.cgi?read=5

A bent frame would not cause parts of the display to appear when you turn it on. The most likely problem is that the contrast is turned up too far.

Hold down the ON/C button while pressing the "-" key to decrease the contrast. Pressing the "+" while holding down the ON/C button will increase.

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I decline to comment further on how I fixed it since I do (hope one day to) fix these things for money and I am not sure of the exact reasons why my "fix" works [though I have a pretty good idea!]. Suffice it to say there are a few mysteries to these displays which it seems are UNDOCUMENTED. How they actually work and (software) interface to the processor is quite elegant.

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I am sorry, but I find the above paragraph and similar comments that you have made in the past to be objectionable, and totally against the spirit of this forum.

I notice you obviosuly read this forum. You, I assume, are quite happy to 'take' from it, but unwilling to 'give' anything back.

Many of us, including myself, sometimes repair HP calculators for money (I don't do it that often, to be honest I'd rather be investigating some machine I've not worked on before than just cleaning the contacts in an HP41 or whatever). The difference is that most of us (and I would like to include myself here) share the information we discover totally freely. Our aim is to keep as many of these fine machines running as possible.

If somebody asks me how to repair something (my speciality is really the desktop machines), then I will give a basic description of how to find the fault. If you feel you have the necessary skills and equipment (it is _hopeless_, for example, to diagnose a processor fault on a 98x0 without a logic analyser!), then I will talk you through the machine at component level, quite likely 'in public'. I will also be happy for you to publish the diagnostic process on your web site provided I get some credit.

If on the other hand you don't feel up to repairing the machine yourself, well then I would consider doing it for you and charging. But note I make the offer of free information first.

When I got seriously into computers some 20+ years ago, a friend offered me a lot of assistance. I jokingly asked him how I should pay him. And I have never forgotten his reply :

"Don't pay back, pay forwards. There is something you can do that somebody else needs help with. Help them. They will go on to help somebody else, and so on. That way we all benefit"

I do not feel the HP calculator community is helped by having information hidden away.

Well said Tony, thank you.

Don: I find it annoying that your follow-up posts are not relevant, this thread being a perfect example. Your closing line:

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I am not sure but I think I have all the documentation on the 41 available.

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If you want to repair HP's for a fee, by all means go to it. But as regular reader and poster here I would respectfully ask you to please use the classifieds section for your advertising. You'll see that is the correct place to offer your services rather than trying to weave it into almost every post you make.

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It seems I have been banned.

What gives?

I never gave anyone bad advice...

Don Wallace

I hope not to extend the subject as much for the boring condition, but let me try keeping it soft and smooth.

Many guys in here know that I`m posting since the year 2000, and I congratulate all of those who have been around here since then. Some well known names have not shown up since long, like Norm (AKA Captain Zenner), others appear to object their names, like 'dot', others like Coburlin (each!) come to try picking some stuff not available here. Many others stay still waiting for the chance to make a difference.

I'm one of them, though.

I'm in Brazil, I play with electronics since I was 12YO, but I actually started to understand digital after being 18YO. I use HP calculators since the beginning of the 80`s and I repaired many units prior to get into the MoHPC world. After that, I could repair some of my own units (two HP41's and an HP25C) and many others from contributors.

I did not charge a dime for any of the repairs I made.

On the other hand, I was given so too many I think I was given too much more than I gave.

I'm forever in debit with the MoHPC community and for as long as I can and I am able to, I'll be posting any information I had access to (unless it is copyright protected, like the MoHPC CD/DVD contents) and I'll repair as many calculators I can without any charge at all. I say that because I mean that, not because I want others to do the same. And let me tell that this is more than a hobby and less than a profitable activity for me, this is a way for me to be in touch with people I do not know and would like to interact with. Unfortunately Brazilian commercial laws and professional opportunities for R&D guys make it hard for us to go ahead and try doing much more than that what`s been done, but these are facts not to be discussed here.

I would like to have the means to go further and achieve some goals, like cloning the nut processor with some microcontroler+ROM/RAM arrangement, but this demands time and personal resources. Lucky for us some guys in here are delving into these hardware/software mysteries and solutions, and this is something I admire seeing people doing because I`d do the same my own if having the chance and the means.

So much for an off-topic. To those of you reading and thinking 'I'm a dreamer', it seems that I'm not the only one (Forgive, John). A lot of guys in the mid 60's made the technological revolution this way, by sharing without any other reward but seeing things happening. We are the ones in the benefit from their forwarding vision. Maybe other guys share some of my points of view, others will disagree, but I guess I'm not too far from what is intended here. I`d also guess that the feeling of being banned may be connected to a different approach of yours, though.

Sorry writing too much (I did not spell check this text... Please, forgive my 'southern American' accent).

Luiz (Brazil)

Edited: 18 Oct 2005, 4:13 p.m. after one or more responses were posted

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Don, I have just read this thread and feel sad that a few comments have led you to abandon the forum. All comments and advice in here are freely given and you gave quite a few before being criticised for a comment about hoping to make a little money - and I don't understand what is so wrong with that. Perhaps your mistake was to admit it. I wonder how many people have silently used the information in this forum to fix a calc and sell it as working on eBay (not me, I keep mine!), but I don't see what is wrong with that either.

Please everyone keep it civilised and respect others opinions and aspirations.

Don, why not come back to the forum and share knowledge which you don't feel you have a commercial interest in.

Best wishes...

Hi Martin. Having any luck with that 32?

I think there is some mechanical damage to the connections to the display and wrong bias is making the display strange.

If it turns on and off and you can see any other normal activity,
(responds to keystrokes, etc., hard to tell with that display, I know) then the buses are okay and it's "just" display connector problems. Does it respond at all to attempts to adjust contrast?
Not a fix but one good diagnostic.

Sorry I don't have one or I'd be able to help you.

dw

Edited: 7 Oct 2005, 7:50 p.m.

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Of course there already is a lot of information about HP
calculators on this Museum site. Don't neglect the "Articles" and
"Archives". The CD set/DVD has even more, including documentation
that it's not practical to include for download from a Web site;
see http://www.hpmuseum.org/cd/cddesc.htm. Yes, I realize
the CD set/DVD isn't free, but any "profit" helps support the
Museum; I don't think Dave's getting rich from selling it.

Of course you can set up your own site, but also consider
contributing to existing sites.

Jake Schartz also sells CD-ROMs at relatively low cost; see
http://alaska.magpage.com/~jakes/.

For the RPL models, also see
http://www.engr.uvic.ca/~aschoorl/,
http://www.hpcalc.org/,
http://page.mi.fu-berlin.de/~raut/
http://m.webring.com/hub?ring=hp48, and
http://groups.google.com/group/comp.sys.hp48.

Regards,
James

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No, I wouldn't consider setting up your own Web page with
information on HP calculators to be in any way "subversive".

On the other hand, contributing to existing sites instead of
adding a new one tends to keep the information consolidated in
fewer places.

For many of us, resources are fairly limited. For example, my own
"Personal Web space" is 25MB. To be sure, I don't use it much;
occasionally placing a file there that might be difficult to
transfer as an attachment to an e-mail.

Dave does indeed have links to other sites on the main Museum
page, under "Other Resources".

Regards,
James