Toshiba HX-10 MSX back from the dead!
Some big success today. The MSX from my pickups video was not working (half the keys wouldn’t work/wouldn’t load from cassette).
I spent a day stripping the ALPS keyboard down to find a lot of oxidation and corrosion inside the keys themselves. After cleaning the contacts with good old brasso and IPA the keyboard is now fully functional.
Whilst inside I also tacked a mono flylead onto the cassette port to test the loading whilst bypassing the DIN connector, and it worked great. I replaced the 8-pin DIN and now I can load from standard cassette, PC and even my android phone!
Happy days. Happy that this fine Toshiba HX-10 I got from Hayley is now up, running and fully operational.
Will be trying out some software from Tony Cruise after the weekend, but work is beckoning!
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About The Author
Mark Fixes Stuff
Just a geek, geeking about. Not a nerd.
good afternoon, can you provide instructions on how to remove and clean the keys on the msx.. i have 2 machines with keys that no longer operate properly and i need to get them working. kind regards david
Hi mate. Sorry for the late response. If the keys work intermittently then it’s not a dirt issue, but rather the machine needs a full recapping. In answer to your original question, to remove the keys you need to gently pull the keycaps off and inside is a black clip over the assemble that needs to be gently prised off from the back. It’s a fragile thing too!
Hi, I’ve got the same problem with both of my old HX-10’s – some of the keys refuse to work. I re-soldered all the connections under the keys but I suspect the key caps are broken. One question: how on earth do you get the key caps off? They seem really well stuck and I don’t want to break them. Do you need to de-solder each key to get at them?
Hi Barry.
You need to gently pry the cap off, and then you will see the post underneath. There is a grey case over the top of the key itself. I don’t have any pics I’m afraid.