Personally, I think it depends on the value you place on the machine. If you really want it, and plan to keep it, $1000 may be okay because you know you can get it working. If you plan to sell it later on, you will likely never get your investment out of it.

I agree, with the others in that a non-working Paragon should never be worth $1000. But, if it's a machine I really want, I might pay more for it.

On the other hand, if you hold out, the guy will likely lower the price eventually because there aren't many (if any) who would pay $1k for a non-working machine that old.

If you really wanted to push, you could respond that you agree that it is worth $1000, but that's only a "working, very good condition" machine.

I love it when people see an 'antique' machine go for a certain price and they automatically assume that their non-working POS is worth the same as a working (good - very good) machine.

G

If he lets you take a look inside the head and you can see what the diagnostic LED is doing, and it confirms that the CPU is DOA, you can just drop him a hint that a relay isn't going to fix it and it's going to cost at least $200 - $500 to fix it (may be less, but hey, if he's going to high ball, so can you) and let him chew on that a little.

G

"I bought myself a small stock of them a long time ago."

Ditto here. Especially since 5 of my Pins use them.

They are also currently available at Marco starting at $6.95 (who knows how long they'll be in stock?)
http://www.marcospecialties.com/product.asp?ic=5101

G

Stangbat is dead on. And if you're not sure which is which, when you're looking at your outlet, the opening on the left (larger of the two) is neutral and the one on the right (smaller) is Hot. Make sure the wire that plugs into the right outlet opening is the one that's wired to your On/Off switch.

As for your random power issue, it sounds like you may have a cold (cracked) solder joint on a power supply connector or component. You would be best advised to touch up all solder joints, especially in high power areas.

but inside I knew that I was going to have a hard time walking away from it.

Yeah. I'm the same way. That's why I said earlier it depends on the value "You" put on the machine and if you plan on keeping it. If I'm looking at a machine that I'm just buying for an investment, I pay closer attention to the book value.

G

If I were you and have ANY machines with 5101 RAM's I'd buy some now. These aren't going to be around forever. And you may get more machines that use them in the future.

Right on BD. They aren't going to last forever. I've already checked into alternatives myself. There is not direct replacement memory available, but I did find a suitable chip that I plan to make an interface board for that will be a direct plugin to the 5101 socket when they eventually run out.

G

BD, what generation of games use these chips

Sorry for stepping in BD... feel free to add to this.

All of the early Bally SS machines and the Sterns of the same era. These were the book-keeping / high score memory chips that are battery backed up. I'm planning to build a circuit board with a suitable replacement chip that will plug directly into the socket if / when I run out.

Some example machines are KISS, Eight Ball, Centaur, Fathom... and any Bally / Stern that use that series of CPU.

Bally MPU AS-2518-17, Bally MPU AS-2518-35, Stern M-100 MPU, Stern M-200 MPU
(Note the Stern M-200 uses 2 5101 Chips with a 100ns access time).

G