Recent shipping woes

[mikey99]

I'm not sure if its just a trend or something but the last few
items I've purchased all arrived with various types of damage.
My workbench is starting to fill up with broken stuff :-(
So I thought it would be cool to start a thread where everyone
could list their biggest Vintage Computer Letdown, due to items
damaged in transit....

This is probably gonna sound like a CSI episode

My two major disappointments:

Case #1 : IBM 5154 EGA monitor. I've been looking for one of these
for a LONG time, so I was really excited about finding one. This arrived with
no visible damage to the packing box. The seller did an excellent job of
packing. The first thing I noticed after unpacking , the small
control panel with vertical size adjustments at the lower rear of
the monitor, appeared to be tilted inward slightly. Monitor powers on,
but no image displayed. Removed case of monitor and found that the
circuit board where the small control panel mounts was cracked.
Also the circuit board that attaches to the back of the CRT
neck was literally in 3 pieces, one of them loose inside the
monitor. Arghhhh! Hopefully I can repair this by gluing the circuit
board and jumpering the cracked lands with wire/solder.
This monitor was working when it was shipped to me, so it must
have had a big impact or been dropped. Bummer :-(

Case #2 : Tandy 1000SX , arrived fairly well packed with no
visible damage to the box or the computer. Opened the case to verify
no loose connectors etc before powering on. Powered on, ran for a
few seconds, then a loud pop from the power supply and death :-(
Further investigation reveals that at some point during shipping
the box must have been dropped, causing the corner of the power
supply circuit board to break off ! The loud pop was an exploding
capacitor. Looking at the schematic it appears that the cracked
circuit board land interfered with the power supply output voltage
detection, probably allowing the supply to exceed +5 and +12.
Luckily I found a new working power supply. Installed the supply
but the computer is still dead. I think the original power supply
problem has also damaged the motherboard :-(

 

[mbbrutman]

I've been fairly lucky with shipping, and have only lost a keyboard and a 5153 monitor due to a very poor packing job on the part of the sender.

However, I never power anything new on without inspecting it first, even if that means some disassembly. It's easier to correct damage than it is to repair more damage. Monitors are especially hard to ship because of the weight of the tube.

A good rule of thumb is to pack tightly, use a 'box within a box', and ship using the fastest method possible. The longer a box is 'in the system', the more likely it is to be jostled.

 

[Unknown_K]

I snagged a large haul of scsi hard drives a few months back and just about every one of them either no longer powered up or was full of bad sectors because of the packaging method. Years ago I recieved a Tandy CM-5 monitor that was broken inside because of shipping damage. For the most part things tend to make it here 100% working.