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hi, just got my vintage dragon32 out of my dads attic, which was fully working in 1984 when we boxed it back up and plugged it in and it started smoking out the back. Does anyone know what the problem could be and if its terminal. Im also missing the cable that goes from the dragon to the tv - are these easy to get hold of? I am intending to sell once i know the problem, any help would be helpful thanks

Welcome to the forum.

I would first open your Dragon up to see if there are any noticeable burn marks, if there are any this will help in locating the problem area. (There are ways, apparently, of removing the stickers that cover the screws without damage but I cannot recall what they are. So if you are concerned about damaging these stickers you should wait until someone posts a removal method.)

As Alastair said, looking visually is a good place to start. There are probably some people on here who would take a look (I'd have a go) but there'd be shipping costs etc. It may or may not be repairable, it's hard to say without investigation.

As you're planning on selling it anyway, if selling it on eBay, you could be better being honest and selling it for 'spares/repair' without the cables. Even those often go for £20+. I've bid for quite a few, and always get outbid...

Posting pictures of the Dragon's motherboard and PSU PCB would be very helpful and we could give you better diagnostics.

I've had a couple of D32's release the smoke and in both cases it was C11, a tantalum cap on the 5V line near the power connector on the main board. The damage wasn't that obvious unless you looked right at it:- There was slight discolouration and a tiny bead of metal that had 'sweated' out of the cap. It's an easy fix if you're handy with a soldering iron.

hi all dragon forumites really appreciate all your advice fantastic thank you really would like the dragon fired back up sorry about the pun and back to its former glory feel i owe it to my mum who spent a lot of money on it back in the 80s when she really couldnt afford it .Wasnt her fault i wanted a zx spectrum and hardly used it .the passion you guys have got for your vintage machines is great an makes me want to redouble my efforts to get it fixed .Im completely non computer savvy but live near leicester and if any of you guys live locally would appreciate some one taking a look to see if its salvageable happy to pay a small amount for a fix thanks all
smoking dragon

On my "new" Dragon 32, bought as broken, it was the capacitor C5 that was busted (don't know if it would give off smoke though). It probably died from sitting close to the resistor R5 which is just one big heater / energy waster.

If you wouldn't find any Dragon experts in Leicester, I'd suggest you bring it to a local hackspace or similar and I am sure there will be people happy to look at this old marvel and figure out what's broke! Heck, isn't Leicester where there is a Retro Computer Museum? There must be plenty of retro lads around If you find someone to look at it but Dragon-specific guidance is needed, I can sure try to help out via Skype for instance.