01 // DIAGNOSEEvidence before parts
Voltages, continuity, clocks, reset lines, known-good comparisons and repeatable symptoms guide the work.
Behind the bench
I’d rather measure than guess.
I’m Rob, a repair enthusiast based in Shropshire with a background in software quality engineering and testing. That combination naturally leads to one habit: reproduce the problem before claiming to have fixed it.
02 // EXPLAINPlain-English findings
You should know what was checked, what was found and what remains uncertain.
03 // RESPECTPreserve the hardware
Repairs should be appropriate, reversible where practical and sympathetic to the machine’s history.
How it started
From faulty boards to a proper repair bench.
Curiosity became a workshop
Arcade boards, classic consoles and handheld restoration created a growing collection of diagnostic tools—and an even longer list of questions worth investigating.
Testing became the point
The interesting part was never blindly swapping components. It was following a symptom through power, logic and signals until the fault made sense.
Retro Rob Repairs began in 2026
The workshop now accepts selected jobs that match its current tools and experience, while the repair process is documented openly on youtube for other learners and owners.
A realistic service
No fake certainty.
Some repairs are economical; some are not. Some faults require unavailable custom chips, specialist BGA equipment or donor parts. If the job is outside the current scope, I will say so.
That honesty matters more than promising every machine can be revived. The goal is to give each accepted job a careful, technically sensible assessment and communicate the result clearly.