Arcade & Retro Repairs & Mods, all new recipe, with no added MSG...

MrVestek · 13-06-2022 7:44am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119188744#Comment_119188744

Actually I use flux (in a pen form) and solder braid all the time! I'm quite familiar with them.

The legs that I soldered to were tiny and when I look at it through a magnifying glass the pins on the chip are bent, bridges, some traces are broken etc.

I was FAR too ambitious trying to solder directly to one of those legs. Ahh well... lesson learned! Definitely keeping this MD around as a practice board though for future learning.

I already have a "for parts" board on the way from the UK (via my mate in Lisburn because Ebay now charge customs at checkout etc which is BS) which I'm pretty sure is fine it's just that the seller doesn't have cables / games to test it out to see if it's working or not.

Even if it is broken I'm sure I can figure out how to fix it. It definitely won't be as badly broken as I managed to make mine anyway! :-D

Inviere · 13-06-2022 8:22am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119194564#Comment_119194564

I remember screwing up an MD2 before by trying to lift a pin on the cpu, they are quite small and back then i was a bit more gung-ho than I should have been, incorrect tools for the job etc.

MrVestek · 13-06-2022 10:48am

I have the correct tools, I just lack the experience. I couldn't figure out why the video switching part of the chip just wasn't doing anything... was probably something I had already screwed up in the MD2 previously as it was stuck in 60Hz video mode anyway.

Meh, feck it... I have a new board on it's way to mess up anyway! :-D

Inviere · 13-06-2022 10:59am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119195234#Comment_119195234

Ah back then I was doing jobs with no flux, cheap unadjustable soldering iron, no solder removal method other than a spring loaded sucker, no braid, no hot air station, incorrect guage wiring, no IPA, and all manner of incorrect techniques.

These days I'm much more capable given I've invested time in learning, and money into equipment. Still a lot on the electronics side to learn, it's all well and good swapping out components, diagnosing faults is where the real skill is.

MrVestek · 13-06-2022 3:58pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119195308#Comment_119195308

I've gotten pretty decent at checking for continuity and voltages with my digital wish special mutimeter. Anything beyond that though and I'm useless.

I actually managed to get a free Lytool Solder and Hot Air Reflow station because they reached out to me on Instagram to promote it in exchange for a free one, so I wasn't going to pass that up!

I've also invested in a heated version of that spring loaded solder sucker, a few roles of solder braid and flux in the form of a pen which makes it super easy to apply. I also have some solder paste in my tools chest somewhere but I haven't really found a use for that yet.

The likes of Wish and Aliexpress are fantastic for cheap (but good quality) electronics repair stuff if you can handle waiting a few weeks for delivery.

KeRbDoG · 13-06-2022 5:01pm

One of the best solder sucker tools I've used is this 'Japanese' type;

https://www.amazon.co.uk/innovative-enveloping-silicone-engineer-SS-02/dp/B002MJMXD4

The Last Bandit · 13-06-2022 9:18pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119197317#Comment_119197317

Yep, have the same one and they're great for small jobs.

MrVestek · 14-06-2022 2:37pm

Ooooooh! Added to basket to wait for pay day. :-P

Inviere · 17-06-2022 7:09pm

Just finished recapping an Amiga 600 there (thread soon, need to order some upgrades). Its a very early V1 board, with Amiga 300 printed on the pcb. The solder pads on these early boards do NOT conform to standard Amiga 600 cap kit sizes (physical cap size).

I ordered originally from Sordan, and despite their page saying the kit was compatible with a V1 board, it really REALLY isn't. Their caps won't physically fit side by side. So I had to order from another seller on eBay.

These newer ones do fit, but my god some of them are very tight. You need to slide the cap along the first pad and even slightly past it, so that the second pad is fractionally exposed and can take solder.

Anyway, job done, powered up into some Microprose Formula 1....man I love Amiga's

MrVestek · 20-06-2022 8:53am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119217093#Comment_119217093

Nice one! That reminds me... I really must open mine back up again, reattach the internal HDD and get the Compact Flash driver installed so that I can use my Compact Flash PCMCIA with 16Gb card.

Inviere · 20-06-2022 10:55am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119225596#Comment_119225596

I absolutely love the form factor of the 600, it's my favourite Amiga I think.

Inviere · 23-06-2022 7:53pm

The Amiga Cap Kit fiasco continues. Here's a current synopsis:

Amiga 500 cap kit from Sordan. X2 caps were below spec of what originally came out of the factory sealed machine. I get told my machine must have been previously opened and an ebay sticker set used to reseal it. So I order like for like values off a different ebay seller, and I complete the job.

Amiga 600 cap kit from Sordan. Several caps FAR too big for this v1 revision board, email sent, and has gone unanswered for weeks (owner on holiday I think.) I order a correctly specced kit from a different seller on eBay, and complete the job.

Amiga 1200 cap kit from Sordan. Funnily enough, this one was fine.

Amiga CD32 cap kit from Sordan. Some of the caps again out of spec based on what was in the machine originally. The Sordan ones MAY be OK to use, but no note or message reassuring me that they are. Again, email goes unanswered due to above mentioned holiday. So I order a correctly specced kit from a different ebay seller (the one I got the 600 kit from). I go to prep the machine today in order to finish the job tomorrow, and it turns out the ebay seller has sent me a kit for the A1200 instead.

F*****G hell people, how hard is it to spec a few cap kits. Queue another wait now while I wait on the CD32 cap kit to be fixed up by the seller and sent to me.

MrVestek · 23-06-2022 9:20pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119240640#Comment_119240640

To be fair to Sordan, he literally seems to buy and resell stuff from the likes of AliExpress etc so I wouldn't put the issue all on him.

He's not drop shipping but simply buying up a bunch of tech stuff and reselling for a profit. I doubt it's his mistake... but I can 100% feel your frustration.

Inviere · 24-06-2022 5:26am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119240963#Comment_119240963

3 out of 4 cap kits have issues and a **** attitude to boot? Pretty bad way to operate an online store man. The way I see it, if you're going to sell products/advertise them, it's down to you to ensure the people buying them are getting what they ordered. Passing the book to suppliers can only hold so much weight.

I get that mistakes happen, and I've always felt how a seller handles mistakes is the barometer to measure them with....so this lad has had the opportunity to rectify the issue and come away looking clean, but he blew that too. Plus I didn't mention the GoTek he sold me wasn't flashed right either and I lost hours trying to diagnose and fix it. The product to issue rate with Sordan is the worst I've EVER experienced, personally speaking.

Steve X2 · 24-06-2022 9:47am

Sordan is handy to have local and has a few decent bits for sale. But as soon as something goes wrong(faulty/wrong item) you are in for a crappy time with him. In my own experience, as soon as there's an issue he seems to be on holidays and it takes weeks to get a reply/response.

Inviere · 24-06-2022 10:20am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119242312#Comment_119242312

I've learned my lesson with him anyway, after care is usually more important than speed of delivery for me so I'll unfortunately be back to buying on ebay/EU as opposed to him.

Dublinandy3 · 24-06-2022 10:54am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119242469#Comment_119242469

I'm going to go visit my mum end of July in the UK for a week. If there is anything you can't get sent here from eBay and wouldn't mean I'd have to remortgage and/or is the size of a house I can order it and bring it back with me.

I have a UK-registered eBay account for when I used to sell there prior to Brexit.

Inviere · 24-06-2022 12:08pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119242619#Comment_119242619

An absolute gent Andy, as always.

MrVestek · 29-06-2022 10:04am

Ohh fair enough, didn't realise it was that bad.

Fair enough then.

MrVestek · 29-06-2022 12:27pm

Random question folks although not sure if this is the correct place for it.

Friend of mine is a big Duke Nukem fan and I'm going to visit her in NYC in two months time. We were talking about it earlier and she said she regretted not buying the Duke Nukem 3D game when she saw it on sale a few years ago for $150.

It's rather rare as a TechToy exclusive... so I thought that I'd make a repro of it for her as a surprise.

I notice though that out own BanjoGuyOllie's 8bitmanshed etsy shop is taking a break and none of the repro boards that I have will take a M27C322 EEPROM.

I found one on Tindie but they won't ship outside of the USA.

Anybody know of anyplace else that I could get some?

Colonel Panic · 30-06-2022 7:05pm

https://github.com/webhdx/PicoBoot - Pretty novel approach, using this will boot straight into Swiss, or any other IPL without the need for a boot disk.

I'm going to order a few RPi Picos to add to my collection of microcontroller boards and install one to see what it's like.

CiDeRmAn · 04-07-2022 11:26am

Just ordered a couple of Picos there, I have been putting off getting a decent SD loader and this seems to be ideal

Steve X2 · 04-07-2022 12:33pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119288107#Comment_119288107

Did you go for the new Pico W? The wifi might be handy for editing settings/firmware without taking them out of devices. The new Gamecube mod needs a bit of a teardown to get at it for example.

CiDeRmAn · 05-07-2022 9:54am

Yep, and then I got a strange message about a US export licence or somesuch.

I ordered from Farnell, as it happens.

They shipped the standard Pico but there's a delay on the PicoW, but I am assured it will arrive... eventually.

It does seem to be selling out, rapidly

KeRbDoG · 05-07-2022 12:08pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119288107#Comment_119288107

Just make sure your Gamecube(s) have the Serial Port 2 - seems some versions had it removed but I can't find which/when.

I think I have a few of the small SD2SP2 PCB adapters at home if you need one to save an order

Colonel Panic · 05-07-2022 12:34pm

I just pulled a DOL-101 from my big box of projects and it's missing the SP2 port! :D Goddammit!

CiDeRmAn · 06-07-2022 9:11am

I have a Japanese and a PAL GC, one of them is bound to have the port I need.

I hope!

Inviere · 06-07-2022 9:14am

How does this new mod differ to just using an ODE? Just curious...

Colonel Panic · 06-07-2022 9:31am

it bypasses the GC boot loader and boots Swiss, or any other IPL from SD card.

It’s basically doing the initial job of an ODE, loading Swiss, but by a different mechanism.

Major difference is getting a non AliExpress GCLoader is HARD and they’re not cheap.

Steve X2 · 06-07-2022 1:04pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119296867#Comment_119296867

Relatively simple to do mod as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwL4ZSa0xMo

Arcade & Retro Repairs & Mods, all new recipe, with no added MSG...

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