omnedon
Astra Superstar
- Joined
- Feb 17, 2004
- Posts
- 654
I just picked up a broken AES. When I got it, it had a failed Debug BIOS install (piggyback method). One of the Debugs legs was snapped off right at the plastic. I figured, oh man! Easy!
Nope.
I snipped the useless Debug IC off of original BIOS, cleaned up the solder and tested. I get a consistent garbled screen. Same garbles with a cart in, as with no cart in. It also, makes a steady( every 3 seconds) quiet 'click' noise audible through the TV speakers, coinciding with a screen flash.
I figure, well, lets pop out the old BIOS, pop in a socket, and pop in my old AES BIOS from my AES (I pulled mine out of my AES, and socketed in the Debug when I modded mine), as it's was working when I popped it out.
Soldered old BIOS out, soldered in a socket, and popped the old working AES BIOS in. Same Garbled screen, same 3 second cycle flash and click, no change at all. It's like putting another BIOS was not the problem at all.
Got out the meter. I verified continuity from each BIOS IC leg to the underside socket pin. 100% continuity. Then I started testing continuity from each socket pin, to it's trace destination on the PCB. I verified all of the ones I could, by following the traces (about 37 of them were followable), and they all had continuity, so it seems no broken traces.
That's just great. Not. No solder spatters. No obvious blown capacitors, broken or missing components. The worst looking part is gone, once I took out the messily soldered debug BIOS.
Other things to note- the unit has not had a video or stereo mod attempted to it, as all of those IC's and board areas are clean as a whistle. It also came with a third party (Ratshack) AC adapter. It was set properly, and seems fine, but it is a variable voltage AC. For all I know, it may have once been plugged in set too high, or polarity reversed. What does that do to a Neo? Are these symptoms similar?
So I'm thinking something else was damaged, perhaps when the Debug mod was attempted, something got shorted, and blew an IC?
If anyone has anything to offer, such as experience with AES's that had an improper AC used with them, or bad Debug BIOS mods, I'm all ears.
I'm not ready to call this AES 'parts' just yet.
Nope.
I snipped the useless Debug IC off of original BIOS, cleaned up the solder and tested. I get a consistent garbled screen. Same garbles with a cart in, as with no cart in. It also, makes a steady( every 3 seconds) quiet 'click' noise audible through the TV speakers, coinciding with a screen flash.
I figure, well, lets pop out the old BIOS, pop in a socket, and pop in my old AES BIOS from my AES (I pulled mine out of my AES, and socketed in the Debug when I modded mine), as it's was working when I popped it out.
Soldered old BIOS out, soldered in a socket, and popped the old working AES BIOS in. Same Garbled screen, same 3 second cycle flash and click, no change at all. It's like putting another BIOS was not the problem at all.
Got out the meter. I verified continuity from each BIOS IC leg to the underside socket pin. 100% continuity. Then I started testing continuity from each socket pin, to it's trace destination on the PCB. I verified all of the ones I could, by following the traces (about 37 of them were followable), and they all had continuity, so it seems no broken traces.
That's just great. Not. No solder spatters. No obvious blown capacitors, broken or missing components. The worst looking part is gone, once I took out the messily soldered debug BIOS.
Other things to note- the unit has not had a video or stereo mod attempted to it, as all of those IC's and board areas are clean as a whistle. It also came with a third party (Ratshack) AC adapter. It was set properly, and seems fine, but it is a variable voltage AC. For all I know, it may have once been plugged in set too high, or polarity reversed. What does that do to a Neo? Are these symptoms similar?
So I'm thinking something else was damaged, perhaps when the Debug mod was attempted, something got shorted, and blew an IC?
If anyone has anything to offer, such as experience with AES's that had an improper AC used with them, or bad Debug BIOS mods, I'm all ears.
I'm not ready to call this AES 'parts' just yet.
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