Reviving an old thread here!!
Ok so, Xmen is my favorite among favorite arcade games. I have 5 right now that I'd like to repair and sell most of so others can play Xmen in all its glory WITH sound - hopefully for a lifetime with proper care. Since new capacitors are a lot better made than those from 1992 (pshh.. Something about those konami boards, that year, and the same damn leaky caps that turbo duo's used... UGH)
Anyway, I repair Xmen boards and other konami PCB's that have a hybrid sound module.
This is what needs to be done and do this with care, DONT FORCE the chip, it's not extremely brittle.. But it is indeed easy to break, it's ceramic so handle it with care in mind... If you LOVE this game, you won't break it
Anyway:
1) with the chip soldered on, original caps can still be soldered on.. Spray the board, and esp the chip, with simple green. Get a toothbrush, preferably soft or used, and scrub the chip with light pressure. Don't press down on the chip hard, just scrub it with moderate pressure like you would your own teeth. This should clean up the board nicely
2) take two soldering irons set to 500-550 degrees TOPS, and place between each capacitor - should pop them off no problem, literally. Then touch up each solder pad with 63/37 solder (better than 60/40 core as it solidifies quicker and leaves less chance for a cold solder joint)... If not two irons, use chip quick!!
3) rub DENATURED alcohol on the chip, scrub again with a toothbrush. Then apply more denatured alcohol on the chip, but have an exacto/precision knife ready and LIGHTLY scrape off the black paint from the chip. This will expose the traces from the pads to the pins.
4) after the paint is removed, get a multimeter and set it to check resistance as you will be testing for continuity between each trace, pad and their corresponding pins on the ends of the sound chip. Here is where you will tell which solder pads are connected to their pins and if there is no resistance (very minimal like 0.02 or something)... If there is none, get KYNAR WIRE (28-30 awg gauge wire is fine) and jump each pad to whichever other pad or pin they are connected to.
5) most likely, leaked electrolyte has traveled underneath and may have eaten sole traces.. Maybe, maybe not.. But I wouldn't put it past me. Soo.. BUY A CHIP QUIK SMD REMOVAL KIT.. This will work WONDERS for removing the sound chip without breaking it. Trust me on this... 5 chips, all came out great with chip quik.
6) so with that said, add chip quik's flux and heat up the iron to 500, add solder and run it back and forth on the pins from the parts side of the board.. And THEN add it underneath on the solder side of the board. Then up your iron to 550 degrees and run it back and forth on the pins on top and underneath again adding solder little by little. Don't be surprised if the chip slips out of the board because like I said... This stuff WORKS
7) with the chip out... CAREFULLY, scrub it down with simple green and wash away with water, tap is fine seriously.
8) remove paint from underneath, exacto knife and denatured alcohol
9) last but not least, take ur multimeter, set to resistance, test each and EVERY of the 64 pins and their corresponding points on the three IC's on the chip. Jump each pin that doesn't connect.
If you need a diagram, search my name, GTRetro87, on the KLOV forum and searched for my Xmen thread. You'll find diagrams of the chip underneath to see where each trace goes. Some of the traces are placed within the chip and you won't see them unless you put it under a light to make them visible
So after all that, jumping pins, etc.. If need be, change he 4558 op-amp under the chip with an LM358 op-amp. Exact replacement. The AD1868 is a simple digital to analog audio converter, it does not affect sound quality.
If you have bad traces, you'll get bad Roms and the game won't start, or it will and you'll get horrible sound, possibly quiet garbly sound.. Or no sound at all. With bad caps, no sound ... Change them.
I will add a link to my thread and other resourceful threads on the KLOV forum ASAP
If you don't want to repair them, I can do it no problem