02 April 2010, 13:21 | #1 |
Italian Amiga Zealot
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Repairing a BlizzardPPC
Here's another tale of hardware pr0n and soldering
Just received this BlizzardPPC from fleabay. It has come in pretty bad shape, but I'm sure I'll be able to fix the _most_ of it. Well, let's start! This is gonna be some hardcore pr0n! That's the main damage. Crystal sockets totally screwed up. I hope there aren't connections in the middle of the board, seeing it's a four layered one. Gunk and bent pins EVERYWHERE on the PPC. Another nice view of where the oscillators were. I can see something in the holes. I really hope that it hasn't something to do with the middle layers, as I don't really know how I could fix something like that A small resistor got killed here I presume it's the same value of the others, but if someone could check on theirs BlizzardPPC, it would be great. The oscillators "sockets" again. The battery seems to have leaked, or something. The pins have some brown gunk on them. And now THIS I don't know what happened to this poor dropout regulator, but it HAS to be replaced I hope it hasn't fried something, if the guy tried to fire this card up in these conditions. So, got any hints, mateys? If someone could send me REALLY high-res pics of the area surrounding the "sockets", it would be great Gonna clean the board today. Thanks! |
02 April 2010, 15:10 | #2 |
Precious & fragile things
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Better you than me.
Not sure of the oscillators on a PPC, but they should be little more than voltage in, ground and clock out, so although the board may be multi layer, it won't be too hard to figure out where everything goes. Advice for straightening the pins, use a scalpel blade *VERY* carefully, too much force on those and very easy to snap. |
02 April 2010, 15:26 | #3 | |
Italian Amiga Zealot
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Quote:
Yup, that's my favourite method too. Did that on my M-Tec 1230LC |
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02 April 2010, 15:41 | #4 | |
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Quote:
My understanding of accelerators is good, but I haven't had anything to do with PPC units, even if you're clocking the ram at a different frequency, you still need to be able to syncronise it to the main clock, which can be done, but it makes far more sense to run some form of clock division, to keep everything in step. |
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02 April 2010, 16:02 | #5 |
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whoever did those 'mods' needs a smack.
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02 April 2010, 16:02 | #6 |
Longplayer
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http://xoomer.virgilio.it/giorsign/overclock.html
Amazing that this site is still online after all these years. Plenty of good info for sorting your timming crystals on it . |
02 April 2010, 16:16 | #7 |
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This is awful! Someone loves to give pain to poor innocent hardware
Try your best to heal him... And the brown thingie on the pins is probably flux, you can clean it with qtip + acetone or isopropanol alcohol. Oh, the missing resistor is probably a 4.7k (472 = 47 + 2x 0 = 4700!) ohm too, as you stated. Last edited by 8bitbubsy; 02 April 2010 at 16:23. |
02 April 2010, 22:12 | #8 | |||
Italian Amiga Zealot
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Quote:
You can say it Quote:
Quote:
Yep, it's flux. But it's gum-like... and I don't have a single bit of isopropanol alcohol here I'll have to use acetone. I usually use rubbing alcohol. Not the best, but it works. I'll try to source the oscillators locally tomorrow, but I'm pretty sure I'll have to order them online And let's not forget about that dropout regulator too! I'll update as soon as I'll have some news. EDIT: Fixed all bent pins. I've also done some research on the dropout regulator. It should have a LT1580 CT7-2.5 which has 7pins, instead this one is a LT1580 CQ with only 5pins. I'm not really certain about it's compatibility (I haven't checked the datasheet yet), but it does seem like a good soldering job, so who did it was probably competent enough to not place there something totally wrong. Still, I'd find preferable to replace it with the original IC, or at least a 7-pin compatible one. Sadly the CT7-2.5 isn't in production anymore. My best bet are either a LT1580CR-2.5#PBF-ND or a LT1580IR-2.5#PBF-ND from Digikey. The missing resistor should prove fairly easy to replace. Obviously, the hard part are gonna be the oscillator sockets. I'm probably gonna do some tests by having floating 30awg wires soldered to some oscillator sockets, before doing something "definitive". Last edited by jbenam; 03 April 2010 at 03:20. |
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04 April 2010, 17:46 | #9 |
I hate potatos and shirts
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A few tips:
Use round pin sockets on the crystals. Buy some IPA ( = isopropanol = ISO = etc), acetone is not good for electronics! Digikey prices are not good, try Futurlec from England, I think you'll not regret it. Stachu100 (Poland guy) from Amibay is replacing old PPC CPU (your is a slow 160MHz unit) for 300MHz ones at a decent price. |
04 April 2010, 19:12 | #10 |
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>acetone is not good for electronics
??? Why ? |
04 April 2010, 21:05 | #11 | |
Italian Amiga Zealot
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Yep, I'm gonna use round pin sockets. It's gonna be quite difficult to find some locally. I'm probably better off buying some IC socket with round pins and take them from there I've searched locally for IPA in the past, no luck. I'll try again. Sadly, I've searched on Futurlec, and while it has good prices, it has nowhere the assortment Digikey has. Mainly I haven't been able to find the Very low dropout power regulator replacement nor the half-size oscillators this little Blizzy PPC currently needs. I guess I'll really have to go with Digikey Yeah, I've followed Stachu's threads. Pretty nifty work there. But I'd love to do that myself... still dunno how, but I would like to try But that's a bit of ahead-thinking right here, huh? Well, I'll post some updates as soon as I'll get some components Really thanks for all the help |
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05 April 2010, 02:22 | #12 |
I hate potatos and shirts
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05 April 2010, 07:24 | #13 |
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>Acetone attacks the varnish
No... Not in France... Maybe in Brazil, but not here ! >weak plastics Yes ! |
05 April 2010, 20:37 | #14 |
I hate potatos and shirts
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Acetone softs nail varnish, which is pretty similar to board lacquer.
In Brazil or in any other place of the world. |
06 April 2010, 11:00 | #15 |
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Im about to order some SMD resistors for the ppc multiplier.
Could someone tell me the specs of those other than 4.7kOhm? Im thinking of size etc.. Edit: Size is 0603 Thanks. Roomeo Last edited by roomeo; 06 April 2010 at 13:07. Reason: found out what i was looking for.... |
06 April 2010, 18:27 | #16 |
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You can always use "normal" big resistors too, but be careful with the solder pads. They can be lifted up too easily.
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06 April 2010, 21:40 | #17 |
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You do this and you are absolutely invoking all the trouble in the world, one accidental knock and goodbye SMD pads. Find an old PC motherboard, they have heaps of resistors and aren't hard to change.
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15 May 2010, 11:14 | #18 |
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It's looking really bad, but it's possible to be repair. I don't know what happend to the regulator, but I think it's not big problem. Signal connection from oscilators are inside PCB.
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15 May 2010, 13:30 | #19 |
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How on earth could anyone treat such a rare and valuable piece of hardware like such a piece of shit?
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16 May 2010, 03:09 | #20 | |
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Quote:
I have tried to have track them, and they all seem to be connected all on the (first?) surface layer, luckily Too bad that I still haven't had time to order all the parts from Digikey! Don't even tell me, mate |
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