CD32 - Faulty IC?

xenepp · 14 January 2010, 06:15

Hi all,

I received a faulty CD32 today and have spent pretty much all day trying to resurrect it. I've gotten pretty far with it, I've replaced the CD laser, seeking motor, a few dodgy caps, though I'm starting to think it may be done for after all.

The console starts up ok most of the time and goes into games but then after a couple of minutes it just dies. It stays powered on, but the screen goes black, no sound output, CD drive stops working, just the green light. The only way to get it working again is to leave it off for a while then power it back on, only to have the same thing happen. If you power it on too soon, it'll either fail a few second in or just do nothing.

I've tried two power supplies now and tried disconnecting the CD drive to see if that was affecting it but no joy.

U2 and U3 get warm quite quickly, is this normal? They don't get hot, just quite warm.

Some of the damage to the unit was rust as I suspect it might have been left outside at one point, though I have cleaned up as much as I could and replaced any components which were visually affected.

So, before I write this off, which I really don't want to do, does anyone have any ideas?

Chain · 14 January 2010, 12:41

just an idea, check elyt caps, they may be placed in wrong direction and leaked
(those two fat assholes)

Loedown · 14 January 2010, 12:43

Greetings,
Get yourself a can of spray freeze and have a hairdryer. Simplest thing to do is run the board until it fails, then spray around on the ICs, one at a time until it starts working again. The hairdryer is only necessary to speed things up.

Take note, sometimes, after the lock up has occured, you will need to turn off the unit again to reset it, this is after you applied the freeze spray

http://www.crcind.com.au/catalogue.n...y?openDocument

as an example.

Paul

xenepp · 14 January 2010, 13:59

Yeah I checked those caps, they were fine (and the right way round) though since I had new ones of the same value on hand I though I'd swap them out anyway, no dice.

I've never used the spray freeze, I'll have to pick some up, thanks for the tip!

xenepp · 15 January 2010, 01:10

Hmm, thinking about it, will that really help much? If it's overheating then all I know is it's overheating which I sort of suspect anyway, it won't help me figure out why or what's causing it.

Loedown · 15 January 2010, 04:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by xenepp

Hmm, thinking about it, will that really help much? If it's overheating then all I know is it's overheating which I sort of suspect anyway, it won't help me figure out why or what's causing it.

Consider this, if you can isolate the problem to one thing or another, you may be able to send it somewhere to get a new part put on, ok, newish, otherwise it's a swap out job, change the motherboard and fit a new one, ok, newish one.

Causes of overheating are usually internally chip related, something gets sensitive to heat and blam, there it goes.

Paul

xenepp · 15 January 2010, 18:36

You make a fair point. At least I'll know one way or another then. It does seem like something is overheating, it'll be great if it's a cap or something too!

One question, is it acceptable to spray the freeze on it while it's running? It's a liquid, right?

Loedown · 15 January 2010, 22:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by xenepp

You make a fair point. At least I'll know one way or another then. It does seem like something is overheating, it'll be great if it's a cap or something too!

One question, is it acceptable to spray the freeze on it while it's running? It's a liquid, right?

It's designed to be used while things are on, I don't recommend it around really high voltage stuff, like line stages in TV. It comes with a fine tubed nozzle, so you can direct what you're spraying, once you isolate an area, then you can focus within that area to absolutely nail whatever is causing the fault.

Paul

rkauer · 16 January 2010, 00:27

Sounds like a broken ferrite bead in the motherboard: when it is cold, it make contact.

When the CD32 is in use it heats up, breaking the circuit.

Or the fault can be a broken solder joint. A tip: if you have a infra-red camera, turn the Amiga on a dark room with the camera pointing at the mobo. You'll see where things goes hot.

xenepp · 16 January 2010, 04:59

Quote:

A tip: if you have a infra-red camera, turn the Amiga on a dark room with the camera pointing at the mobo. You'll see where things goes hot.

That's genius, thanks for that!

I'll report back with my findings, thanks guys, really good suggestions there!

14 January 2010, 06:15	#1
xenepp Registered User Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Rochester, UK Posts: 23	CD32 - Faulty IC? Hi all, I received a faulty CD32 today and have spent pretty much all day trying to resurrect it. I've gotten pretty far with it, I've replaced the CD laser, seeking motor, a few dodgy caps, though I'm starting to think it may be done for after all. The console starts up ok most of the time and goes into games but then after a couple of minutes it just dies. It stays powered on, but the screen goes black, no sound output, CD drive stops working, just the green light. The only way to get it working again is to leave it off for a while then power it back on, only to have the same thing happen. If you power it on too soon, it'll either fail a few second in or just do nothing. I've tried two power supplies now and tried disconnecting the CD drive to see if that was affecting it but no joy. U2 and U3 get warm quite quickly, is this normal? They don't get hot, just quite warm. Some of the damage to the unit was rust as I suspect it might have been left outside at one point, though I have cleaned up as much as I could and replaced any components which were visually affected. So, before I write this off, which I really don't want to do, does anyone have any ideas?

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14 January 2010, 12:41	#2
Chain A-Collector, repairments Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Czech Rep. Age: 50 Posts: 1,536	just an idea, check elyt caps, they may be placed in wrong direction and leaked (those two fat assholes)

14 January 2010, 12:43	#3
Loedown Precious & fragile things Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Victoria, Australia Posts: 1,946	Greetings, Get yourself a can of spray freeze and have a hairdryer. Simplest thing to do is run the board until it fails, then spray around on the ICs, one at a time until it starts working again. The hairdryer is only necessary to speed things up. Take note, sometimes, after the lock up has occured, you will need to turn off the unit again to reset it, this is after you applied the freeze spray http://www.crcind.com.au/catalogue.n...y?openDocument as an example. Paul

14 January 2010, 13:59	#4
xenepp Registered User Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Rochester, UK Posts: 23	Yeah I checked those caps, they were fine (and the right way round) though since I had new ones of the same value on hand I though I'd swap them out anyway, no dice. I've never used the spray freeze, I'll have to pick some up, thanks for the tip!

15 January 2010, 01:10	#5
xenepp Registered User Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Rochester, UK Posts: 23	Hmm, thinking about it, will that really help much? If it's overheating then all I know is it's overheating which I sort of suspect anyway, it won't help me figure out why or what's causing it.

15 January 2010, 18:36	#7
xenepp Registered User Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Rochester, UK Posts: 23	You make a fair point. At least I'll know one way or another then. It does seem like something is overheating, it'll be great if it's a cap or something too! One question, is it acceptable to spray the freeze on it while it's running? It's a liquid, right?

16 January 2010, 00:27	#9
rkauer I hate potatos and shirts Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Sao Leopoldo / Brazil Age: 58 Posts: 3,482	Sounds like a broken ferrite bead in the motherboard: when it is cold, it make contact. When the CD32 is in use it heats up, breaking the circuit. Or the fault can be a broken solder joint. A tip: if you have a infra-red camera, turn the Amiga on a dark room with the camera pointing at the mobo. You'll see where things goes hot.

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