Hardware Mods - the thread of "wtf is shorting out this time?!"

[Kazin]

Ngl I feel pretty good right now, even though the problem was my own fault lol

So I was installing a new power switch into my spice orange GBA because the one that was in there was pretty wonky - the battery light flashed red and green all the time because the old switch was pretty dirty, and no matter how I cleaned it it still did that. So, I decided to swap in a new power switch. I got all the pads save 1.5 desoldered fine - half of one remained, but I completely ripped off the other one. Luckily, the two affected pads were just grounds! So using the half good pad, I just bridged the two pads together, put the GBA back together, and was super relieved when it powered on no problem. Whew!

 

[lincolnic]

If you're lifting pads off circuit boards, you've probably got your iron set too high. Try turning the temperature down a bit, or if it can't be adjusted, make sure you're only applying the iron for as long as it takes to make/break your solder joint. Too much dwell time can have the same effect.

 

[Kazin]

Nah, it's because I got impatient thinking there wasn't much solder left, so I pulled up on the switch and literally ripped the pads off.

 

[lincolnic]

That'll certainly do it!

 

[Kazin]

Cross your fingers for me - I'm going to be installing this tonight after work. Hopefully I'll have an HDMI-out enabled N64 sometime tonight. I've done a PS1 XStation, though this is going to be a tougher install with finer soldering - I'm going to take my time on this, use flux, and hopefully not ruin my N64 (though I do have a backup, so I can keep playing Paper Mario if I bust this one). Hopefully I post a lovely picture here later, around 6 or 7 PM EST.

 

[John]

Good luck! I'm always wary of soldering to small pin package legs, but that one doesn't look as bad as others.

 

[Kazin]

It doesn't look too bad, but if I successfully complete it, it will be the most difficult mod I've done to date lol. Thanks @John!

 

[Falselogic]

You got this @Kazin !

 

[Kazin]

Thanks @Falselogic - I did! Hooray!

Here's a pic of my N64 hooked up to my plasma HDTV (the white vertical lines are not on the screen, that's a reflection of my window in the background, the plasma TV is extremely reflective):

Here's the hard part, which took a while but I went slow, used liberal amounts of flux, and after one failed attempt, I redid the joints and it worked, here's the result (sorry about the blur, but this is quite zoomed in with my phone):

For scale, here is the completed soldering job, with my pinky in shot:

Whew. Now to go buy another mini HDMI to HDMI cord, since I didn't realize this used that weirdo connection too, as my Gamecube does, so now I need two lol.

 

[Sarge]

Wow. Good job - I haven't attempted anything that finely pitched yet!

 

[lincolnic]

Sweet Jesus, that's way too much SMD soldering. Nicely done!

 

[Kazin]

Thanks everyone. It's amazing how little solder I used - tons of flux, though. I hope this doesn't make me cocky and ruin the rest of my systems trying to HD mod them all lol

Still wish I could figure out what's wrong with my Twin Famicom RGB mod though.

 

[Kazin]

Had to log back into Twitter for the first time in months to beg the maker of this Turbografx/PC Engine mod to sell me one:

S-video and RGB out for a Turbografx/PC Engine is a beautiful thing. The PC Engine and Famicom are the last two systems I have hooked up via composite, and being able to cross one of those off to be s-video to my CRT would be amazing... Though I'm going to have to probably pick up ANOTHER s-video switcher, I already have two hooked up lol. Currently seven systems hooked up to it. I suppose I could just use composite on my backup Gamecube since I really only use that for GBA to Gamecube connectivity currently...

Anyway, so excited to pick one of these up, and eventually a Turbo Everdrive Pro when I can. After all that effort with my PC Engine CD, I'll probably end up selling it... though that'll likely pay for all this stuff, at least.

 

[Kazin]

My GDEmu came today, works great. I haven't played a Dreamcast in like 15 years. Why is Shenmue controlled with the dpad?!

 

[Kazin]

The PC Engine Turbonanza mod came today (that was fast!) and I installed it. The picture is beautiful on my s-video CRT.

Everything works and I'm going to leave it hooked up as is, but that Saturn din connector is barely hanging on in there. I have both some solder and superglue trying to hold it in place, but despite scraping the absolute heck at the solder mask where I was trying to mount it with solder per the instructions, it didn't want to stick. Pretty frustrating! And here I thought desoldering the RF modulator was going to be the hardest part lol

 

[Kazin]

This PC Engine Turbonanza mod is even better than I thought - I thought I'd have to get rid of my PC Engine CD, but the video output is done through that port I installed - meaning it works just fine with the CD attachment, I just need to source audio from the headphone jack on the side of the CD unit! This absolutely rules, because now I can keep my small CD collection, and still use the Turbo Everdrive Pro for CD games I don't own.

 

[Sarge]

Very nice! I wonder how it stacks up to older S-Video mods for the system? I bought my PC Engine Duo with an S-Video mod, but apparently the way that they were done gets some composite noise in the line. It still looks good, just not as good as it could. I could fix it if I cut a trace, but I'd lose the ability to bump out composite, and I really don't want to do that. I suppose I could install a switch to enable/disable composite? Anyway, first-world problems, haha.

As of late I've been using my MiSTer for TGCD stuff, and if I didn't have a Duo, I'd probably sell the Turbo EverDrive I have and get the Pro because I'd love to play more on my real hardware. (The MiSTer core is fantastic, though.)

 

[Kazin]

No idea, I didn't know there was an s-video mod for the PC Engine before this one (though I don't have a Duo, so maybe there wasn't for the CD System 2/PC Engine combo). It looks super clean to me, I don't see any noise in the image. Much better than the composite I was using!

I ordered a $15 repro of Ys IV on CD off Etsy which comes with a case, mainly because it'd cost probably that much to just burn my own CD anyway since I don't have any blank CDs (and certainly no case or printer to print case art), so that'll be fun, when I get around to it.

 

[Sarge]

Getting the right discs is a pain, anyway, depending on your laser. I think we talked about this for, I struggled finally finding a brand of CD-Rs that mostly works fine (Verbatim Data Life Plus).

 

[Kazin]

Received and recapped a PC Engine GT (known as a Turbo Express in America) today. When I got it, it turned on, but there was absolutely no sound and the picture was extremely dark, no matter how I adjusted the contrast.

Ran into a bit of a problem pretty early on in the recap, though:

That pad came off like nothing. There was a lot of capacitor leakage on the board, and I think it ate through the pad and when I went to take the capacitor off it came with it. I was not putting much pressure on it at all. Luckily, the repair wasn't too bad - when I installed the new capacitor, I kept the leg pretty long, scraped some solder mask away on the trace the pad was supposed to be on, and soldered the leg to it:

Was very relieved when I tested it with my multimeter and there were no shorts. Proceeded to successfully recap the rest of the board, and along with my Turbo Everdrive Pro:

It works! And the sound on max volume is ridiculously loud, it startled me when the Konami logo played the sound lol

Still not out of the woods completely, though. Had to order a carbon pen, because the 1 button doesn't work (and didn't before the recap). Those turbo sliders in the center of the system aren't in great shape and aren't making contact with the board no matter how I bend their pins (well, 2 is working just fine, but 1 isn't). Apparently the carbon pen worked for someone else who had the same problem a few years back, so hopefully this resolves things for me.

Once I confirm the 1 button works, I have a screen mod ready to go that I'm going to install as well, get this thing looking crisp. Looking forward to putting some time into this thing. It's hefty, but feels pretty good, as near as I can tell. Heck, the screen isn't even that bad, really, though the upgraded one will be much better, of course.

 

[Sarge]

Dang, good fix, Kazin, and that looks fantastic. I can certainly see why you'd want one, and seeing Rondo running on there is awesome.

 

[Kazin]

Thanks! Unfortunately I had to order a fanmade controller board because even with the carbon pen, I can't get my 1 button to work. Somebody in France makes them and has already replied to my PM from the PC Engine Fans Forums (which I had to join to send said PM), so I sent him about $38 USD and I'll get my controller board... eventually. No idea how long shipping will take. I'm going to wait to install the screen mod, which is fine, since I do have a working PC Engine upstairs anyway.

 

[Sarge]

Ah, man, that's a bummer, hate the carbon pen didn't work. I wonder if that would fix the issues I get with my start/select buttons in NES/SNES controllers? When I clean them up, they work well for a while, but after some disuse they become really hard to get to contact again.

 

[Kazin]

Yeah, the carbon pen seemed like it'd be a temporary fix at best, and these things are known to fail pretty regularly, even though the single capacitor on it looked fine to me (though I replaced it anyway during the recap). I could - and may while I wait for the replacement - attempt to scrape away some of the carbon and bodge some wire across the turbo section, but who knows how well that'd work. I mean, this looks like a freaking mess to try to attempt, to me:

 

[Sarge]

Seems like the route you took should be a bit easier, yeah. Hope you get it in soon!

 

[Becksworth]

My Nintendo Red joycons are finally starting to drift after 4 years, so I thought I'd try my hand at replacing them with those hall sensor sticks while the kids are away for the summer. I also found a shell casing that looks to be close to Nintendo Red but has a d pad instead on the left joycons, so I'm thinking of getting that while I'm there and upgrading my old atomic red joycons instead (their batteries probably have less wear on them anyway). Either way I'll people know how it turns out once I get everything.

 

[Kazin]

@Becksworth Nice! It's not too bad - I don't have the hall sensor sticks, but I did just buy a new joystick for my Switch joycon a few years back and it wasn't too big a deal to replace (though it seems to be starting to drift again, because of course lol). Main thing is to be gentle with the ribbon cables, they are small and probably easy to break. Good luck!

 

[Kazin]

Follow up to my PC Engine GT woes - the replacement PCB from France came today and works flawlessly. Whew! That's quite a relief considering how much I paid for this damn thing.

Tonight I'm going to try to install a modded screen in it, though. Got a new desk to do it at and everything, rather than have to drag all my equipment wherever a free spot in the house is (usually my work desk lol). I'll try to post pictures of both the hopefully working mod and my new desk tonight. Cross your fingers for me!

 

[lincolnic]

My Nintendo Red joycons are finally starting to drift after 4 years, so I thought I'd try my hand at replacing them with those hall sensor sticks while the kids are away for the summer. I also found a shell casing that looks to be close to Nintendo Red but has a d pad instead on the left joycons, so I'm thinking of getting that while I'm there and upgrading my old atomic red joycons instead (their batteries probably have less wear on them anyway). Either way I'll people know how it turns out once I get everything.

My old roommate recently swapped his drifting Joycons for the hall effect versions and said they're great. Like Kazin said, just be mindful of the ribbon cables, but everything else should be pretty straightforward.

 

[Kazin]

Absolutely epic bork job, easily the worst attempt at modding I have ever done, and of course, on a $400 device with an $80 screen mod. It is beyond repair, too:

I don't entirely blame myself for this, since it happened so fast and just happened to drip in one of the WORST POSSIBLE SPOTS, but as I was soldering one of those wires and pulling my iron away to sheath it and move on to the next wire, a blob of solder just plopped under those pins (I mean, it is my fault, but I was not flailing around and had to get the iron away from the board somehow). I tried to free it/repair the bridges with flux paste, solder sucker, and wick, but couldn't get to it, so as a last ditch effort, I tried my heat gun and absolutely ruined everything:

That ribbon cable may be repairable, I wouldn't know, but it doesn't matter, because even if it is (and I don't think it is), the board is cooked. I lost a tiny component somewhere and I don't think the chip is soldered back into place appropriately. Best case scenario somebody on eBay wants this board for parts. Can't bring myself to start listing it at the moment.

Gutted.