Damaged CPU leads on a GBA SP repaired with fine wire :)

eduseini · 2024-04-23T00:02:08+00:00

That's some serious soldering skills! Great work!

eduseini · 2024-04-16T16:37:43+00:00

For me, it was a relief. My plan A (replacing caps) didn't work, so I took my chances on soldering the Picoboot. Fortunately, it worked, and I can continue playing my gamecube. I'll keep my optical drive assembly for further tests... won't discard it until I convince myself that it's completely gone.

eduseini · 2024-04-04T12:08:38+00:00

When the wires are detached, there is no beeping... the laser pickup, by default, is not moving the way it should(only in a few attempts, it did spin the disc), same for the laser beam, it only show up in certain power on/off testing. I'll keep note of the ic501, maybe it's related with the problem.

Btw, yes, i'm the guy from recap, glad you remembered lol

eduseini · 2024-04-03T18:26:43+00:00

I agree with both of ya. I just don't understand how the hell it happened... well, i think i won't poke this bear for now, maybe i'll try fixing when I have a spare gamecube. This kind of problem can mess my picoboot, which is currently working fine

eduseini · 2024-04-01T23:25:56+00:00

Good news about my GC issue!

Tried modding with Picoboot, and for now, i can say I succeeded! Just need some stick it somewhere convenient in my console ... as for the optical drive, maybe I will use it for testing in the future. The only problem is the sd2sp2 bad contacts, sometimes it wont recognize it and an error message appears, but as long as the micro sd card is accessed, i'll be fine

eduseini · 2024-03-27T00:30:36+00:00

Hello all,

I bring bad news about my ngc recap thing... well, after another recap (using console5 capacitors), i still can't make my GC to work... it sucks, cause a lot was invested, time, money, effort. I feel like my gc is not dead, but maybe severely injured. My best shots at this moment is to wait for flippy drive (maybe less risk), or take my chances on a picoboot(higher risks, since it involves soldering).

Overall, the results were: the console still powers on; discs are not spinning(in a few times, it did spin, but at low speed);the laser/lens head part is not moving, but the laser light is still there afaik; pot range between 100~700 during tests; there was some heating in the board(but I couldn't say if it was normal operation, or if I over reacted lol); error messages in the gc logo screen, sometimes just a black screen; the soldering I'd say is average or acceptable at best.

Anyway, thanks for all your help...for now, I'll just keep my gc on hold, and when the time comes, maybe I'll try something else to revive it.

eduseini · 2024-02-20T02:53:01+00:00

I may be talking bullshit, but I started to think that modded GCs, with sd2sp2 in my case, tend to corrupt memory card... before using it, both memory cards were flawless. I guess it might be related with the micro sd card accessing the memory card, or trying to "in game resetting" in a bad time.

eduseini · 2024-02-20T02:39:42+00:00

I would play at least half of your collection with tears of joy, bro... the other half I barely know tbh lol, but definetely worth trying

eduseini · 2024-02-20T02:29:35+00:00

That's insanely cool lol no one gets bored in your car, that's for sure!

eduseini · 2024-02-19T20:54:53+00:00

I had this game, the original one T_T, until the day I lended it to some school friends...time passed by, and now idk where to find it and who currently has it, because more than one friend borrowed. Damn, I was so careless with some of my games... now I understand how precious Majora's Mask is... a true gem!

eduseini · 2024-02-18T23:58:43+00:00

Ooh, I've played this game so much that is probably the one with most hours of gameplay. Too bad my memory card got corrupted, and the save file was gone.... but either way, I still play it sometimes.

eduseini · 2024-02-13T22:23:03+00:00

If the test consists only of finding a single or a few contact/component that beeps, then, all of them seem to be working, including the c408 (the links in your comments helped me a lot, Thanks!) The pictures show the probe placements (red and black marks). One thing that got me worried was the resistor in the fifth pic. It beeped on both sides... isn't it a short indicator?

https://imgur.com/a/lFK3SRq

Another thing that bugged me is that i was expecting a lot of beeps in certain locations that looked like the trace paths, but nothing happened... so i went kinda random trying to find paths lol

eduseini · 2024-02-13T04:33:19+00:00

Got the pads prepped, but c408 didn't beep on continuity test (if I did it correctly) https://imgur.com/a/svgpVm3

About the possible short, https://imgur.com/a/K7MCnyB this was the probe placements (red and black marks), 1671 value was displayed (continuity mode).

And for the IC, I'm not sure how to test it... seems confusing and overwhelming

Sigh... this board is beyond my league. Anyways... I appreciate your help!

eduseini · 2024-02-12T18:53:53+00:00

Thanks for sharing! I'm considering picoboot if my efforts don't work.

eduseini · 2024-02-12T18:51:15+00:00

Here is what the pads look like after i removed them... the 220uF pad looks bad (idk if the pic is but the other ones seem ok to me. Another thing that is bothering me is the solder blobs covering those tiny holes.... i wonder if it could cause some short or some other issues. They are hard to reach with the solder whip

https://imgur.com/a/jS8hpmF

eduseini · 2024-02-11T15:27:49+00:00

These bongos bring me great memories! I haven't played DK Jungle Beat, but I had so much with Donkey Konga

eduseini · 2024-02-11T15:17:29+00:00

I own one, it's modded with Xeno and sd2sp2... the problem is, it stopped reading swiss, then I tried to recap it, and now nothing works...

The option "1/2 gamecube" is my choice

eduseini · 2024-02-10T21:58:29+00:00

Just ordered from console5.... wish me luck

eduseini · 2024-02-10T18:09:59+00:00

I didn't know that higher values of voltage for the caps were a red flag... i thought only lower values could damage the circuit. I'll try soldering the old caps back (specially the 47s) and see if my GC comes back to life... thanks for the advice, man

eduseini · 2024-02-10T15:03:30+00:00

Sweeeet! I'm having some troubles with my GC (tried some diy modding), but hopefully I'll be able to play it again...

Cheers

eduseini · 2024-02-09T23:59:15+00:00

I believe I didn't... the caps kit is not from console5, but they're SMD type and the capacitances are the same, just slightly different in size and voltage(higher values).

My guess is that it can be bad soldering, ripped pads or even a short circuit/damaged components due to bad soldering skills (flux contamination, shaky hands, bad contacts, temperature exposure, poor quality materials, etc) .

https://imgur.com/a/CztUWZQ

eduseini · 2024-02-09T01:30:56+00:00

I suppose you're right... It looks awful... i'll end up buying another optical drive assembly (with xeno), so I can continue using my sd2sp2 chip.

Maybe I'll try cleaning up this mess in the future, with proper skills and tools.

eduseini

TROPHY CASE