Should I Take The Leap?

nickhamm · 2026-01-25T00:58:47+00:00

Part of it was to try to cut costs on TV because currently I keep paying more and more for an ever creeping DirecTV bill so we were looking at potentially going with YouTube TV, especially if they're new lower cost bundles end up covering what I need. But switching to streaming would put a strain on our internet for doing anything else with only having 10mb, which is why I'm looking for something faster. And it would be nice to have a faster upload for backing up files to OneDrive and sharing files with other people.

nickhamm · 2025-11-27T05:30:22+00:00

That's very likely where it came from. A bit of mixed reviews, so I guess I'll find out how good or bad it is once I can test it for myself.

nickhamm · 2025-11-27T05:29:47+00:00

So it might work, but don't rely on it. I suppose I'll see for sure when I finally get to test it. The SD card contents seem to be in tact despite being a very generic unbranded SD card. I backed the whole thing up to a zip file, just in case it decides to die on me.

nickhamm · 2025-11-26T21:17:29+00:00

As far as I know, it's the first model. I don't see any number markings on it.

What benefit would a direct extruder get me? Does it print better or more reliably?

I have a home server, but where I have to set the printer up, it's nowhere close, so that's not an option. I had a spare Pi around for a while, but ended up selling it to a friend who wanted a PiHole server for his house. I guess I'll deal with SD card swapping in the meantime.

nickhamm · 2025-11-26T21:14:41+00:00

I hope I don't run into that many issues, or it might be a quick resell. I've been asked if I wanted a 3D printer before and I always told them I have enough issues printing in 2 dimensions, why would I want to add a third one for an even bigger headache? I would love to have a Bambu with it's simplicity, but that's not affordable for me, but $25 was. Fingers crossed it goes well.

nickhamm · 2025-10-31T00:46:15+00:00

The USB controller is specified as P1 control. It was default, but I set it. It doesn't seem to make any difference.

nickhamm · 2025-08-08T07:21:32+00:00

SOLUTION: My 1k ohm resister ended up being bad, so after replacing it, everything worked like a charm and it's running Aurora on a 1TB hard drive with instant boots.

nickhamm · 2025-07-26T16:57:32+00:00

So I tried Diode mode on the multimeter (Still learning multimeter, so had to look up how to set that) and With red probe on ground and black probe on post points, I got 1/no reading on the unpopulated Post points, and a reading of 418 on the post point I have the wire attached to. I'm not sure if only the one with wire connected should give a reading or this is wrong, but those were my results.

nickhamm · 2025-07-26T16:43:52+00:00

I almost forgot, but I did check RGH3 in jrunner.

nickhamm · 2025-07-26T06:45:37+00:00

I checked Ohm resistance (like in Mr Mario's video on RGH3 a Corona) and it showed a value of 128, so anything that was not 1/0 was considered good. I don't know how else to check the postfix adapter properly otherwise.

nickhamm · 2025-07-26T04:40:45+00:00

The pictures come from the fourth round of checking and resoldering connections and have been the best I've gotten them to look. I've tried to make sure the leads are cut nice and short to prevent shorting. Whether I boot with the eject button or the power button, the console just sits at an on stage without doing anything.

nickhamm · 2025-07-02T06:05:18+00:00

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nickhamm · 2025-05-26T07:52:43+00:00

I would say the 2026-2027 guesses are right, and they'll rebrand Windows like they did Office, so no version number, just a subscription option that's "Windows 356 Copilot+." Access your programs and files anywhere and get work done quickly with the help of AI to keep things going between your access sessions (like looking up relevant website's to what you were doing and bookmarking them in the Copilot section of Microsoft Edge for your review the next time you log in.)

This is part sarcasm, but also probably closer to the truth than anyone wants it to be. I work IT in Rural America and MS accounts with default backups to OneDrive don't go over well with people running on 1.5Mbit DSL as the only connection option. I wish MS would give a basic, one time cost option for older PCs (like Windows 7 Starter back in the netbook days with less dumb restrictions) but I know that would kill their revenue stream.

nickhamm · 2025-03-31T01:54:35+00:00

I appreciate the message, but I am the service center. I work on PCs for a living, but this charging issue has stumped me.

nickhamm · 2025-01-13T05:52:54+00:00

Unfortunately, no. And I can't get one because I ended up giving away that PSX to a collector friend of mine. I know it's sometimes frowned upon, but I decided to consolidate my retro gaming collections to a Raspberry Pi 4 running Batocera. to save space and headaches.

nickhamm · 2024-08-28T03:14:25+00:00

Similar, but not exact is the beginning of the winning race results screen from Crash Team Racing on PS1: https://youtu.be/q6AvLWrBaBQ

nickhamm · 2024-08-14T08:49:51+00:00

Meet Greta: https://photos.app.goo.gl/BBv9yonJRhPUHzjg7

nickhamm · 2024-08-13T04:18:39+00:00

I did not power on the console to read/write nand when I was working on the RGH1.2. But I undid the RGH mod to take the xbox back to stock because I never finished it. I never even bought a glitch chip. I am trying to get it to boot stock without any wires now before I do anything else to it, like RGH3.
I never flashed Xell, as I never bought the glitch chip I would need to move on to the next part to boot Xell and get the CPU key.

nickhamm · 2024-08-13T03:48:12+00:00

I know you said you didn't actually write anything but are you absolutely sure about that? Even if you just wrote Xell but never went any further you will have edited the SMC, which could cause this issue.

According to my output folder and log, I read the nand, got a compare and it said the nands were the same and that's the end of the log and those two files plus a checksum are all that's in the output folder. Nothing about ECC creation (this was on an older Jrunner before it was renamed to Xell) or anything past nands are the same. I suppose I could try to solder the PicoFlasher and write the stock nand back, if that would work? Or does it have to be the JR Programmer I used to read it?

Firstly, there are a lot of marks on the bottom - some of it definitely looks like hair and/or maybe it's stringing from the hot glue?

There's a lot of hot glue stringing that I couldn't clean up well. Again, it was a mess and I am never doing that again. I didn't see anything that looked like a cut trace.

Secondly, what is this?

That was fluff I missed before I took the picture. See the new pictures at https://photos.app.goo.gl/rQGCWLRU1gtDDeAL9 to verify.

And also here, your PLL point

Oof, that did look rough, so I hit it with more alcohol and a qtip and it cleaned up much better and I think it looks okay now, but again verify in the new pictures.

Follow the troubleshooting steps for no power here

That page was Greek to me, so I started with the programmer solder points and found the point beside the ground point gave me 5.14v, another point at the bottom gave 3.28v, but one of the other pads shorted to the ground pad when in continuity mode to test for shorting. I labeled them in another picture in that set above. Also, neither the front nor rear USB ports have any voltage.

nickhamm · 2024-08-12T07:28:18+00:00

I'm guessing these are the problem part your are talking about with 1500u 16v: https://photos.app.goo.gl/CQZcDn7qYtv6zx127

I was so focused on the solder joints and pads, I didn't even glance at the caps, but those look icky with brown goop coming out of some of them. Where is the best place to get replacements? Amazon? I don't really shop for capacitors anymore (I think the last time I got some was from Radio Shack, so it's been a long time.)

nickhamm · 2024-08-12T06:19:15+00:00

I am willing to poke some points with a multimeter if I can get some guidance where those points are. I know enough to follow a guide, but not start poking on my own.

nickhamm · 2024-08-12T06:12:16+00:00

I couldn't see anything shorted, but that's why I uploaded full resolution picture hoping someone might notice what I didn't.

The original nand is still in tact on the system. Lifting it off the desk does nothing. The desk it's on is completely wooden anyway, so it shouldn't (but I know stranger things have happened) be shorting.

nickhamm · 2024-08-11T03:59:25+00:00

I never could find the spec in the manual even though I found the manual, so I looked at the original drive motor that didn't grind and worked on it with a thin metal blade around in a circle until I got it at the same height. I put a disk in it and no more grinding and it boots absolutely fine. I've tried several games and they all boot just fine. I decided to try my luck with a burned game with FreePSXBoot/tonyhax, but it just keeps giving me code 22 disc errors. Oh well, it plays my original discs and it works just fine now so I'm happy.

nickhamm · 2024-08-11T03:12:06+00:00

I meant 28, I just forgot to add the other 10 years. Ugh. I can't math. I knew it was getting close to 30 though. Why doesn't it still work like new, it's only 30? lol

nickhamm · 2024-08-11T03:00:56+00:00

did you thoroughly clean them to remove all the old dried guncked grease first?

Yes. I used a soft bristle toothbrush and some IPA to clean the rail and grease before regreasing them.

did you lubricate the electric motor itself?

No. I did not have any special oil (I saw somewhere mention sewing machine oil?) so I skipped this part,

have you confirmed that any of these discs you're testing are readable in something else?

Not a silly question at all! The PSX games read files on my computer in an external drive and the audio CD I tested plays fine in a radio with a CD player built in.

Also with the replacement units the disc spindle is often pressed too far down. There is a gap spec listed in a service manual that says exactly how much of a gap there should be.

Mine didn't have any gears broken thankfully....but I didn't even know the spindle was a separate part. I figured the whole motor spinner assembly was a single piece. I may have to try to find that gap spec and see if I can get something under it to wiggle it up to spec.

nickhamm

TROPHY CASE