One trick I figured bitd.. if the part is dead, then you don't have to be so 'preserving' about it's removal. If you cut the pins first, then there are only the tiny pins left to remove (which can be done by flowing solder in, while using needle-nose pliers to pluck them out - using the de-soldering pump afterwards to clean the holes ). Much lower thermal-mass to deal with & it causes a lot less strain on the pcb traces. :) Hope you've had a Merry Christmas!
Thanks, yes - I've got an example of that coming up funnily enough! Although its not a good example (quite the opposite) as I cut off the WRONG IC lol. That's what happens when you do stuff in the dark lol.
Great fix and an awesome journey you've recorded there! I love it. Your logic and the way of thinking through the troubleshooting all of the issues, your patience and passion, it all says a lot about you. I guess I would've given up much sooner in the process :D Keep em coming!!!
Great video. A tip for that reset button - I find them hard to get out also so end up just cutting the legs close to the board with some snips and then desoldering each leg individually makes it heaps easier. The button is already scrap, so there's no hard in destructively removing it imo.
Your comments at 1:15:00 or so made my day. I've just ended up spending a mad amount of money fixing a Vic-20 that even Ray Carlsen said was beyond hope. But I've saved it.
@@pipschannel1222 Yeah, the poor thing...someone used the wrong PSU sending -12v up the 5v line. The final toll: 1 tantalum cap 2 6116 ram 1 2114 ram Kernal Rom Character Rom 3 74LS138 3 74LS245 6560 VIC
(@22:40) been there, done that. Those little jeweler’s screwdrivers aren’t made for tight screws. And, yes, I found that out the same way you did, but the tip of mine broke off. 🥺
Great video with lots of good info! I would like to add this: The screw hole in the top of the heat sync is for the top rf shield/cover. Maybe it is only on US versions of the console, but all of the ones I've had apart have another tin covering the entire board and the heat sync is held to it with that screw hole. Ben Heck just did a video on a Master System and you can see it there :)
Like the previous ones, this is very instructive. Thanks! For desoldering big ground planes with small tips, I've found using the hot air gun over the area works better than two irons. You only need to add a surprisingly low amount of heat all around and the good thing is it keeps working for a fair amount of time, so you have the spare hand mostly free to help. As you mention, using a tip with more mass and inertia helps a lot. My current one is a TS100 TS-K and it is surprisingly precise on the pointy side while keeping huge heat power. On the long side, it can reach simultaneously both legs of most capacitors and a few pins in ICs, and that's huge. I only return to the needle tips to do SMD with magnification. There two irons with needle tips make a fair hot tweezer to manipulate the minuscule parts.
Not surprised by the bespoke video RAM aspect, typically done to get the performance as fast as possible. That PCB/socket you suggested sounds pretty good and will be in the SMS's future eventually. Yeah pretty much a whole redo project heh. ;)
I have a master system that wouldn't play cartridges. Reflowing slot pins fixed it originally, but every time I found a fix it was always temporary. Now it's completely dead, recognizes output, but black screen.. I have not idea if this is fixable or not. And the traces are so sensitive that it feels like trying to do any desoldering will destroy the motherboard. It's sad to see such a cool looking system today actually just be cheap on the inside. 40 years later, what can you do?
Great video again Chris. 👍 Have you done a video on how to look after your soldering iron? I'm really struggling to keep mine in good condition for example mine get so oxidized that solder stops sticking to it.
Make sure the temperature is not set too high (number one tip killer); use a brass tip cleaner every time you remove the iron from the holder - and every few solder joints; leave the iron to cool down with a fresh blob of solder on it, not cleaned off. A damp sponge is more of a thermal shock than it needs too often, and tip tinner will help restore it. Keep some cheap tips for things like melting plastic.
never had one when I was younger.... 8 bit ? 16bit megadrive for me....road rash.... and dungeons and dragons :) and all them dodgy import carts.... Quality work Chris.. sorry missed you other vids... great watch while having a beer and sausauge roll.... :) you giving away all your secrets.... the only place you can reliable get chips for anything these days is maaccie deees... fries if you under 30.... N x
As a jeweller, goldsmith and silversmith We do not use screwdrivers that big. The screwdriver you used is called a terminal screwdriver. Used for tightening wires into a terminal block.
Excellent job Chris! 👌 I really get what you mentioned about how things can sometimes seem te be not worth fixing from an "economical" point of view/in terms of efficiency and they may take a seemingly extreme amount of time and effort, just like this Master System which you essentially rebuilt from the ground up, but I work the exact same way to be honest. Things just tend to get "personal" and then it's on 😁. At least to me that always seems to be the case. It's like "this baby is going to make some noise whatever the cost may be" ;-) Sometimes it just takes obsessive behavior to achieve the goals you set and when it finally works you deserve to be proud with the result and the machine you fixed somehow feels like it's really yours, which I why I always have a hard time selling the stuff I fixed myself (I always buy broken stuff) and ended up with about 50 old machines around the house 😅 They're all working though 💪
Very instructive as always ! i want to ask you something as you are a fix genius, maybe this is off subject with this video but it is Sega related :) I try to fix a Megadrive 1 with a very strange behaviour. Maybe I'll do a video but for short, it has no more FM sound only PSG except when I make a bridge with a resistor between the Z80 (pin 8) and whatever one of the two 32ko SRAM (pin 15). When I do this I have full FM sound but no DAC samples (except for Sonic 1 I get DAC audio but Streets of Rage for example has no samples DAC). I get the same results when instead of bridging a resistor, I test with a multimeter on diode mode. Important thing to mention : some games get stuck at the Sega logo and some wont even boot up. How can I know which chip is faulty ? I've looked everywhere no broken traces. Any idea ? Thanks
Without looking at the schematics I am not sure what you are bridging where! It's probably a broken trace, but if not - most likely to be one of the customs probably. On the model 2, the PSG and FM have their own power rails. Maybe you are lacking power on the FM side?
@@GadgetUK164 Thanks for replying i think i'll make a video so you can see what's happening. Concerning power, It is a Model 1 running with an official power supply.
I still vote for a cheap desoldering pump to clean the VIAs. Once the solder has reached melting point, the suction will clean the holes perfectly, the braid can be used to touch up. Been there, done that. Also isn't the TRACO going to output 6.5V if it gets a 12V input (e.g. From a mega drive PSU) and fry everything on the board?
If you look carefully at the datasheet in the video you'll see that the one that outputs 6.5v is a separate model with a number that ends in 65, the 50 he uses is definitely 5v but has the same input voltage range. I can see how you thought it'd be 6.5v, he wasn't holding things steady enough to read it properly, but he definitely has a 5v switching regulator. :)
@@PaulTheFox1988 thanks, I was puzzled how a regulator could accepts a variable input up to 36V but give out a dual output depending on the lowest input. Indeed I couldn't read the specs properly.
The Traco I used just outputs 5v, regardless of whether 7,8,9,10,11, or 12v is input. There are other models that output different voltage or provide more current.
27C512 effectively. A 27C256 is large enough for the ROM image though, the 512 is twice as big as it needs to be. Just search for SMS Boot Loader in Google to find the ROM image.
I got one that I ordered from ebay and it had a smaller extra board added to it ! I think it was to convert it to a pal unit! I removed all the added components and added in board and it plays fine but its outputting black and white as if I'm playing it on a B&W tv! Any Ideas?
It probably is a region conversion - eg. NTSC to PAL. The black and white means the colour is on the wrong frequency. If you use an RGB cable it will be in colour again, only composite and the modulator will be affected. In order to fix the colour you would likely need to change a crystal around the video encoder IC, and possibly a jumper or two.
@@GadgetUK164 ok as I said I removed the mod, which I also think was a ntsc to pal mod and it is b&w as stated! So which Cristal would it be and is that what changes the 50-60 hertz? It has been jumped from I believe pin 8 to the ntsc spot and has one more jumper that I'm not sure about! I may remove it and see what happens!
Oh what? Kim passed on? Man I'm so out the loop with social media. Rest in peace. Kim was ALWAYS nice regarding replies and DM's and stuff. FFS. I hope his family and close relatives have come to terms with their loss. Thanks for bringing it it up Gadge, I would have not known otherwise. Sigh.
Yes, it's very sad =( He was such a cool guy! I always like his posts and comments in relation to these old systems. He had a real passion for Z80 stuff.
Excellent but then I'd expect nothing less from your videos. 🙂Are there any tutorials that you'd recommend for people interested in learning soldering?
Part 1 - ruclips.net/video/xqnfgwiK4bM/видео.html
Other SMS Repairs & Mods
CRG - ruclips.net/channel/UC7C0p5DPOBkusUoGf8zIceAsearch?query=sega
SLR Mod Shop - ruclips.net/user/SLRModShopsearch?query=sega
Jays Vintage Junk - ruclips.net/user/Jayoldstuff1search?query=sega
Demot Sweeney - ruclips.net/user/DermotSweeneysearch?query=sega
Retro Game Revival - ruclips.net/user/RetroGameRevivalsearch?query=sega
These are the chips:- www.aliexpress.com/item/32696401935.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.5b6f4c4ds4iAZN
Amazing work Chris, I do remember that switch on the Mega Drive 🤣👍👍👍
Thanks Vince =D Yes, that button repair - you made it look easy!!! These ones I just can't seem to get the silicone out without tearing them =/
One trick I figured bitd.. if the part is dead, then you don't have to be so 'preserving' about it's removal. If you cut the pins first, then there are only the tiny pins left to remove (which can be done by flowing solder in, while using needle-nose pliers to pluck them out - using the de-soldering pump afterwards to clean the holes ). Much lower thermal-mass to deal with & it causes a lot less strain on the pcb traces. :) Hope you've had a Merry Christmas!
Thanks, yes - I've got an example of that coming up funnily enough! Although its not a good example (quite the opposite) as I cut off the WRONG IC lol. That's what happens when you do stuff in the dark lol.
Great video Gadget and thanks for the shout out.
No problem 👍
man that was an epic fix . well done. puts me to shame, I've a couple of master systems on my fixing pile I need to get to :D
Cheers =D Always appreciated!
I believe that Ben Heck said in his recent video that a FM synthesis expansion plugs into that connector.
Cheers =D
Great fix and an awesome journey you've recorded there! I love it. Your logic and the way of thinking through the troubleshooting all of the issues, your patience and passion, it all says a lot about you. I guess I would've given up much sooner in the process :D
Keep em coming!!!
Thanks, very much appreciated =D
Interesting video series, thanks for posting!
You could try the "2nd iron" technique to clear the block in the desoldering gun. Just to give it more heat..
Great video. A tip for that reset button - I find them hard to get out also so end up just cutting the legs close to the board with some snips and then desoldering each leg individually makes it heaps easier. The button is already scrap, so there's no hard in destructively removing it imo.
Enjoyed both of these fixes. What a journey
Cheers =D
OMG, What a nightmare to work on. You did a brilliant job on that. All the best for the new year.
Thanks! Happy New Year btw =D
Your comments at 1:15:00 or so made my day. I've just ended up spending a mad amount of money fixing a Vic-20 that even Ray Carlsen said was beyond hope. But I've saved it.
True. It's just like with old cars. Everything's repairable/savable if it's worth it to you 😀
@@pipschannel1222 Yeah, the poor thing...someone used the wrong PSU sending -12v up the 5v line. The final toll:
1 tantalum cap
2 6116 ram
1 2114 ram
Kernal Rom
Character Rom
3 74LS138
3 74LS245
6560 VIC
=D That's fantastic =D These old computers and consoles are worth the effort!
Fantastic job =D
(@22:40) been there, done that. Those little jeweler’s screwdrivers aren’t made for tight screws. And, yes, I found that out the same way you did, but the tip of mine broke off. 🥺
Those first SRAMs I got are -70 btw! Not 100nS. That wasn't the issue though!
Great video with lots of good info!
I would like to add this: The screw hole in the top of the heat sync is for the top rf shield/cover. Maybe it is only on US versions of the console, but all of the ones I've had apart have another tin covering the entire board and the heat sync is held to it with that screw hole.
Ben Heck just did a video on a Master System and you can see it there :)
Thanks that's useful info =D The position of that hole does lend itself to mounting the heatsink upright when working on it too =D
Time to design a new motherboard 😆👌
Like the previous ones, this is very instructive. Thanks!
For desoldering big ground planes with small tips, I've found using the hot air gun over the area works better than two irons. You only need to add a surprisingly low amount of heat all around and the good thing is it keeps working for a fair amount of time, so you have the spare hand mostly free to help.
As you mention, using a tip with more mass and inertia helps a lot. My current one is a TS100 TS-K and it is surprisingly precise on the pointy side while keeping huge heat power. On the long side, it can reach simultaneously both legs of most capacitors and a few pins in ICs, and that's huge.
I only return to the needle tips to do SMD with magnification. There two irons with needle tips make a fair hot tweezer to manipulate the minuscule parts.
Thanks =D Yes, sometimes I use hotair - that does make a big difference! Occasionally I will just remove DIP IC's just using hot air too!
id be using flux and a heat gun, helps removing / replacing chips etc. love the video.
it is much more interesting watching you than to watch someone that actually knows what they are doing.
LOL!
Not surprised by the bespoke video RAM aspect, typically done to get the performance as fast as possible. That PCB/socket you suggested sounds pretty good and will be in the SMS's future eventually. Yeah pretty much a whole redo project heh. ;)
I get so excited when you look at Sega consoles!
=D
I have a master system that wouldn't play cartridges. Reflowing slot pins fixed it originally, but every time I found a fix it was always temporary. Now it's completely dead, recognizes output, but black screen.. I have not idea if this is fixable or not. And the traces are so sensitive that it feels like trying to do any desoldering will destroy the motherboard. It's sad to see such a cool looking system today actually just be cheap on the inside. 40 years later, what can you do?
=/ If you cannot fix it yourself, sell it for parts / spares / repair - someone will be able to fix it!
the price on the replacement vdp are 25 dollars each now
=/
Great video again Chris. 👍
Have you done a video on how to look after your soldering iron? I'm really struggling to keep mine in good condition for example mine get so oxidized that solder stops sticking to it.
Make sure the temperature is not set too high (number one tip killer); use a brass tip cleaner every time you remove the iron from the holder - and every few solder joints; leave the iron to cool down with a fresh blob of solder on it, not cleaned off. A damp sponge is more of a thermal shock than it needs too often, and tip tinner will help restore it. Keep some cheap tips for things like melting plastic.
@@andrewmorton9683 great advice, i will get a brass tip cleaner and some new tips just so i can start afresh.
I will do something at some point =D
@@GadgetUK164 great news, happy new year 👍
Hi Mate, Great Video but what size tactile switch did you use on the reset button Thanks Mate
I used a 12 x 12 one!
@@GadgetUK164 Sorry mate i forgot to ask you what height the switch was Thankyou
Those Winbond 27C512-45Z ICs can be reprogrammed, you just have to erase them completely each time first. I use them all of the time for projects.
Yeah I was thinking the same thing. It's not a OTP rom, it's an EEPROM so you can erase it in your programmer.
Thanks! That's surprising to me as they were sold to me as OTP parts! I didn't realise these were EEPROM!
never had one when I was younger.... 8 bit ?
16bit megadrive for me....road rash.... and dungeons and dragons :) and all them dodgy import carts....
Quality work Chris.. sorry missed you other vids...
great watch while having a beer and sausauge roll.... :)
you giving away all your secrets....
the only place you can reliable get chips for anything these days is maaccie deees... fries if you under 30....
N x
As a jeweller, goldsmith and silversmith We do not use screwdrivers that big. The screwdriver you used is called a terminal screwdriver. Used for tightening wires into a terminal block.
sory to bug you bud,,, what game tune is it you use at the end of youre vids?? its awsome like youre content lol
No Second Prize =D
Excellent job Chris! 👌
I really get what you mentioned about how things can sometimes seem te be not worth fixing from an "economical" point of view/in terms of efficiency and they may take a seemingly extreme amount of time and effort, just like this Master System which you essentially rebuilt from the ground up, but I work the exact same way to be honest.
Things just tend to get "personal" and then it's on 😁. At least to me that always seems to be the case. It's like "this baby is going to make some noise whatever the cost may be" ;-)
Sometimes it just takes obsessive behavior to achieve the goals you set and when it finally works you deserve to be proud with the result and the machine you fixed somehow feels like it's really yours, which I why I always have a hard time selling the stuff I fixed myself (I always buy broken stuff) and ended up with about 50 old machines around the house 😅 They're all working though 💪
Hehe, yes - I can relate to that! When you've put crazy hours in and got it working - parting with it is then hard lol
Very instructive as always ! i want to ask you something as you are a fix genius, maybe this is off subject with this video but it is Sega related :)
I try to fix a Megadrive 1 with a very strange behaviour. Maybe I'll do a video but for short, it has no more FM sound only PSG except when I make a bridge with a resistor between the Z80 (pin 8) and whatever one of the two 32ko SRAM (pin 15). When I do this I have full FM sound but no DAC samples (except for Sonic 1 I get DAC audio but Streets of Rage for example has no samples DAC). I get the same results when instead of bridging a resistor, I test with a multimeter on diode mode.
Important thing to mention : some games get stuck at the Sega logo and some wont even boot up.
How can I know which chip is faulty ? I've looked everywhere no broken traces. Any idea ? Thanks
Without looking at the schematics I am not sure what you are bridging where! It's probably a broken trace, but if not - most likely to be one of the customs probably. On the model 2, the PSG and FM have their own power rails. Maybe you are lacking power on the FM side?
@@GadgetUK164 Thanks for replying i think i'll make a video so you can see what's happening. Concerning power, It is a Model 1 running with an official power supply.
@@GadgetUK164 I done this for you ruclips.net/video/mgmEaQc6duQ/видео.html
I still vote for a cheap desoldering pump to clean the VIAs. Once the solder has reached melting point, the suction will clean the holes perfectly, the braid can be used to touch up. Been there, done that.
Also isn't the TRACO going to output 6.5V if it gets a 12V input (e.g. From a mega drive PSU) and fry everything on the board?
If you look carefully at the datasheet in the video you'll see that the one that outputs 6.5v is a separate model with a number that ends in 65, the 50 he uses is definitely 5v but has the same input voltage range.
I can see how you thought it'd be 6.5v, he wasn't holding things steady enough to read it properly, but he definitely has a 5v switching regulator. :)
@@PaulTheFox1988 thanks, I was puzzled how a regulator could accepts a variable input up to 36V but give out a dual output depending on the lowest input. Indeed I couldn't read the specs properly.
The Traco I used just outputs 5v, regardless of whether 7,8,9,10,11, or 12v is input. There are other models that output different voltage or provide more current.
is CN4 even used ?
what chip did you use for the sms loader
27C512 effectively. A 27C256 is large enough for the ROM image though, the 512 is twice as big as it needs to be. Just search for SMS Boot Loader in Google to find the ROM image.
I got one that I ordered from ebay and it had a smaller extra board added to it ! I think it was to convert it to a pal unit! I removed all the added components and added in board and it plays fine but its outputting black and white as if I'm playing it on a B&W tv! Any Ideas?
It probably is a region conversion - eg. NTSC to PAL. The black and white means the colour is on the wrong frequency. If you use an RGB cable it will be in colour again, only composite and the modulator will be affected. In order to fix the colour you would likely need to change a crystal around the video encoder IC, and possibly a jumper or two.
@@GadgetUK164 ok as I said I removed the mod, which I also think was a ntsc to pal mod and it is b&w as stated! So which Cristal would it be and is that what changes the 50-60 hertz? It has been jumped from I believe pin 8 to the ntsc spot and has one more jumper that I'm not sure about! I may remove it and see what happens!
@@GadgetUK164 yes I was running it on a modern TV using the Sega Genesis a/v cable!
great content!
Cheers =D Appreciated!
Oh what? Kim passed on? Man I'm so out the loop with social media. Rest in peace. Kim was ALWAYS nice regarding replies and DM's and stuff. FFS. I hope his family and close relatives have come to terms with their loss. Thanks for bringing it it up Gadge, I would have not known otherwise. Sigh.
Yes, it's very sad =( He was such a cool guy! I always like his posts and comments in relation to these old systems. He had a real passion for Z80 stuff.
Excellent but then I'd expect nothing less from your videos. 🙂Are there any tutorials that you'd recommend for people interested in learning soldering?
@Damion Manuel Thanks! I've made a note of all this and I'll start practising very soon. 🙂
@Damion Manuel Great, I've made notes of all this and I'll check out this videos. Thank you for the heads up. 🙂
Thanks =D I will do a video at some point soon!
for thermal compound related mess I use something called a finger condom. lol sounds dirty but its not lol.
Just gave you the 100th 👍
Thanks!!! Great to see you here =D Hope you had a good Christmas! Happy 2022 btw =D
Nice fix did you have lots of caffeine 🙂
LOL =D Funnily enough - YES, I've been drinking a lot of Diet Coke recently to get my phosphate level up!
@@GadgetUK164 good I hope that you feel better soon and happy new year btw 🙂👍
Your videos are strangely addictive? I'm watching not really knowing what the terminology means?