I don't know who needs to hear this but...If you can not even properly unscrew a screw, please stop and never try to open anything electronic or mechanical or really anything ever again.
it may have also been a 7 year old taking it apart when they shouldn't have been. Though I had no problem using a screwdriver at that age to get into some of my toys.
I was so worried I would break something, I would be extra careful when I was younger...which might have led to my electrical engineering career path, hate to see stuff like this. Also pretty lucky 7 year old to have a TurboGrafx haha.
The two parallel traces appear separate at 23:45 but after that final cleaning around 23:50 it looks like they were bridged to each other on the right hand side.
Those aren't heat shields. They are RFI (Radio frequency interference)/EMI (Electromagnetic Interference) suppression shields. It's part of the requirement to get FCC certified so you can sell electronics in the US. They have been required ever since the 1982 Public Law 97-259 was put into place, which allowed the FCC to regulate the susceptibility of consumer electronic equipment.
Nice video👍I respect every fixer. Keep in mind that a Multimeter in Beep mode will send 3volt over your probes. It can harm low voltage parts like ic's. It's safer to use Ohm mode. Anyway, Good you found the problem and fixed it! Ps. Buy some AMTECH flux. It will make your work so much easier.
I always keep clipped component leads and paper clips on my bench to place in connectors for testing. Alligator clip to the paper clip or component lead and use the other probe to trace out a circuit. Works like a charm and you don't have to use a controller to have a reasonably accessible connection to the pins of the connector. I enjoy watching how others work through troubleshooting using their own tricks. I always say there are more ways than one to reach the same goal. Keep up the good work.
Yea i thought of buying some old console to fix for my collection but sadly thats pointless since people are wanting almost the same price for a broken system as a working one which makes it pointless.
Your videos are incredibly relaxing to watch, and I've found them super helpful in getting through these stressful times. Thanks so much! edit: it would be awesome if you went ahead and did a composite mod for the Turbografx.. I don't think it would be too tough since all the necessary signals should be present on that rear parallel port or whatever it is
If I may add a comment regarding the broken trace: it looks like the previous repair (idiot) broke the connection by prying the shell apart. My thoughts below. My best guess is that they swapped the connector port because they thought it was the issue with the controller (making the assumption that console+controller were sold together), and didn't have the correct tools to open the console properly. In order to 'fix' the issue, they damaged the shell to swap the port (you commented on a bad resoldering job), then gave up when that didn't work. Just my theory, though.
I agree with you about the trace. That mark looks like a tool mark from attempting to pry it apart. I bought the controller separately, but my guess is they were told to reflow the connector, but they didn't know how to solder and did a rough job. I highly doubt they had the skills or tools to desolder that many pins.
Shields up! Accidentally said "heat shield" multiple times. It's an "RF shielf" of course - to prevent high frequencies generated by the device to interfere with other equipment. Nothing to do with heat or cooling here.
I wonder if the other board got broken from also leaving the game in - they unscrewed everything, and then tried to pull out the board, without removing the game. The cracks would definitely line up.
21:56 The reason the solder stuck to the board and made a mess was because you kept the solder on the iron for too long. This makes the solder dirty and oxidised, and this actually can cause bad solder joints. As an electronics hobbyist, I personally would suggest only depositing solder to the tip like that AFTER you clean the tip and IMMEDIATELY BEFORE you apply the solder to the joint. If you keep the solder on the iron for 5+ seconds, consider it bad and clean the tip. And only put a large amount of solder on the tip to clean, tin, and to tin wires. I also suggest using brass sponge tip cleaners (about $5) and a soldering iron tip refresh block (around $7) as opposed to a yellow sponge. It is far more effective and helps encourage solder to stick to the iron, allowing more surface area contact and thus more heat transfer. I hope this helps!
I uploaded a similar trace repair on a UltraHDMI FFC if you want to see my technique. :) There really isn't much point to soldering one side at a time when the other side will always reflow when you heat one side. I would mask the other exposed trace with kapton tape, bend my wire in the shape of the trace, and flow solder over the whole thing while I hold it down in alignment. Once solid I wiggle the wires on both sides to break them free.
Im thinking of doing a mod tapping from inside the case and routing through a trrs connector. It'll be much cleaner than some connectors like I've seen.
“Heat shield”? You mean fcc compliant RF shield? Which no longer matters because those particular commercial television frequencies are no longer in use?
Jeez, and it looks like it was damaged because someone was trying to pry something and slipped, running their pry tool across the traces. Who keeps doing crimes to these boards?! 😢
I wish my hands were steady enough to do this. I feel there is a broken trace in my TG 16. I figure it has to be a broken trace because I tried 2 controllers and neither one wants to move upward. Atleast I know mine wasn't due to someone opening it and scrapping the daylights out of it. I had it since I was a kid, and it has been in storage for about 10 years. Decided I wanted to try to beat J.B. Harold Murder Club and unfortunately, I can't due to controller issues now.
ah interesting it wasnt a controller specific issue rather the actual console PCB. Will you consider those add-ons that go to the expansion port? That RF looks horrid
Im going to attempt to clean up the RF. I'll replace the caps and check out the modulator to make sure everything looks good. Rather than an add-on, I was also thinking of pulling composite off those pins and installing a trrs jack in place of the RF out. No case modification needed, and better video and compatibility
@@cyo_corner In theory, I could make one of these: www.ebay.ca/itm/TurboGrafx16-6ft-AV-Composite-Audio-RCA-Cable/153708340235?hash=item23c9bb240b:g:gDgAAOSwYOxeTx~S the TRRS jack might be a bit more elegant though
I love your videos, however the past few videos I have noticed a swaying motion which is making me motion sick. Not sure if there is an issue with your video camera?
Hey, man. I have a broken TG16 that has a bad VDC, VDP, or VCE and I have the equipment to salvage the chips from that cracked board. I was going to swap chips with one of my known-good systems to isolate the faulty chip and then order the right one from GameDoctor HK. Instead, I'd rather make a follow-up to your video using your cracked board if you're cool with that. :) How much do you want for it?
I have found that when fixing traces it's easier to use kapton tape to fix the jumper wire in place before soldering. It prevents letting the first end of the wire loose when soldering the second.
Do any of y'all have any experience fixing the R and L buttons on a SNES controller? I have taken the board out cleaned the contacts with IPA, removed some old excess flux and replaced all of the carbon dot silicone pads. The buttons work if I press hard, but not with normal pressure.
Sounds like either the shell is broken where the shoulder boards mount, or where the button posts mount. If the contacts and silicone pads are clean, no reason it shouldn't work unless you press hard, they'd either work, or not work. But there shouldn't be Flux on those pads to begin with, so maybe they're not fully clean?
@@RetroRepairs Thanks for the reply. I had replaced all of the carbon dots/silicone with some new replacement ones I bought. The design of the base of the silicone for the L and R is slightly different than OEM. I cleaned the OEM ones and put them back in and now it works perfectly. Seems to be a problem with the replacement carbon dots.
if that was his actual repair, i don't think i'd let him work on any of my stuff. his repair is not clean and extends onto or over the other traces that run parallel. thumbs down for this video.
My brother and I were playing pokémon (blue and yellow) a lot recently, but when we traded some pokemon the connection lost while saving and now both files happen to be destroyed... Do you have experience with that? Thanks in advance.
@RetroRepairs Hi I have an old snes I got from eBay that has a damaged multiout port [sound works] video has vertical Morse code on either background objects, sprites in gb games & some texts become blocks or impossible to read. Do you know if it can be fixed? Happens even over the 240p component mod.
The port goes out if the cable is bumped or moved, can't see any broken traces or cracks on board. I tested the cable on gcn works fine both original cable & svideo cable. Can the vram be fixed? I was gonna give this to my sister for her kids to play during quarantine, still had some old games left donkey Kong country, mario all stars, world & the gb cart. Bought it in November as "not tested as is" for spare parts or new snes, my old one wouldn't turn on the power supply needed resoldered, so is it fixable or do I have a permanently broken one?
You could try reflow all the connection points around the connector first, see if that makes a difference. Could also be dead capacitors which is very common on those boards. They lead to early chip failure. I dont really work on snes boards for that reason, so many dead chips with no replacements available
Some guy just offered to sell me one of these, if it a good price I will, the games are so expensive though. Just rebuild a model 1 genisis. Don't know if it works yet, need to get the power and av cords.
That's what I was thinking, lots of great shmups. Off topic, my Sega genesis model 1 that I am restoring just keeps flashing red light, seems like it trying to run. Should all my caps be giving me 5 volts? Some are reading less than 3, that meant those are dead?
Okay, is there any way for me to send you a picture of the area? Or a spec sheet of what they are suposto read? The console was very dirty and has some rust, the mother board is in very nice shape, could this be a reflow kinda thing? Cold solder from being exposed? And with reflowing I should Keep my iron tinned as I do it and flux 1st? Sorry Adam, pesky fan here.
The cracks in the board indicate someone tried to lift a hue card up in the slot as opposed to sliding it out, perfect cracks radiating outward from the slot.
I love what you do but I can't help but feel uncomfortable whenever I see you using a box cutter whenever you want to reveal broken traces. Why don't you use a glass fiber brush instead?
![Quick Start Gaiden Ep 3: A Two For One Deal [MSI MEGA]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/_B-fosEwTOw/mqdefault.jpg)
I don't know who needs to hear this but...If you can not even properly unscrew a screw, please stop and never try to open anything electronic or mechanical or really anything ever again.
"Don't long screw a circuit board!" - Louis Rossmann
it may have also been a 7 year old taking it apart when they shouldn't have been. Though I had no problem using a screwdriver at that age to get into some of my toys.
I was so worried I would break something, I would be extra careful when I was younger...which might have led to my electrical engineering career path, hate to see stuff like this. Also pretty lucky 7 year old to have a TurboGrafx haha.
Who needs screwdrivers when you have teeth?!
Who needs a screwdriver for console repair when you have a crowbar? 😂
well at least they didnt crack the board, looks like its just everything else this time 😂
The two parallel traces appear separate at 23:45 but after that final cleaning around 23:50 it looks like they were bridged to each other on the right hand side.
I can confirm they were not. It does look that way, not sure why,maybe the alcohol refracting light?
Those aren't heat shields. They are RFI (Radio frequency interference)/EMI (Electromagnetic Interference) suppression shields. It's part of the requirement to get FCC certified so you can sell electronics in the US. They have been required ever since the 1982 Public Law 97-259 was put into place, which allowed the FCC to regulate the susceptibility of consumer electronic equipment.
Nice video👍I respect every fixer. Keep in mind that a Multimeter in Beep mode will send 3volt over your probes. It can harm low voltage parts like ic's. It's safer to use Ohm mode. Anyway, Good you found the problem and fixed it! Ps. Buy some AMTECH flux. It will make your work so much easier.
Authentic amtech flux from store dot rossmanngroup dot com
I always keep clipped component leads and paper clips on my bench to place in connectors for testing. Alligator clip to the paper clip or component lead and use the other probe to trace out a circuit. Works like a charm and you don't have to use a controller to have a reasonably accessible connection to the pins of the connector. I enjoy watching how others work through troubleshooting using their own tricks. I always say there are more ways than one to reach the same goal. Keep up the good work.
Yea i thought of buying some old console to fix for my collection but sadly thats pointless since people are wanting almost the same price for a broken system as a working one which makes it pointless.
Your videos are incredibly relaxing to watch, and I've found them super helpful in getting through these stressful times. Thanks so much!
edit: it would be awesome if you went ahead and did a composite mod for the Turbografx.. I don't think it would be too tough since all the necessary signals should be present on that rear parallel port or whatever it is
That's my plan. It'll be easy to tap into those pins to get the signals
If I may add a comment regarding the broken trace: it looks like the previous repair (idiot) broke the connection by prying the shell apart.
My thoughts below.
My best guess is that they swapped the connector port because they thought it was the issue with the controller (making the assumption that console+controller were sold together), and didn't have the correct tools to open the console properly. In order to 'fix' the issue, they damaged the shell to swap the port (you commented on a bad resoldering job), then gave up when that didn't work. Just my theory, though.
I agree with you about the trace. That mark looks like a tool mark from attempting to pry it apart.
I bought the controller separately, but my guess is they were told to reflow the connector, but they didn't know how to solder and did a rough job. I highly doubt they had the skills or tools to desolder that many pins.
Shields up! Accidentally said "heat shield" multiple times. It's an "RF shielf" of course - to prevent high frequencies generated by the device to interfere with other equipment. Nothing to do with heat or cooling here.
Any advice on how to search for faulty games on ebay? I can't seem to find anything.
I wonder if the other board got broken from also leaving the game in - they unscrewed everything, and then tried to pull out the board, without removing the game. The cracks would definitely line up.
Possible, i suspected they forgot to unscrew the two screws there, but that could be the case as well
It's not a heat shield, it's just an rf shield. Love the videos still!
21:56
The reason the solder stuck to the board and made a mess was because you kept the solder on the iron for too long. This makes the solder dirty and oxidised, and this actually can cause bad solder joints.
As an electronics hobbyist, I personally would suggest only depositing solder to the tip like that AFTER you clean the tip and IMMEDIATELY BEFORE you apply the solder to the joint. If you keep the solder on the iron for 5+ seconds, consider it bad and clean the tip. And only put a large amount of solder on the tip to clean, tin, and to tin wires.
I also suggest using brass sponge tip cleaners (about $5) and a soldering iron tip refresh block (around $7) as opposed to a yellow sponge. It is far more effective and helps encourage solder to stick to the iron, allowing more surface area contact and thus more heat transfer.
I hope this helps!
I uploaded a similar trace repair on a UltraHDMI FFC if you want to see my technique. :) There really isn't much point to soldering one side at a time when the other side will always reflow when you heat one side. I would mask the other exposed trace with kapton tape, bend my wire in the shape of the trace, and flow solder over the whole thing while I hold it down in alignment. Once solid I wiggle the wires on both sides to break them free.
Getting composite out of the extension port is easy with some female dupont connectors.
Im thinking of doing a mod tapping from inside the case and routing through a trrs connector. It'll be much cleaner than some connectors like I've seen.
“Heat shield”? You mean fcc compliant RF shield? Which no longer matters because those particular commercial television frequencies are no longer in use?
Jeez, and it looks like it was damaged because someone was trying to pry something and slipped, running their pry tool across the traces. Who keeps doing crimes to these boards?! 😢
I wish my hands were steady enough to do this. I feel there is a broken trace in my TG 16. I figure it has to be a broken trace because I tried 2 controllers and neither one wants to move upward. Atleast I know mine wasn't due to someone opening it and scrapping the daylights out of it. I had it since I was a kid, and it has been in storage for about 10 years. Decided I wanted to try to beat J.B. Harold Murder Club and unfortunately, I can't due to controller issues now.
I guess they never heard of screwdrivers.. that looked awful.. but you fixed it. That's what counts.
My DIN controller port got stuck in my TG-16. Pulled right out of the controller. How do I get this out?
ah interesting it wasnt a controller specific issue rather the actual console PCB. Will you consider those add-ons that go to the expansion port? That RF looks horrid
Im going to attempt to clean up the RF. I'll replace the caps and check out the modulator to make sure everything looks good.
Rather than an add-on, I was also thinking of pulling composite off those pins and installing a trrs jack in place of the RF out. No case modification needed, and better video and compatibility
@@RetroRepairs I like that idea! Cheaper than the $25 add-on from hong Kong.
Yeah, and for some reason one add-on i looked at was neon green. Just repulsive
@@RetroRepairs ah i was looking at the ones without a case. just 25$ and has a genesis 2 port
@@cyo_corner In theory, I could make one of these:
www.ebay.ca/itm/TurboGrafx16-6ft-AV-Composite-Audio-RCA-Cable/153708340235?hash=item23c9bb240b:g:gDgAAOSwYOxeTx~S
the TRRS jack might be a bit more elegant though
I love your videos, however the past few videos I have noticed a swaying motion which is making me motion sick. Not sure if there is an issue with your video camera?
"I guess they didn't believe in screwdrivers or something" lmfao.
Don't they make trace repair pens for car rear windows? That might be a lot easier.
Hey I have a couple of items I would like to send to you. If you could let me know how I could make this possible
Congratulations on fixing the controller input! I hope you will challenge yourself and learn some new skills by fixing the cracked TG16.
I'm quite sure he'd be able to fix the board, but there could be a shit ton of work n many hours involved n repairing that.
i once saw a guy try and return a n64 cart he had 'shaved' down to fit into the 3.5 drive...
Hey, man. I have a broken TG16 that has a bad VDC, VDP, or VCE and I have the equipment to salvage the chips from that cracked board. I was going to swap chips with one of my known-good systems to isolate the faulty chip and then order the right one from GameDoctor HK. Instead, I'd rather make a follow-up to your video using your cracked board if you're cool with that. :) How much do you want for it?
If its some kind of problem with video output that maybe it's easier to make a AV modification.
But i think that looks like that only because that was working without shielding.
Well at least you will get one working Turbografx 16. Congratulation :)
I hope the previous owners are not trying to repair something anymore ;)
I have found that when fixing traces it's easier to use kapton tape to fix the jumper wire in place before soldering. It prevents letting the first end of the wire loose when soldering the second.
I don't believe in screwdrivers either.
Do any of y'all have any experience fixing the R and L buttons on a SNES controller? I have taken the board out cleaned the contacts with IPA, removed some old excess flux and replaced all of the carbon dot silicone pads. The buttons work if I press hard, but not with normal pressure.
Sounds like either the shell is broken where the shoulder boards mount, or where the button posts mount. If the contacts and silicone pads are clean, no reason it shouldn't work unless you press hard, they'd either work, or not work.
But there shouldn't be Flux on those pads to begin with, so maybe they're not fully clean?
@@RetroRepairs Thanks for the reply. I had replaced all of the carbon dots/silicone with some new replacement ones I bought. The design of the base of the silicone for the L and R is slightly different than OEM. I cleaned the OEM ones and put them back in and now it works perfectly. Seems to be a problem with the replacement carbon dots.
That's annoying, but glad you got them working.
Usually unless they're ripped, cleaning the silicone pads and the pcb works 95% of the time
Random question...have you ever repaired a colecovision?
Long time ago, but it was just fuzzy rf, bad solder joints on the modulator
Maybe next video you can try to get the nes toploader working now you have nes to test the chips and another new front loader not working
I've been working on that recently. Still not working yet
@@RetroRepairs Bord it self looks just fucked up. Maybe full resolder for all contacts on board may help. (just my opinion)
Good job 👍 Nice vidéo 👍
nice hurry with part 3
I.Love.This.Content. Makes me wish I still attempted repairs. One day, perhaps
if that was his actual repair, i don't think i'd let him work on any of my stuff. his repair is not clean and extends onto or over the other traces that run parallel. thumbs down for this video.
Have you tryed brain surgery with those skills?
you said what I was thinking about a head ache trying to figure out what these guys were doing when they pulled this apart.
Nice Troubleshooting man. God bless.
My brother and I were playing pokémon (blue and yellow) a lot recently, but when we traded some pokemon the connection lost while saving and now both files happen to be destroyed...
Do you have experience with that?
Thanks in advance.
Not much you can do about that, if the save file is corrupted, I'm not aware of a way to save it
I enjoyed the video cant wait to see pt 3!
@RetroRepairs Hi I have an old snes I got from eBay that has a damaged multiout port [sound works] video has vertical Morse code on either background objects, sprites in gb games & some texts become blocks or impossible to read. Do you know if it can be fixed? Happens even over the 240p component mod.
That sounds like bad vram more than a bad mutiout port
The port goes out if the cable is bumped or moved, can't see any broken traces or cracks on board. I tested the cable on gcn works fine both original cable & svideo cable.
Can the vram be fixed? I was gonna give this to my sister for her kids to play during quarantine, still had some old games left donkey Kong country, mario all stars, world & the gb cart. Bought it in November as "not tested as is" for spare parts or new snes, my old one wouldn't turn on the power supply needed resoldered, so is it fixable or do I have a permanently broken one?
You could try reflow all the connection points around the connector first, see if that makes a difference. Could also be dead capacitors which is very common on those boards. They lead to early chip failure. I dont really work on snes boards for that reason, so many dead chips with no replacements available
Alright thanks, I gave em the good one so I'll try fixing this one if I can't I'll keep it for parts & get a good snes.
Some guy just offered to sell me one of these, if it a good price I will, the games are so expensive though. Just rebuild a model 1 genisis. Don't know if it works yet, need to get the power and av cords.
If it's a good price, definitely jump on it. You can always buy an everdrive. The knockoff ones are like $40 on aliexpress
That's what I was thinking, lots of great shmups. Off topic, my Sega genesis model 1 that I am restoring just keeps flashing red light, seems like it trying to run. Should all my caps be giving me 5 volts? Some are reading less than 3, that meant those are dead?
No, i don't believe they'll all give 5v. Lots of circuitry will be working with less
Okay, is there any way for me to send you a picture of the area? Or a spec sheet of what they are suposto read? The console was very dirty and has some rust, the mother board is in very nice shape, could this be a reflow kinda thing? Cold solder from being exposed? And with reflowing I should Keep my iron tinned as I do it and flux 1st? Sorry Adam, pesky fan here.
You can email me at retrorepairsca@gmail.com
It could become " Intermittent "
See you next video !!!
I feel like a microscope would have helped speed up that traces repair.
The cracks in the board indicate someone tried to lift a hue card up in the slot as opposed to sliding it out, perfect cracks radiating outward from the slot.
:D
I think I audibly heard you gain a talent point when it finally stuck.
How do we donate games/systems to your channel? Do you have a P.O. Box or something?
Use the broken board to practice micro soldering, and a smaller soldering iron tip wouldn't be a bad idea too.
The reason the RF video was so weak at the end was indeed because of the lack of the metal shields.
part 2, still no Kona
but bless for making these videos - making me want to get into repairs alot more seriously
You also have RF issue.
I love what you do but I can't help but feel uncomfortable whenever I see you using a box cutter whenever you want to reveal broken traces. Why don't you use a glass fiber brush instead?
first
Or you could just buy yourself a TG16 Mini and save yourself the hassle of dealing with all this messy circuitry.. :)
Original consoles master race
Use clear tape to mask off the trace and use electrical conductive paint to fix the break!