PC-Engine Duo-R - a few issues

wyndcrosser · 09/16/2013, 08:44 PM

Update: So, I finally got my pc engine power adapter in the mail and after some thorough cleaning of the motherboard the little bastard started up.

Now, I just need a controller to test the CD portion, as I've read you need to hit run to start it up.
Has anyone ever had cut on the PCB board of a Duo-R near the controller port? On the solder side there's this nick, I'm waiting for the controller to show up so I can test the port.

I received this unit used, telling it it worked. The only issue is that I received 13 games and the console, but no cables, or controllers.

It arrived today, and I tested the unit with a Mega Drive 2 Adapter, no dice. I took it apart and realized that the DIN port and Power socket were broken loose in their solder sockets. I resoldered both correctly.

I powered it on... and nothing. Now, there are three points on this power socket, two of the ports are connected with solder, I wanted to make sure that these shouldn't be separated some how.

I checked the fuse and it seems fine, no breakage.

My goal next is to replace the two 7805 power regulators (I've had to replace these in Sega Nomads in the past) and I purchased cables and power supplies from GameDoctorHK as well. Anyone have advice where to look after this? I left my multi-meter on, so the battery dead. I'll have to pick up a 9v tomorrow.

Have a good night.

Wynd

EvilEvoIX · 09/16/2013, 08:56 PM

Wow quite the list of trouble shooting you've gone through. What did you pay if you don't mind me asking? I'm mostly concerned that the seller stated that it works when it clearly doesn't. Was it an eBay deal or even a seller on this site?

wyndcrosser · 09/16/2013, 09:43 PM

For the games + unit I paid $160.

I searched the "Sold" auctions on eBay (not the for sale ones) and found out I could get nearly all that back by selling the games separately, the majority of them are complete pc engine titles (Arcade and Super CD) with spine cards and manuals, etc.

I just threw down a bid and won it, I was surprised actually. The seller said it's been in his garage for awhile. Like I said, I knew what I was getting into, so ya know. I'm thinking the guy purchased it from like hit-japan or something and couldn't get it to work.

Any suggestions, i.e. what fuse to purchase (just to be clear that it's good), etc. I'm open to it.

Thanks

Wynd

Tatsujin · 09/16/2013, 10:51 PM

Did you already check the voltages around the 7805? Before starting to replace them.

EvilEvoIX · 09/16/2013, 11:12 PM

Quote from: wyndcrosser on 09/16/2013, 09:43 PMFor the games + unit I paid $160.

I searched the "Sold" auctions on eBay (not the for sale ones) and found out I could get nearly all that back by selling the games separately, the majority of them are complete pc engine titles (Arcade and Super CD) with spine cards and manuals, etc.

I just threw down a bid and won it, I was surprised actually. The seller said it's been in his garage for awhile. Like I said, I knew what I was getting into, so ya know. I'm thinking the guy purchased it from like hit-japan or something and couldn't get it to work.

Any suggestions, i.e. what fuse to purchase (just to be clear that it's good), etc. I'm open to it.

Thanks

Wynd

Good deal, you are way ahead of the game. You may want to consider sending it out, get it repaired and modded and some av upgrades too. You

NecroPhile · 09/17/2013, 09:49 AM

Good luck getting 'er fixed up. There's quite a few good techy guys here that can hopefully help ya along.

wyndcrosser · 09/17/2013, 07:10 PM

Anyone specifically I could message Necromancer?

SignOfZeta · 09/17/2013, 07:50 PM

Quote from: Tatsujin on 09/16/2013, 10:51 PMDid you already check the voltages around the 7805? Before starting to replace them.

Yeah, this.

wyndcrosser · 09/17/2013, 09:27 PM

Quote from: SignOfZeta on 09/17/2013, 07:50 PM
Quote from: Tatsujin on 09/16/2013, 10:51 PMDid you already check the voltages around the 7805? Before starting to replace them.
Yeah, this.

Like I said, I'll be testing that soon. Gotta a hefty schedule this week with work.

Fidde_se · 09/18/2013, 08:10 AM

Better get that 9V battery, fixing anything relies on a working multimeter, if voltage is coming in, and the fuse is ok as you say, and if there is nothing wrong with the 7805, then there might be something wrong around the DIN socket, microscopic tears in the traces, as you said it was loose too, meaning it actually works you just can't hear or see that it is, you have to have a controller to start a cd game so that the busy light can indicate that anything is happening under the hood when you'r blind in the dark so to say.

There might also be a need of replacing all the capacitors too, that can also make a console look dead.

burn_654 · 09/18/2013, 11:26 AM

If you're considering sending it out for repair I can definitely recommend thesteve. Great work, efficient and well priced.

wyndcrosser · 09/18/2013, 04:51 PM

Thanks for the support. I'm getting married on Saturday, so this baby will have to wait.

I'll be testing the unit shortly again with a multimeter and then I'll be at a place to see what's next. Ill be posting soon. I wanna start doing some pcengine translations soon.

wyndcrosser · 09/29/2013, 06:03 PM

I'm still looking at this.. wish me luck. I'll try to message "thesteve".

Thanks

wyndcrosser · 10/16/2013, 09:44 PM

Update: So, I finally got my pc engine power adapter in the mail and after some thorough cleaning of the motherboard the little bastard started up.

Now, I just need a controller to test the CD portion, as I've read you need to hit run to start it up.
Has anyone ever had cut on the PCB board of a Duo-R near the controller port? On the solder side there's this nick, I'm waiting for the controller to show up so I can test the port.

wyndcrosser · 10/25/2013, 08:51 PM

So, I got a new power adapter and resoldered the controller, audio and power connections (someone did a TERRIBLE job soldering... the joints on the controller connector were all soldered together and it looks like someone tried to jump pins together (is this some kind of mod.... or just bad work).

Greasing and cleaning the lens, I got a cd game to spin up and get at least to the title screen. Once it loaded into the game it went black screen. I'm assuming it just needs a new laser. Which isn't such a hard task. Hitach Hop M-3 here I come...

Apparently I didn't need too much help on this, just a lot of effort fixing someone's bad work lol.

burn_654 · 10/26/2013, 01:48 AM

Glad to hear!

As far as the cd lens, that sounds like the calibration's still off...not that a new laser isn't a bad idea but it might not be necessary. Even with a new laser you'll want to calibrate it. There's a great set of pot adjustment tips by BlueBMW in the Laser Swap & Adjustment guide (https://www.pcengine-fx.com/forums/index.php?topic=8926.0) that should get you started. I'd recommend starting with a pressed music cd with a long run-time/number of tracks and make sure you can get all the audio tracks to play. Skipping between the 1st track on the cd and the last track can make it very apparent if things need more adjustment. (Long delays or problems starting a track, skipping etc.)

I'm very glad you're sticking with fixing it up, the pc-engine will bring you a lot of joy! The trouble is worth it in the end

wyndcrosser · 10/26/2013, 04:57 PM

Thanks for the kind words. Anyone have any idea how to fix cracks well without making it look like crap? I have a crack near the power switch I'd like to fix before it brakes worse.

Thanks

Fidde_se · 10/27/2013, 04:35 AM

Bend the crack apart just a little and attach some light running super glue from behind, press the crack together, holding it until it dries, about 10min, if there's any visible glue coming out of the front while your holding it have a paper prepared with alcohol ready, and with a fast wipe just removing it, wipe it from the crack and down so you don't smear any glue out on the rest of the plastic.

After an hour or two, take some hotglue on the backside of it reinforcing it, if the console ever were to be dropped this would probably be the place it'll crack again, but the hotglue might just save the day.

Making this good can nearly make it invisible.

wyndcrosser · 10/27/2013, 04:45 PM

Quote from: Fidde_se on 10/27/2013, 04:35 AMBend the crack apart just a little and attach some light running super glue from behind, press the crack together, holding it until it dries, about 10min, if there's any visible glue coming out of the front while your holding it have a paper prepared with alcohol ready, and with a fast wipe just removing it, wipe it from the crack and down so you don't smear any glue out on the rest of the plastic.

After an hour or two, take some hotglue on the backside of it reinforcing it, if the console ever were to be dropped this would probably be the place it'll crack again, but the hotglue might just save the day.

Making this good can nearly make it invisible.

Yea I was looking at using some clamps (reminds me of Futurama "CLAMPS!"). I'll show the end results when I do it. Thanks.