Duo RX has broken, advice needed.

_Paul · 09/17/2006, 04:32 AM

OK here's the problem.

Turned the machine on, pushed RUN to load up a CD Game.
The drive light starts to flick on and off, there is some 'throbbing' which sounds power-related happening in-time on the TV screen. You can hear the disc start to spin but it sounds like it keeps stopping.

So I check my power supply and try switching it down to 9v (from 12v it is usually on). I get power to play a Hucard but nothing on the cd drive. Switch it back, same problem with the CD drive, cards play OK.

So next, I turn the machine back on and now I'm getting nothing at all.
Hoping it's just the power supply, I go out and get a new one. Same problem - there is maybe a flick of the screen when I turn the machine on, but no power.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Bear in mind I'm not that technical so keep the descriptions fairly simple. Thanks.

SignOfZeta · 09/17/2006, 10:40 AM

What is the amperage rating on both of your power supplies? It should say in miliamps (mA).

_Paul · 09/17/2006, 11:02 AM

Quote from: "SignOfZeta"What is the amperage rating on both of your power supplies? It should say in miliamps (mA).

The one that came with the machine (and that I've been using for the past 6 years) says Current....750mA9VA(max). The newer one says on the box Max Output 1200mA

SignOfZeta · 09/17/2006, 01:40 PM

Well that's certainly enough. My guess is that if you were usually using the power supply set to 12V for so long you...uh...may have fried it.

Duo R/RXs are 9V machines. They also don't have fuses in them like older PC Engines so I really don't know what the fix would be. It would be complicated though probably.

Sorry...

_Paul · 09/17/2006, 03:04 PM

I think it was usually on 12v. It may have got switched by accident from 9v at some point. But when I tested it out, at 9v it didn't have enough power to work the CD drive.

Seldane · 09/17/2006, 03:43 PM

9V it is. You sure it was rated at 1200mA at 9 volts? These things usually differ quite a bit. (600mA at 9V, 1200mA at 12V, etc.)

SignOfZeta · 09/17/2006, 04:23 PM

Quote from: guestI think it was usually on 12v. It may have got switched by accident from 9v at some point. But when I tested it out, at 9v it didn't have enough power to work the CD drive.

A Duo R/RX should work perfectly at 9V with a mA rating of 1000 or more. 900mA would probably do. If it won't work on 9V then either it isn't actually pushing 9V, or the actual current flow from the power supply isn't really as high as it says it is. The problem with getting a PS for NEC hardware usually is that it wants more current (mA) than what modern PS with usually put out. I looked all over the place for the one I'm using on my Duo R. Only Radio Shack had a good one, and it wasn't that cheep, IMO.

When you say that it didn't have enough power to run the CD, did it dim the video when it tried? That's usually what they do. Sometimes the drive won't spin at all, but in that case you'd be in the really low area of current, like 350mA or so.

Well, anyway, I guess if it won't power up whatsoever with either PS there isn't much you can do other than send it to someone more qualified to see if they can maybe fix it.

Seldane · 09/17/2006, 06:31 PM

Try a Mega Drive II power supply. It WILL work (I'm using one for my DUO-R). And if it doesn't - there's something wrong with your system.

_Paul · 09/18/2006, 03:40 AM

If I could find something else my Duo powersupply would fit into to test it that would help to narrow down the problem, but the connector is either too small or too big for anything else I can find at the moment.