Non-working PC Engine Duo

[orteil]

Hello there. I just got my first PC Engine Duo (the regular black model) in the mail, and what do you know, it's not functioning properly!

The console came with a 1000mA NEC branded AC adapter, and composite cables. Whenever I turn on the power, I get a static colored screen. The color is usually cyan, but can range from blue to purple to pink. No video/audio. It doesn't matter if there's a game in the HuCard slot or the CD Drive, I tested it with 5 HuCards and CD-ROMs, and I get the same result every time. If I start up the console with a CD in the disc drive, the CD doesn't even start spinning. Maybe that's normal though, but I'm just putting it out there.

I opened the console, and all the capacitors look okay. The rest of the board looks fine as well. Keep in mind that I know next to nothing about electrical engineering so my opinion on this is pretty worthless heh, I can post pictures if necessary.

That's pretty much it. Please let me know if any of you has potential solutions, or if I should provide more information or test anything else to narrow down the problem. Thanks in advance!

[Frank_fjs]

I was going to suggest a dirty card slot and/or HuCards but if you're not even reaching the CD menu without a HuCard game inserted then something more serious is going on, most likely bad caps are to blame. Even if they look fine they can still be faulty.

Just to clarify, with no HuCard game inserted you don't even get to the CD System Menu screen?

Cleaning the gold contacts of your HuCard based games is still worth a shot. Just use some isopropyl and a cotton tip. Also try pulling the card out ever so slightly after it's been fully inserted.

[burn_654]

That's exactly how my duo reacted after I initially performed the region mod, there was a small short between cartridge pins that caused similar behavior (including lack of access to the cd menu), didn't take long to fix.

Are there any signs of modification to the cartridge slot? I'd lift the two screws on the slot shield and take a look. It very well could just use a thorough cleaning.

[orteil]

Just to clarify, with no HuCard game inserted you don't even get to the CD System Menu screen?

Yep. I tried every possible combination (no game in the system, HuCard only, CD-ROM only, and both HuCard and CD), and I get the static colored screen no matter what.

Thanks for your suggestions. The first thing I tried when I noticed the problem was cleaning the slot and cards with alcohol. I just did the slot a second time more thoroughly by removing the shield, and it didn't change anything. I also tried slightly pulling the HuCards before turning on the console, no dice either.

Are there any signs of modification to the cartridge slot? I'd lift the two screws on the slot shield and take a look. It very well could just use a thorough cleaning.

I didn't notice anything odd,  but seeing as this is my first DUO, I can't say for sure. It was purchased on Yahoo Auctions Japan, so I guess if the only purpose of modding the slot is playing games from another region, the chances of it being modded are pretty slim.

Upon further inspection, I think there might be a leaking capacitor. According to the cap replacement chart, that would be leftmost 22uF capacitor. I'll see if I can post a picture of it and one of the whole board tomorrow. Would that single capacitor really affect the unit like that though?

If that's really what the problem is, I'll have to choose between trying my hands at soldering a circuit board for the first time (and hope that capacitor is the only one that's failing, because I sure as hell won't replace every one of them), or browse the boards to see who offers good repairing services.

Is there anything else I should try out before that? How likely is it that a different component is failing, not the capacitors?

Thanks for the help so far!

[Frank_fjs]

If this is one of the original black Duo's then chances are failing caps are to blame, the system is notorious for it. Either way a full cap replacement is highly recommended to fix current problems and prevent future ones.

[burn_654]

Akaviolence's videos on this are quite good (http://www.pcenginefx.com/forums/index.php?topic=13269.0)
His clip method of removing the surface mount caps works pretty well, way better than heating/pulling them considering you 99% likely won't be saving the caps anyway.

If you want to do it yourself I'd recommend starting with some basic operations on something broken/expendable you have, anything with a circuitboard. Get comfortable with removing small things and resoldering them back in, swap some parts around in a no pressure environment just to get the hang of it. Soldering isn't all extremely difficult, it takes patience and steady hands though

Otherwise there are plenty of cool folks here who could do a cap replacement for you, you're in good hands around here!

[thesteve]

chances are most of the caps are failing, however the issue is likely not cap related.
no boot is typically a short or break (from previous work) or a bad chip