Turbo Express Repair and Overhaul

[Keith Courage]

The AC adapter port can go bad in these systems from time to time. Also, I assume you checked if the fuse is good?

[xelement5x]

Well over 2 months later I finally changed the caps in this bad boy.  Super excited after I finished, partially put it back together and heard the "derpy derpy derp" tune from PAC-LAND, yeah!  Flip it over and the screen looks weird.  I double-check and have installed the ribbon for the screen backwards, flip it around and now I just have a solid black screen.

Audio is nice and loud, controls seem to work (from messing around from what I can tell with no visuals), but black screen.  Could I have fried the screen when I put the ribbon in backwards?  Or is it more likely that I messed up something while recapping? Caps went on pretty easily and I didn't have any major issues.  The contrast for the screen works as well, so I can crank it up and down and see the difference. 

Any advice is appreciated if you've got ideas!

[xelement5x]

So after checking all my soldering points and the like, gave it thorough inspection to diagnose it, looked fine so I dug in further...
I'd actually installed the ribbon backwards the time I "fixed" it, LOL!
Turned it around an I got video again, yay!  Audio also seems fine still and controls were working fine from what I could see.

I need to finish the Turbo Express lens install, now that was a pain to get off.  Despite my worries of pulling a Bernie, I used a hair dryer to heat up the adhesive on the old lens in the front cover after removing all the parts in the housing.  Then while the heat was coming out I just kept pushing slightly until the old lens came off. 

ALSO apparently the lens replacements that you buy from Console5 and the like have no adhesive on them   So I've ordered some double-sided adhesive tape and am waiting for that to arrive before I can put everything back together.  The end is near I think!

[Keith Courage]

Usually I can just push really hard from the inside of the screen lens protectors to remove them. The key is to push near one corner instead of in the center.

[xelement5x]

Usually I can just push really hard from the inside of the screen lens protectors to remove them. The key is to push near one corner instead of in the center.

I bet that would have working, I was just worried I'd snap the underlying plastic as well.  Thankfully the hair dryer didn't mess up the plasic. 

My switch I glued together also snapped again so this time I'm using a fair bit of Gorilla glue to provide something underneath as well and hope it doesn't snap.

If I'm lucky it'll be finished this evening!

[xelement5x]

So I am not lucky apparently.  Having issues with the button I not working (and button II) despite replacing the cap on the controller board.

If I push near where the switches are on the back of the board I can get the I button to work, but II still seems to be cranky.

Digging around a bit I found this thread on reddit where the guy seems to be having the exact same issue and he used a carbon pen to fix the traces on where the turbo switches go. 
https://www.reddit.com/r/TurboGrafx/comments/guratl/recently_recapped_turboexpress_i_button_not/

I've bought a carbon pen to fix that, and I suppose I'll be trying to look at the traces for the II button as well while I'm in there.

I'm also wondering if just bending the contacts for the turbo switch out a bit might help, I'll play it by ear one thing at a time first though.

[xelement5x]

Well the carbon pen fixed my last problem!

I bought a MG Chemicals Carbon Conductive Pen and then used it to touch up the carbon traces on the controller board where the turbo switches go.  I also removed a bit of the oxidation on the metal part of the turbo switch where it touched the trace and it looks like all the buttons are functional now.

I finally reassembled the whole thing and did a final test and then my heart sank, nothing was coming on the screen! 
I went through and checked the ribbons and everything and then when I flipped it over I realized I never put a HuCard back into the slot, lol no wonder nothing was showing up.