PC Engine Duo total cap + new laser + a/v port fix

[Cooljerk]

Hello,

I've registered for this board specifically to ask for service repairing my PC Engine Duo (model 1). about a year ago, the sound from my A/V port began to fail (although I could still use the headphone jack to get sound) and I began experiencing weird audio glitches. These problems are different from most sound problems - i've read that the most common sound problems are that you get no sound at all. This isn't what I'm experiencing - rather, on my unit, I still get CD Audio, but several (but not all) sound effects are missing when playing. It seems as though any music generated by the PC Engine itself is also missing, and this causes several games to hang up.

As an example, in Dracula X, when I fight death at the beginning of the game, there is no speech from him. When Richter does the item crash, he doesn't scream. And the game locks up when I enter any boss area (these areas feature music from the PC Engine, not CDDA).

Similarly, in Ys, I can boot the game and hear the opening just fine. But when I actually try to start the game, it hangs at "In the beginning".

The best game to demonstrate these problems, however, is Dragonball Z: The Legend of Great Son Goku. The opening cinemas play without any sound at all, except for the recreation of the TV opening - because that scene uses CDDA while the other scenes use speech generated by the PC Engine. When the title screen comes up, Goku's yell doesn't come out and the game hangs when trying to actually play the thing.

I saw another user post recently about having the exact same issue on this topic: http://www.pcenginefx.com/forums/index.php?topic=9598.0

To clarify, I'm not using backups or burned games - these are normal, authentic discs. In that topic, it was recommended that he get a total cap replacement, have someone fix up his a/v port, and replace the laser, which is what I'm assuming I'll need to do. I'm open to any reasonable price, and I'd like to have this done as soon as possible. Any help?

EDIT: I should also clarify that these issues ONLY occur in CD games. If I play a normal hu-card game, like Street Fighter II', it works flawlessly.

[HercTNT]

Cool, read the thread directly below this one. you need thesteve.

[MotherGunner]

Welcome Cooljerk, good luck on your repairs.

[HercTNT]

Cool, forgive my directness. Mothergunner had the right idea. Welcome to forums is the first thing i should have said. my apologies. Look up thesteve, he has done work for me and a friend of mine and is really good at fixing this stuff.

[Cooljerk]

Thanks for the warm reception. These forms came highly recommended. I actually sent a message to d-link, at the advice of some guys from Sega-16, but I'll hit up thesteve as well.

Appreciate it, guys!

[Cooljerk]

Welp, sorry to double post, but Keith Courage got back to me before anyone else did so I'm going to go ahead and use him, as his price sounds in-line with most other estimates I'd received, and he's been recommended by a few people I've spoken to. Thanks for the help, though!

[HercTNT]

Really does not matter who you go with, there area alot of talented, reliable people here. I'm just partial to steve as he has done alot of work for me and my friend.  Either way these guys around here will get you fixed up, and back to playing in no time.

[thesteve]

we all talk to each other as well, so often if the one who you send it to needs any help he gets it.
it sounds like you are not having a sound related issue at all considering sound issues dont cause system lockups

[SignOfZeta]

Yeah, I've heard of this before. Only ADPCM problems.

Read this: http://www.pcenginefx.com/forums/index.php?topic=7328.0

[thesteve]

ahh but adpcm amp issues dont cause game crashes.
possibly something related to the adpcm data side, not analog side