turbo grafx 16 repair

[chop5]

ah there he is,the miracle worker welcome to the greatest tg-16/pcengine site on the planet!
Sounds like a lot of work and i probably made things worse with that hu card test slot i made,used lots of solder and solder paste.

[chop5]

My days of camping at the mailbox are over,it has arrived!
Played it for over an hour on the cd attachment. Heres a pic:


And a pic of the motherboard. download it and enlarge if you cant see it that well:

you can see the repaired trace but i wont unsolder the tiny shield over the work ram in the middle of the board but its an exact replacement and fantastic soldering work over it legs. No way i could of done it on my own without destroying it. Many Thanks CM (channelmaniac). Was told the work ram chip was pulled from an old arcade board that was used for parts. I couldn't find that work ram chip being sold anywhere online and might be a rare chip. il keep looking for a source either single chips or junk boards that use them that can be harvested.

And when i asked CM what caused all these failures cause i thought it was a power surge or a bad ac adapter or feedback from a controller CM said it was just age. Time is the enemy of the TG-16!!!!
more info on the chips and stuff here from CM:
http://www.neo-geo.com/forums/showthread.php?t=181703



And so my friends ends this thread and my quest. Im sure a new tg-16/pc engine repair related adventure awaits around the corner...

[willys82]

Hi Chop, I'm writing from Argentina (so please excuse me for my bad english). I'm writing here because a couple of months ago I bought a Turbografx 16 form Ebay that worked great, I made the AV mod and worked great too. However, I stopped using it for 1 or 2 months and now when I play a game I get a clear picture with good sound but with weird colors (I'll leave some pictures of Keith Courage here). I've been reading your thread and in one part you say: "If it was the crystal there would be sound and weird colors even black and white picture but game will load" and this appears to be my case. Should I proceed replacing the crystal? I've got a broken PC Engine (the white one), can I use the crystal of my broken Pc Engine? Or should I buy a new one?
I forgot to tell you that I've already cleaned the card slot many times and try with the RF cable and the same weird colors appear. Please I need some help!

[chop5]

hmm,can you still use the rf and see if it still shows weird colors?
im not sure yet if thats a crystal issue. Do you have a friend that has a cd base so it can connect to it and see if it still shows weird colors?

[willys82]

Hi, thanks for the quick answer! Yes, I've tried with the RF cable and the same weird colors appear. No, I don't know anybody here with the CD Base and I don't think I will (the TG-16 was never released here in Argentina). It's not the first time I do the AV mod and never had a problem. I'll check the modification connections again tomorrow. I know it's not the game, because I played 2 more games with the results.

[willys82]

Sorry, for the quick reply! What I was thinking?!!

[chop5]

its reallyhard to say what the issue is without having the stuff to single it out like a cd base to connect to it or looking for cut or corroded traces or checking if your cords or tv might be faulty. Also check all the traces with a meter on ohm settings to check if it has contact. no contact means a trace is cut or corroded somewhere. Like in that pic above a trace just corroded or rusted on its own causing trouble.
What i would do is try to undo your av mod and see if it still has weird colors with rf.
If that doesnt single out het problem start finding a new crystal. and if that doesnt work its a chip issue.


i hope i was of some help. good luck

[willys82]

Hi, I've undone the AV mode and checked a lot traces and nothing. Then I replaced the crystal and the same thing happens; I think I will have to order another from Ebay
Thanks for your help! And if something else occurs to you please let me know.

[chop5]

damn sorry to hear,toy spent so much time on your system. its likely one of those 2 work ram chips i had replaced or the actual processor is going bad.

[Brickstin]

I have a Turbo Grafx 16 that was in storage for like three years.. bad thing was. my Grandmother moved it to the outside storage shed that forced the system to be subjected to extreme conditions of heat and cold damp atmospheres.. . The heat was soo intense that wires that where sitting on the top of the console literally melted onto the top of the black bezel as well melting the bezel enough to the point it left marks and groves into it.

I'm tempted to have this unit sent in for repairs. I don't think I can repair it my self; could try cleaning the HuCard slot a few times and resolder condition it. But if the Processor or the work ram chips fried from the heat then I guess im SOL and will have to send it in to have it fixed. I went to that Arcade Components website and emailed them a service request ticket.

[Sensato Black Lion]

I have a Turbo Grafx 16 that was in storage for like three years.. bad thing was. my Grandmother moved it to the outside storage shed that forced the system to be subjected to extreme conditions of heat and cold damp atmospheres.. . The heat was soo intense that wires that where sitting on the top of the console literally melted onto the top of the black bezel as well melting the bezel enough to the point it left marks and groves into it.

I'm tempted to have this unit sent in for repairs. I don't think I can repair it my self; could try cleaning the HuCard slot a few times and resolder condition it. But if the Processor or the work ram chips fried from the heat then I guess im SOL and will have to send it in to have it fixed. I went to that Arcade Components website and emailed them a service request ticket.

I think that the processor can withstand more heat than what it was exposed to. I heated 3-4 of those with a heatgun to remove them (that is like 300-400 celsius degrees) and I never killed any so far.  My guess is that corrosion started to appear from the heat/cold/damp conditions and that some trace(s) could have been heaten away.

Hi Chop, I'm writing from Argentina (so please excuse me for my bad english). I'm writing here because a couple of months ago I bought a Turbografx 16 form Ebay that worked great, I made the AV mod and worked great too. However, I stopped using it for 1 or 2 months and now when I play a game I get a clear picture with good sound but with weird colors (I'll leave some pictures of Keith Courage here). I've been reading your thread and in one part you say: "If it was the crystal there would be sound and weird colors even black and white picture but game will load" and this appears to be my case. Should I proceed replacing the crystal? I've got a broken PC Engine (the white one), can I use the crystal of my broken Pc Engine? Or should I buy a new one?
I forgot to tell you that I've already cleaned the card slot many times and try with the RF cable and the same weird colors appear. Please I need some help!

I have a TG16 here with the exact same problem. I will definitely try to fix it this summer. I will let you know how things go.