REPAIR GUIDE - TurboDuo: Sound Fix

[FM-77]

15-25W.

[grendelrt]

I am going to try and grab an old computer motherboard and test out my skills on it first. The last thing I soldered was not a precision job  

[grendelrt]

Well the only thing i could find at the local radio shack was a 10uf 35v. DO you think this is enough? The capacitors on the board are labeled 10 16. So I am guessing 10uf 16v. D Lite said 50V for his replacement, but I am not sure of anywhere else to find a capacitor locally. By the way, this things are soooo much tinier than they look in the pics lol

Well I finished, I used the 35v caps and they seem to be working fine. I had no fade in music with Lords of Thunder, which almost always happened. I tried to take pictures along the way to help others, but they didnt come out, the only one that is half decent was the final product pic:



Oh and here is a video for your enjoyment and my moment of happiness =)

http://s63.photobucket.com/albums/h152/grendelrt/?action=view&current=pic017avi.flv

[bgarske]

Wow! That's cool. Now I wonder if I have the same problem. I lose the music usually late into a level on Lords of Thunder. (Certain levels more than others.) I thought it was because my disk was all scratched up. I've not had any problems with Gate of Thunder losing the CD music.
  So far, those are the only Duo games I have with CD audio. I'll be getting some more CD games (and a new copy of LOT from tzd.com) real soon so I have some more to test with. What do you think? Am I going to have to do surgery?

[grahf]

Nice job grendelrt. Yes, those caps you used will be fine. Its ok to go with a higher voltage than required, but no need to go overkill.

bgarske, I would wait until you get your new copy of LOT before you do anything. The way most Duos are, if you make them skip bad enough they will stop playing audio until its ready to load the next track. If you tap the console pretty hard for example. If you disk is scratched bad enough, it could possibly be causing the same thing.

[grendelrt]

Yeah grahf is right. I was moving my console the other day and bonked it, CD cut out because it made the CD skip. If the scratches on your disk are bad they could do the same thing, from what i hear the CD Roms all have pretty crappy error correction.

[bgarske]

Hey grendelrt, what did you use to open the case?

[grendelrt]

I bought one of those security bits of ebay, was like 6 bucks shipped. Here ya go:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=8275116257

[SignOfZeta]

This is very good news for people with OG Duo sound problems. I seem to be the one guy on Earth with an Oct 1992 Duo and not a problem.

I feel like I have to point out though that a Duo can be run with the case off totally while servicing it. The magnet in the lid can be removed amazingly easily, and the placed on top of the CD to hold it in place as usual. No need to destroy a good case.

[esteban]

This is very good news for people with OG Duo sound problems. I seem to be the one guy on Earth with an Oct 1992 Duo and not a problem.

No, there are many of us who have had no problems. I have a TG-CD and TurboDuo and haven't had a problem with them. The TG-CD has had a billion hours of use and is still going strong. When not playing games, I used to listen to music CD's for hours on end. Had I thought about the long-term, I would've used another CD player for music... but it never ocurred to me back in the day.

[grahf]

A large number of electronics from the early 90s/late 80s have the capacitor problem. Its not just NEC consoles. I do a lot of work on automotive ECUs/ECMs. Some will always need replacing, but in other cars they will always still be good.

I think it has a lot to do with where/when the console was made, and which components were used. Some consoles are just going to go bad, its only a matter of time. Others will last like they were supposed to.

[Keranu]

Good info, grahf.

[geise]

So this fix still only works for problem #2, the sound that fades in and out.  So no one has gotten this to work with problem #1 yet?

[bgarske]

I got my new Lords of Thunder disk in and it works perfect! (The music doesn't drop out like the other scratched up disk.) It must have been the disk that was the problem. So it looks like I have an America Turboduo without any problems!

[avkooi]

Since a few days, I am the proud owner of a Duo RX, which (sadly) has the same problem #2 as described by D-Lite.

I opened the console and found out that the identification numbers (C???, IC???) are the same ones as on the pictures from the Turbo Duo mainboard.

Do you think it helps if I change the two capacitors (C604 and C610) for new ones? BTW, they are not located close to the power circuit, but under the optical unit, and the capacitors are not the metal ones, but look like the ones D-Lite used for the fix.

Any help is much appriciated!