Killer Instinct 2 boards

Jon Hughes

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I've just picked up 3 x Killer Instinct 2 boards. All are non-working. Two of the boards have the worst example of surface mounted soldering I've seen - wrong iron and wrong solder size, very messy. One of these boards displays pink and black horizontal lines - both lights on. The second board works fine (credits, sounds, moves) - but displays no images. The third board is dead, but very clean.

What I have noticed on all three boards is the number of poor solder joints on the large chip with the black heat sink containing a significant number of legs coming from the chip. Could this be the cause of all the evils (messy soldering aside)? There are at least 12 loose legs on the clean board with 6 off to the side and not aligning with the respective mounting position.

I have straightened these out now with a pin. Before I attempt any SM work can anyone let me know if all the legs on that chip are used. With the Jamma connector facing up, I notice there is a mount missing from the fourth leg in the bottom left corner of the chip, opposite L60. There is no mount beneath the leg to solder on to, but the mount is present on the other two boards - is this pin and mount actually used? I can't see any connections on first glance.

I'm very good at through hole soldering and de-soldering and have seen a few videos on how to surface mount solder. I have all the necessary preparation tools, etc. I'm going to attempt some SM soldering on a Williams T-unit donor board I have, with plenty of SMCs to ruin first. Can anyone recommend a good iron, tip and solder for this type of task or would it be cheaper and less frustrating to get someone else to have a look at them?
 
those chips get good and hot and if not properly cooled will definitely lift legs, also the flexing of the board as well as the heatsink getting bumped can cause the legs to free up.

take a picture of the mount your referring to.

I don't have much of any experience with SMD soldering :(
 
I can't seem to upload images - Blocked by 403 error?

yea there's been some issues with uploads of any kind lately with the site for some reason, you'll have to upload to an external photo host (photobucket/flickr / ect...)
 
yea there's been some issues with uploads of any kind lately with the site for some reason, you'll have to upload to an external photo host (photobucket/flickr / ect...)

I've got a much simpler idea - I'm not going to try. It's too difficult for me to do anything with that chip, the legs are too flexible and too closely spaced. After moving the legs carefully back into position on the clean dead board and pushing down on the chip, it will "bong" on sound test and a give white screen and one red light on. Without pressing down the board is dead.

Thanks for the post, but I think I've worked out where my limits stop on this one.
 
Chad at arcadecup (and here on the forums) and channelmaniac (here on the forums) also repair these boards here in the states, not sure if your interested in shipping them out.
 
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