desiv
New member
OK, here's my sordid story..
Please don't be too harsh, as I didn't realize how dumb I was at the time.. ;-(
I picked up a PP II cab several years ago..
It worked when I got it...
But very soon (a week or so) after I got it, I noticed that sometimes when I powered it up, it wouldn't come all the way up.
Freezes, graphics glitches, etc..
I googled around (and as I said, I'm not an electronics guy) and found a thread that mentioned bypassing the power wires to the board and using an ATX power supply.
Well, that I can do..
So I did that..
And of course (I didn't research enough at all.. ) when I plugged it in, I popped the resistors on my ARIIs.
Then I did some more research and realized how stupid I had been.... ;-(
So, then I figured I'd probably convert it to a multi-driving MAME type machine...
Life got in the way, and it sat.. But while it was sitting, a few things happened.
1, a relative came over and tried to turn it on.
I had taken out the ATX PSU, so no power went to the board, but he left the switch on, so it was powered up for a bit. Not sure if that made any difference..
2, I realized, every time I saw it, that I couldn't convert it... So I decided to fix my damage..
I found a good deal on some ARII boards, so I got a pair.
Plugged them in, and.. nothing.. Hmm.. Not even the problems I had before...
Nothing..
So I finally got my soldering iron out and ordered some parts.
I fixed my old ARII, and did the sense mod at the same time.
Plugged that in, and ... nothing..
Then I noticed no lights on the board.. I tested voltage..
No 5v going to the board, no matter which ARII..
So, there's something wrong with my PSU...
Yes, I checked the fuses.. That's also within my technical level. ;-)
I've got the PSU board, and it has a big blue CAP (I think) on it, but I can't see any wires going to it (must be underneath), and then there's some wires that go from the PSU to a standalone big blue CAP, with wires on the top.
I've heard of the "Big Blue CAP" but I'm not sure which one is which..
(See, I'm really new at this..)
Anyway, I'm considering ordering the ATX PSU mod that is being talked about in a thread here, but I'm also considering another run at fixing this thing...
I'll take and post some pics if needed..
But I have a question to start...
Can I take the PSU out of the cabinet to work on/test??
I have heard people talking about things needed to be tested under load?
(And I want to be MUCH MUCH more cautious than when I first started working on this thing)
I am very confident that I can do the basic voltage tests in places and I can swap out some parts...
I just did a composite video mod on my Atari 7800, which was some of the tightest soldering I've ever done, so I'm feeling decent about my basic soldering abilities right now. ;-)
(Although I've heard the word "ripple" and I think think that's probably beyond me and my equipment, although I don't really know what it is..)
And I have a very (overly) healthy respect for CAPs, so I might take hours on something that should take minutes, but I don't think I'll shock myself..
So, any initial thoughts, pointers, or warnings to my wife to buy extra life insurance now? ;-)
Thanx in advance..
desiv
p.s. The battery is still there, but I checked and it looks good still.. If I get this thing working, I'll probably try relocating it to off the board...
p.p.s. Another funny side story about my newb-ness... When I got the replacement ARII boards, I saw this orange-ish gunky stuff below the largish caps, and thought I'd gotten boards with leaky CAPs. So I removed them and replaced them. But as I was cleaning the gunky stuff off of the boards, it hit me.. This stuff is really hard to clean.. Hmm. so sticky... Is this actually some type of glue to hold the CAPs down and not leaking stuff after all... :-( :-( Well, it looks prettier with the new shiny CAPs.. <sigh>
Please don't be too harsh, as I didn't realize how dumb I was at the time.. ;-(
I picked up a PP II cab several years ago..
It worked when I got it...
But very soon (a week or so) after I got it, I noticed that sometimes when I powered it up, it wouldn't come all the way up.
Freezes, graphics glitches, etc..
I googled around (and as I said, I'm not an electronics guy) and found a thread that mentioned bypassing the power wires to the board and using an ATX power supply.
Well, that I can do..
So I did that..
And of course (I didn't research enough at all.. ) when I plugged it in, I popped the resistors on my ARIIs.
Then I did some more research and realized how stupid I had been.... ;-(
So, then I figured I'd probably convert it to a multi-driving MAME type machine...
Life got in the way, and it sat.. But while it was sitting, a few things happened.
1, a relative came over and tried to turn it on.
I had taken out the ATX PSU, so no power went to the board, but he left the switch on, so it was powered up for a bit. Not sure if that made any difference..
2, I realized, every time I saw it, that I couldn't convert it... So I decided to fix my damage..
I found a good deal on some ARII boards, so I got a pair.
Plugged them in, and.. nothing.. Hmm.. Not even the problems I had before...
Nothing..
So I finally got my soldering iron out and ordered some parts.
I fixed my old ARII, and did the sense mod at the same time.
Plugged that in, and ... nothing..
Then I noticed no lights on the board.. I tested voltage..
No 5v going to the board, no matter which ARII..
So, there's something wrong with my PSU...
Yes, I checked the fuses.. That's also within my technical level. ;-)
I've got the PSU board, and it has a big blue CAP (I think) on it, but I can't see any wires going to it (must be underneath), and then there's some wires that go from the PSU to a standalone big blue CAP, with wires on the top.
I've heard of the "Big Blue CAP" but I'm not sure which one is which..
(See, I'm really new at this..)
Anyway, I'm considering ordering the ATX PSU mod that is being talked about in a thread here, but I'm also considering another run at fixing this thing...
I'll take and post some pics if needed..
But I have a question to start...
Can I take the PSU out of the cabinet to work on/test??
I have heard people talking about things needed to be tested under load?
(And I want to be MUCH MUCH more cautious than when I first started working on this thing)
I am very confident that I can do the basic voltage tests in places and I can swap out some parts...
I just did a composite video mod on my Atari 7800, which was some of the tightest soldering I've ever done, so I'm feeling decent about my basic soldering abilities right now. ;-)
(Although I've heard the word "ripple" and I think think that's probably beyond me and my equipment, although I don't really know what it is..)
And I have a very (overly) healthy respect for CAPs, so I might take hours on something that should take minutes, but I don't think I'll shock myself..
So, any initial thoughts, pointers, or warnings to my wife to buy extra life insurance now? ;-)
Thanx in advance..
desiv
p.s. The battery is still there, but I checked and it looks good still.. If I get this thing working, I'll probably try relocating it to off the board...
p.p.s. Another funny side story about my newb-ness... When I got the replacement ARII boards, I saw this orange-ish gunky stuff below the largish caps, and thought I'd gotten boards with leaky CAPs. So I removed them and replaced them. But as I was cleaning the gunky stuff off of the boards, it hit me.. This stuff is really hard to clean.. Hmm. so sticky... Is this actually some type of glue to hold the CAPs down and not leaking stuff after all... :-( :-( Well, it looks prettier with the new shiny CAPs.. <sigh>
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