Reseating ROMs

wontwa

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My apologies for the extremely basic nature of this question, but it ties to something I see repeatedly on here (I'm new to the hobby). I often see references to pulling, cleaning and reseating the ROMs - but I have no idea the best way to go about pulling one of these without potentially damaging the board (or the chip). And as far as cleaning, is the best way to carefully use an eraser (while being careful not to bend the pins)?

Also, regarding cleaning the connections of the main pcb at the harness, is an eraser also recommended for cleaning those connections?

I've searched extensively on here, google and youtube looking for some sort of a tutorial to no avail...

Thanks!
 
I use a small flat headed screwdriver to pop them right out of their sockets. Just lift a but on one side then the other... repeat and you'll work it out of the socket without bending the pins.
 
Welcome fellow michigander.

I use the above for getting them out, as far as cleaning them...

Any way you can clean them without destroying the legs is the way to do it. I have used a very small wire brush before (pretty dangerous) as well as very fine sand paper (400-600 grit)

Erasers seem too dangerous to me for chip legs, but anything like that will work as long as you are very careful. Oh, and don't clean them if they aren't dirty/corroded, just re-seat them. Making sure they are in the correct way.
 
I use an eraser... I have a metal cased set of twisted wires that are used to clean the tips of my desoldering iron. That case is perfect for me to hold the chip legs against to brace them for cleaning. This makes it much less likely to break a leg while cleaning.

RJ
 
Ok, a couple more things....first, be careful because you can easily lift the socket off the board if you aren't careful. Try not to pry against the actual circuit board or that can happen. Or you can scratch off a trace. I use a very small flat-head screwdriver and put in the corner between the chip and the socket and gently twist. That usually lifts it up a bit and then I go back and forth to each side.

And the other thing. Someone mentioned this a while back and I tried it and it worked great. For cleaning the legs, get some Tarn-X. It's cheap. You can get it at the Wal-Mart. Brush it on with a Q-tip and the black gunk comes right off. But you will need to rince the legs off with a little water after.
 
One tip with using the flat heat screwdriver to lever the chip out is to make sure that that the side of the screwdriver blade that is pushing downwards is hard up against either side edge of the socket, this is structurally much stronger than the middle, twist the other way and you will find the chip stays still and the socket frame bends down, and breaks, which is avoidable. Its also better in that the side of the blade pushing up is going to be more in the middle of the chip so it comes out more cleanly. Just be careful where you poke the end of the screwdriver, the board is often exposed in the middle of the socket so you can easily scratch tracks if you are not carefull.
 
also if your pins look corroded and rusty i wouldnt attempt this unless you plan to get roms. I just did my ms. pacman (which still had the original mask roms in it) and i had to get a whole new set of roms, not because i was harsh with them, but just because removing them from the sockets literally just disintegrated them. I couldnt believe they were actually still working they were so bad. Even some of the pins just stayed in the socket and i had to pull them out one by one with pliers.
 
Thanks for all of the replies in this thread. This is really valuable information and I'm very thankful for this forum. You guys rule!
 
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