TKG3-07 Donkey Kong Repair log: Magister

smalltownguy2

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Got another 4 board DK stack in the mail this weekend, from Magister. Board appeared clean on quick visual inspection. Would not boot at all.

Pulled the CLK board off and swapped in a working board. Boardset now boots, although there are graphics issues. Likely bad eproms somewhere on video board, but that's fine - I can take care of that later.

I put Magister's CLK board into my clean 4 board stack - no boot. Problem is definitely on the CLK board.

Closer inspection of the CLK board reveals lots of corrosion on chip legs all over.

An example:

IMG_9382.jpg


Now, the question is: do I worry about this, or just try a light wire brush to get the corrosion off? Should I just start looking for another CLK board? I'm not sure if these chips will need to be replaced or not.
 
Hit them lightly with a scratch brush or small wire brush. Just enough to get the loose stuff off so you can check for broken legs. Chances are good the corrosion is not the cause of the board not working unless you find the legs are rusted off. I have seen many boards with chips like this and usually they look alot worse than it really is.
 
Update: had a closer look at the video board today. Lots of corrosion here too.

The eproms at 5H and 5K are both damaged. 5K is corroded, and will not program. When I extracted 5H from its socket, 4 chip legs fell right off due to corrosion. Both of these chips (and their sockets) will need to be replaced, for sure.

I swapped the CPU and sound boards into my working 4 board stack and got a perfect game, so at least 2 out of 4 boards in this stack are OK. But as far as the CLK and Video boards go, I'm going to suggest replacement. The time and effort required to repair these outweighs the piece of mind Magister will get in just purchasing working replacements.
 
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