DB60XG / XR385 repair and modification

Posted on 2013-10-30, 18:29

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by jwt27

in Milliways

in Milliways

I'm currently trying to fix an XR385 card here. I discovered the voltage on pin 8 (power-down function) of the DAC (AK4510) is at about 1.5V. It should be either 5V (power down mode) or pulled down to 0V (normal) by pin 15 on the CPU (H8/3002). When held at 0V manually, it works again. I lifted pin …

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Re: Need some advice on repairing solder on NEC XR385

Posted on 2013-10-30, 18:08

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by jwt27

in Milliways

in Milliways

Any iron will do, as long as it has a fine tip and doesn't get too hot. A temperature controlled soldering station is ideal for small electronics.

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Re: Need some advice on repairing solder on NEC XR385

Posted on 2013-10-30, 04:19

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by jwt27

in Milliways

in Milliways

Put a drop of solder on the board, push the cap down and heat up the solder again until the cap drops back in place. That's not very difficult (Unless all you have is a 200W soldering gun) :) C9 is just another filter cap for the 5V rail. Even if you mess it up and remove the capacitor completely, …

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Re: Thank God for Spare Parts

Posted on 2013-10-28, 21:31

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by jwt27

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Disconnect the PSU completely and see if it powers up on it's own. Check if the fan starts spinning and if the voltage on the power rails is normal. For ATX you can short pin 14 (green wire) to GND (any black wire) to switch it on.

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Re: MS-DOS + Grand Theft Auto = hard lock

Posted on 2013-10-28, 21:08

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by jwt27

in DOS

in DOS

Are you loading an EMS manager (EMM386)? Try running the game without it.

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Re: VOGONS Driver Library

Posted on 2013-10-28, 20:55

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by jwt27

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Finally finished uploading. Here's the links: https://app.box.com/s/oerylgcwl816iwtm1uj6 https://app.box.com/s/e9edb4qae7i6lu19apc9 https://app.box.com/s/b2z41oxjw26y00ki7931 https://app.box.com/s/vfa6em2r7ox7e75ewb20 https://app.box.com/s/ndzm2j1ajxcel01gl6a1 https://app.box.com/s/ …

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Re: VOGONS Driver Library

Posted on 2013-10-27, 22:26

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by jwt27

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Aww shit, almost forgot about that CD. I'm trying to put together a list of all drivers/versions on this disc right now. There seems to be a lot more stuff on here than mentioned in the readme. Including even more shareware games I've never heard of.

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Re: Nvidia "G-Sync" announced

Posted on 2013-10-26, 18:06

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by jwt27

in Milliways

in Milliways

Mau1wurf1977 wrote: Cinematic = set LCD to 24 Hz and enable VSync 😀 Sounds painful 🤣

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Re: Yamaha S-YXG100 PVL Installation

Posted on 2013-10-26, 17:36

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by jwt27

in Milliways

in Milliways

I found that DB60XG can have clipping issues as well. Maybe it's not an issue specific to the software versions. The opamp on the DAC output is configured as lowpass filter and amplifier with high gain. At low frequencies the output can go up to about 6Vrms which makes your sound card's line-in …

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Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today

Posted on 2013-10-22, 15:44

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by jwt27

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Got two PSUs (AT and ATX), and an S3 sound card (?) from the thrift store today. Also for the first time ever found some interesting games there: Tomb Raider 1 & 2, Riven, and Railroad Tycoon.

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Re: Commodore 64 revival (warning, wall of pics)

Posted on 2013-10-21, 23:33

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by jwt27

in Milliways

in Milliways

"PSU fail" in the C64 context often means that it's sending in too many volts on the 5V line. So I don't mean dead, I mean it's turned killer :dead: Well that's easy to check. Just measure the 5V rail and see if it's 5V or not :) Looking at the inside of the PSU, I think it's a good idea to …

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Re: Commodore 64 revival (warning, wall of pics)

Posted on 2013-10-21, 18:42

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by jwt27

in Milliways

in Milliways

Standard transformer-type PSUs rarely fail. Have you checked if it works without the cartridge? Mine will only power up if I have the Power Cartridge inserted about halfway in. The tape read errors may be caused by the tape head angle (azimuth) being out of alignment. That happened to mine only a …

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Re: Decent retro gaming laptops

Posted on 2013-10-21, 18:26

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by jwt27

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I have a Dell laptop (made in Japan) stashed away in the attic somewhere. Pentium 133MHz, 24MB, ESS sound, Neomagic graphics, 800x600 panel, long travel keys, trackball. Don't know the exact model numbers, have to check that. The BIOS has a "compatibiliy mode" option which instantly turns it into an …

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Re: Engineering a DOS PC

Posted on 2013-10-11, 01:46

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by jwt27

in PC Emulation

in PC Emulation

Industrial computers often use the CPU-on-ISA-card system with a passive ISA backplane. I think these are also still being produced at 486/Pentium speeds (Vortex86). But industrial gear is expensive and probably hard to obtain for private use. quick example: http://buy.advantech.eu/PCA-6108-0B2E/PCA …

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Re: Dos 6 conventional memory tricks

Posted on 2013-10-08, 17:38

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by jwt27

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

I haven't found any games that are completely incompatible with the FreeDOS kernel. Some game are incompatible with certain memory managers, that's why I use a config.sys menu to switch between UMBPCI+XMGR and JemmEx. Just about anything will run with either one or the other. If configured correctly …

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Re: N64 modding

Posted on 2013-10-08, 17:24

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by jwt27

in Milliways

in Milliways

That CPU mod doesn't look too hard (if you're willing to invest $300 in soldering gear...) I'm planning on apprenticing to become an electrician sometime soon, so that's an investment I may very well be willing to make. ;) In that case, I can recommend the Weller WS-81 (or any of the professional ( …

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Re: N64 modding

Posted on 2013-10-06, 19:45

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by jwt27

in Milliways

in Milliways

That CPU mod doesn't look too hard (if you're willing to invest $300 in soldering gear...)

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Re: Hardware thats been stored in a cold shed in Sweden for 13 years

Posted on 2013-10-06, 19:42

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by jwt27

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I see no RoHS labels, that means everything will still work 😀

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Re: Katmai overclocking question

Posted on 2013-10-05, 14:03

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by jwt27

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Not only do the grilles keep your fingers out. They also keep EMI in.

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Re: DOS/win utilities to get the most out of MIDI hardware?

Posted on 2013-10-02, 16:31

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by jwt27

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Here's what I use to enable the MT-32 emulation mode: // Enable Roland CM/MT emulation // MPU_RESET // Reset MPU-401 and enable UART mode XG_RESET // Reset all parameters MODE=GS // Enable GS mode B0 00 7F // Select bank 7F on all channels B1 00 7F // Bx = Control Change, x = channel B2 00 7F // 00 …

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