Fixing a damaged Sound Blaster pro 2 \ VOGONS

Fixing a damaged Sound Blaster pro 2

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First post, by Deksor

Posted on 2020-09-10, 10:55

Deksor Offline

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Hello everyone ! i have received SpectriaForce's damaged sb pro 2 (see here Re: Old hardware giveaway thread.)
So let's analyse the damages ...

The OPL3 seem to have 2 broken pins. Now they might be connected just by contact, but I'll replace this chip anyways.

Here you can see a capacitor that's totally disconnected

More damaged capacitors ...
I'm not sure if the card will work with broken caps, but we'll see.

And last but not least, here's a detail that could have been easy to miss (zoom in to see it) :

the HCF4053 chip has a notch in the top left corner. I don't know how deep that is, but that doesn't look good at all, I'll have to swap it too.

The PCB itself has some damage as well but I don't see any broken traces ... I'll compare it to my working sbpro 2 to make sure eveything's ok.

I can salvage a OPL3 from a clone card, but maybe it'd be better to not destroy working hardware to fix something broken ... Only I fear faked chips ^^

Last edited by Deksor on 2020-09-10, 11:02. Edited 1 time in total.

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Reply 1 of 8, by bjwil1991

Posted on 2020-09-10, 10:57

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Good luck with the project and hope everything works for you.

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Reply 2 of 8, by quicknick

Posted on 2020-09-10, 13:57

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The OPL3 might work as is, but I wouldn't leave like that. Hard to tell from the picture if the broken pins are barely making contact, if at all, or they remained quite well attached. Maybe desolder the chip, see if the pins break off easily, then connect the remaining "stubs" to the corresponding PCB pad using very thin wire. Using a Dremel or similar, you can grind away the plastic/resin and expose 1mm or so of the pins if you find it hard to solder to the stubs.
A rather long video here, but good inspiration.

HCF4053 might work too, if you desolder it and the corner doesn't fall off 😀 , but it's better to replace if you have one spare.

Obviously damaged caps and the one that have been to slanted for their own good must be replaced. Not a very hard repair, I wish you good luck!

Reply 3 of 8, by Deksor

Posted on 2020-09-10, 14:29

Deksor Offline

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Thanks !

Well I think I can easily swap them out. I won't bother trying to fix them because unlike in the video, they're not ultra specific/rare or expensive chips. It's simply not worth my time ^^ (plus it'll look better 😁)

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Reply 4 of 8, by maxtherabbit

Posted on 2020-09-10, 14:36

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The chip in the ceramic is utterly meaningless. As for the OPL3, just overlay some solder on the broken pins. If you pull it off that repair just gets harder

Reply 5 of 8, by Horun

Posted on 2020-09-10, 20:08

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maxtherabbit wrote on 2020-09-10, 14:36:

The chip in the ceramic is utterly meaningless. As for the OPL3, just overlay some solder on the broken pins. If you pull it off that repair just gets harder

Agree ! be easier to flow some low temp solder on those pins, replace the caps and test it.

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Reply 6 of 8, by Deksor

Posted on 2022-03-19, 20:41

Deksor Offline

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Well I haven't given feedback since 2020, and for a good reason : I didn't touch the card since ...

Until today !
I ordered few weeks ago some NOS OPL3 chips, and I decided to replace the damaged one. It seems the old one still had its legs attached afterall, but it received quite a hit, so it's possible that the chip got cracked inside.

Then I replaced 4x 16V 100µF caps that were damaged using some spare caps I had from another abandoned project, which were of the same value and then I tested the card.

And it was a success !!

DSP works, OPL3 works, the sound quality seems allright. I haven't tested the joystick port or the CD-Rom drive connector, but I'm confident they'll work.

Here's the fixed card 😀

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Reply 7 of 8, by Horun

Posted on 2022-03-19, 21:05

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Great !!

Hate posting a reply and then have to edit it because it made no sense 😁 First computer was an IBM 3270 workstation with CGA monitor. Stuff: https://archive.org/details/@horun

Reply 8 of 8, by Sphere478

Posted on 2022-03-20, 05:14

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Sweet!! Good work!

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