SJ3 Problems: Please tell me it's not broken (post solder)

Seaniccus · Post by **Seaniccus** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 12:31 am

Oh boy.
I'm a bit nervous right now.
Okay, I just went through the long and painful task of desoldering the 60 pin connector built into the SJ3 with the intent of replacing it with a 72 pin I removed from a Game Genie. After I removed the connector, I decided to plug the SJ3 sans connector into the TV just to make sure it still worked.

Grey. Screen.

Crap. CRAP. Some times if I wiggle the video plug i'll get a black screen. I was as careful as I could possibly be, everything looks okay, I don't THINK I damaged anything.

Someone please tell me that it's something to do with the connector not being there - like how if you connect pin x and pin y it disables the built in games. Or else, please tell me if you can see anything wrong in the images below and let me know if I can bypass it with an extra wire somewhere.

I've already ordered the screen and have everything else I need to make my portable - and at this point I can't afford to get another NOAC and try again. Can it be saved? Is this normal behavior or a SJ3 without a port?

Post by **Skyone** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 1:27 am

Either you overheated something and bork'd it (possible with these cheap NOACs), or there's some interconnector that's loose. Check for full connections from/to both sides of the gray ribbon cable going from the control board to the ROM board.

Out of curiosity, what iron do you use?

Seaniccus · Post by **Seaniccus** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 2:21 am

I didn't touch any of the connections near the gray ribbon, but there's always a shot at that.

It LOOKS fine on both ends, but the whole damn thing looks fine.

I don't know the brand, but I use a old soldering gun. It still works as well as ever though.

Well, i've got nothing to lose at this point by trying to solder the connector on, so I guess i'll follow the tutorial tommorrow and install the 72 connector and just hope this is another "variation" of the SJ3 (i've seen pictures and they all seem to look different) that just happens to not work unless the connector is on. (For instance, Ben had to disable the interior games to get his SJ3 cartridge to work, while mine worked right away, with both interior and cartridge working - triggered by the presense of the cartridge.)

Perhaps my SJ3 looks for the cartridge first, and if it doesent find one, goes to the ROM ship for data - but there was no connection to go to the ROM chip because there is no connector to bridge the connection.

It makes sense, but part of me is probably just trying to convince myself all is not lost.

I'll worry about it in the morning

Kyo · Post by **Kyo** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 2:31 am

You know that an empty cartridge slot is exactly the same as a desoldered one, right?

Seaniccus · Post by **Seaniccus** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 2:45 am

Kyo wrote:You know that an empty cartridge slot is exactly the same as a desoldered one, right?

Stop that. I'm busy hoping against hope for the improbable over here.

Seaniccus · Post by **Seaniccus** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 2:14 pm

ARRRG I can't figure it out. I've wasted hours on this, for nothing! I can't afford another NOAC, and even if I could, I can't risk borking a new one.

The screen is pretty consistantly grey when it's plugged in - sort of like when you don't have a game in your NES (blinking lockout chip disabled.) I'm not sure if rom data just isent reaching the chip, or if the emulation ship is borked somehow altogether. Everything SEEMS fine. I've tested the connections with a voltmeter, and every line that I can see that stems from the voltemeter (and some that I can't see where its coming from) carry some voltage, anywhere between 3-5v (5v for the wires coming off of the main 5v in line, less for things coming off another port that I don't know what it does.)

I wish there was a real schematic somewhere for this thing.

An option that I havent' been able to test yet is that I somehow disabled the internal games. I haven't been able to see if it will still boot off of a cartridge, because there has been no cartridge slot.

Can someone with an internal game disabled sj3 tell me what happens when they turn it on without a cartridge in?

THON · Post by **THON** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 5:36 pm

Seaniccus wrote:I didn't touch any of the connections near the gray ribbon, but there's always a shot at that.

It LOOKS fine on both ends, but the whole damn thing looks fine.

I don't know the brand, but I use a old soldering gun. It still works as well as ever though.

Well, i've got nothing to lose at this point by trying to solder the connector on, so I guess i'll follow the tutorial tommorrow and install the 72 connector and just hope this is another "variation" of the SJ3 (i've seen pictures and they all seem to look different) that just happens to not work unless the connector is on. (For instance, Ben had to disable the interior games to get his SJ3 cartridge to work, while mine worked right away, with both interior and cartridge working - triggered by the presense of the cartridge.)

Perhaps my SJ3 looks for the cartridge first, and if it doesent find one, goes to the ROM ship for data - but there was no connection to go to the ROM chip because there is no connector to bridge the connection.

It makes sense, but part of me is probably just trying to convince myself all is not lost.

I'll worry about it in the morning

You used a soldering gun?

Seaniccus · Post by **Seaniccus** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 5:45 pm

Yes.

Have you never heard of them?
They have triggers so they aren't hot all the time. It's a bit "old" tech now I guess, since they have small "pencil" irons that do that, but they didn't used to - instead they had these:

vskid · Post by **vskid** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 5:48 pm

They still have soldering guns, they just use them on big stuff like automotive. They aren't used for electronics because they get hotter than the surface of the sun and can turn your project into a molten pool of stuff in 5 seconds (ok, not really, but almost).

Post by **CronoTriggerfan** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 6:03 pm

Yeah, as they said, the gun probably fried your mobo. Go to RadioShack and pick up a pencil iron, anywhere from 15-30 watts or so should do fine. This is the one I used to use until it broke, got a good 2 years out of it; I've upgraded to This one now, and I must say, for $2 extra, it's a pretty good deal.

CTFan

Seaniccus · Post by **Seaniccus** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 6:08 pm

soldering iron doesent matter anymore, as I said if I can't bring this one back to life somehow (which is pretty much laugable) then I have to scrap the whole project. I only make just enough to cover gas and school and such. And the end of the month, i'm ussually lucky to have an extra $20 to play with - and that's IF i'm lucky, and i'm not always lucky.

I don't have the money to buy another one. I'm boned.

...

Still, i'm waiting for a report from someone who has a internal-games disabled SJ3 to tell me exactly what happens when they turn it on without a cart.

Bibin · Post by **Bibin** » Thu Oct 04, 2007 7:15 pm

I'd trade you something cool for my SJIII.

Seaniccus · Post by **Seaniccus** » Thu Oct 04, 2007 8:23 pm

Maybe. What are you looking for?

I'll go through some of my stuff when i get home today, maybe i have a game you want or something.

Kurt_ · Post by **Kurt_** » Fri Oct 05, 2007 3:25 pm

As was stated before, a soldering gun = instant death.

Especially on something so small.

For soldering to a heat-sink, I would use a 60 watt iron. A 40 watt is high for electronics soldering. For something like that, I wouldn't use over 30, and would tend towards 15-25 watts.

Check your soldering gun. It's probably around 100 watts. You probably melted something important.

THON · Post by **THON** » Fri Oct 05, 2007 5:09 pm

Kurt_ wrote:As was stated before, a soldering gun = instant death.

Especially on something so small.

For soldering to a heat-sink, I would use a 60 watt iron. A 40 watt is high for electronics soldering. For something like that, I wouldn't use over 30, and would tend towards 15-25 watts.

Check your soldering gun. It's probably around 100 watts. You probably melted something important.

What I meant. I don't think soldering guns have any use when it comes to modding systems unless it's removing an RF box or taking out a SNES mini cart slot.