Bacteria project: N64³: --abandoned--

[XCVG]

It looked to me like sifuf used kynar wire to rewire his n64 board. Maybe I'm just crazy though

Yes, but Sifuf only rewired the cart connector. Not the kind of splitting that Bacteria is doing.

[bacteria]

Yes, appears Sifuf use kynar wire for rewiring the cart connector, as I did - works but I got background humming (interference) which isn't great. My wiring wasn't as neat as his so maybe he got away with it and I didn't - either that or maybe a difference between the US and UK boards - has to be one factor or the other (there are differences in the board traces after all). Also, as XCVG says, I split a board in two, that is a different application.

If changing the wires doesn't make the board spring to life, I don't know what else I can do, everything looks fine and all contacts are connected securely, no loose contacts. Either this baby works or it don't!

[ShockSlayer]

Hey, just to confirm everyone on something, as you stated, the n64 is onnly two layers: top, and bottom. I just peeled the 2 layers off of a dead board.

SS

[themadhacker]

Hey, just to confirm everyone on something, as you stated, the n64 is onnly two layers: top, and bottom. I just peeled the 2 layers off of a dead board.

SS

it is? looks like I've been lied to about the several layers.

[XCVG]

Well the SNES mini had more than two layers so a lot of people assumed the N64 did as well, because it is newer.

[bacteria]

This was discussed in a different thread before, the N64 only has two layers so what you see is what you get.

[bacteria]

Did the remaining wiring, no difference; either the board is fried or I have missed something on the wiring; or it can't be done. Never mind. May have another go at a later time but we'll see.

Two projects on the go at the moment now therefore, not three; the N64 in my case and TurboGrafx in my case. Will continue efforts on the TurboGrafx board, get that finished, then work both cases in tandem. Not a problem working two similar projects at the same time.

[ShockSlayer]

I'm not sure, but is it really a good idea to solder to the through holes?

SS

[bacteria]

Is that an issue out of interest? Just a way to connect a wire to a trace contact.

[collinE]

when I'm ready to get back into it, I want to take a stab at this. Maybe take a slower, more methodical approach. severing a connection at a time to see which ones, if any, have a problem being rewired.

[skeneegee]

Did the remaining wiring, no difference; either the board is fried or I have missed something on the wiring; or it can't be done. Never mind. May have another go at a later time but we'll see.

Bacteria,

Maybe something simple to check is a trick that vskid mentioned he found at Benheck forums,
1- take the game cart and the jumper pack out
2- put jumper pack in and power on system for 5 seconds or so and turn off
3- put game cart in and power on, should work
4- try a couple of times if it doesn't work the first time

This worked for me when I overclocked an N64, I thought I had ruined it until I found this trick in an old thread. I think it has something to do with powering the system on without a jumper pack.

I want to see you succeed!

[bacteria]

Method you refer to skeneegee is for the expansion pack if the system doesn't boot.

collinE - Nice to see others interested in this quest. Problem mainly is that the best place to slice the board is directly under one of the main chips, which of course makes that a bad idea. There are only three places to slice the board, one would be to one of the main chips and masses of connections; the second between the U4 chip and the other is the path I chose.

I do hate having failures. I have one interesting line of enquiry to follow ShockSlayer mentioned about not wiring to the small holes going through a board to the other side - I have done that on multiple contacts - worth me rewiring these on my board and seeing if that makes any difference. We all know the N64 board is quite tempremental after all - again, nothing to lose.

[bacteria]

Two reasons for this post:

Firstly to update you guys about my experience with kynar wire: Rewiring the TurboGrafx board as mentioned before (proving a good learning curve for me, and relevant to the N64 trimming - learning a lot). Cutting the kynar wires to about 1cm as the solder joints to the chips are so fine, if I try to remove the kynar wires from their joints I will cause shorts and kill the board, so instead, cutting the kynar wires right back and soldering my normal wires to them. Anyway, one of the kynar wires I connected to was about 1.5cms long which I connected to the normal wires; system wouldn't boot. Trimmed the wire back to about 1cm and the system booted fine. This proves to me, at least, that kynar wire isn't very good communication wire.

Secondly, I have decided to have another stab at the N64 board in two stages - firstly, remove all wires connected to traces (even though they all check out ok) and wire directly to their end destinations. This is what ShockSlayer was suggesting, although at this stage I would have come to the same conclusion anyway as my experience above has proven how tempremantal wiring connections can be - the multimeter might say you have connections done right, but the wire decides not to perform right (eg connecting to a trace hole). If that fails to work, I will take a very methodical approach with a new board; wire each connection, turn system on, cut the trace, turn system on; onto next bit; after each section, score the board so when I finish I can hopefully snap the board in half without cracking the board or dislodging wiring. This process takes longer, but at least when something fails you stand a chance to rectify it.

This is a very methodical approach and stands the best chance to work. This has become a battle of wills to me now; I don't want this board to beat me! I have a very tenacious characteristic to my personality - it has been referred to in the past as "a bulldog with a bone" - true!

In other words, I will be resuming this work in the next days and will continue posting in this thread with progress: if I succeed, it will give a good WIP progress report, if it still fails, might help others - although I have determination to crack this! I may well lift off the U4 chip and slice the board under there, as wiring under the board will be easier. This would also make the board exactly the same finished size as the PSone screen.

[Tibia]

May I make a suggestion on cutting the board itself? If I were doing this, and after cutting the traces, it still worked, I would use a drill bit to go right through the trace. You'd be able to slip the drill bit down between the wires, and it would be a lot less disturbing than scoring and snapping. You'd eventually reach a point where you've got a row of holes that could be quickly cleaned up with a cutting bit or hand saw.

[collinE]

May I make a suggestion on cutting the board itself? If I were doing this, and after cutting the traces, it still worked, I would use a drill bit to go right through the trace. You'd be able to slip the drill bit down between the wires, and it would be a lot less disturbing than scoring and snapping. You'd eventually reach a point where you've got a row of holes that could be quickly cleaned up with a cutting bit or hand saw.

perfect idea. I was thinking of cutting the traces and then wiring them one at a time, but couldn't think of a feasible way you could cut the board while all wired up. you should try it