Post by: AfterTheInsanity on October 04, 2007, 09:20:00 AM
Post by: AfterTheInsanity on October 04, 2007, 04:29:00 PM
Post by: AfterTheInsanity on October 12, 2007, 01:38:00 PM
Post by: AfterTheInsanity on October 12, 2007, 08:39:00 PM
With the chip in recovery, it frags within 1/2 of a second of turning it on. With the chip in normal mode, it frags within about 1.5-2 seconds of turning it on. Only sign of life left in this thing. Someone must know something, or have tips... Anyone have nB's email?
Post by: AfterTheInsanity on October 12, 2007, 09:25:00 PM
EDIT Oooh, after many tries Im finally getting a barely-readable menu.
Post by: Bomb Bloke on October 13, 2007, 08:27:00 AM
Electronic gear is affected by temperature. Usually this doesn't make much difference (you might notice your DVD drive tends to stick in certain weather conditions), but when a circuit is faulty it becomes quite noticeable.
Somewhere on your board is a loose connection. When you power up the box the sudden surge of current is enough to spark across the gap (meaning the box turns on), but that soon subsides to a normal level and the box crashes.
If you leave the console powered on long enough, the components change shape slightly as they warm. Often this bridges gaps and it might even be enough to make a box boot. You might have heard of the "freeze a broken HDD" trick, it's the same sort of concept.
The question in your case is where the loose connection is. Doesn't look like anyone recognises the symptoms as something specific, and I'm no exception...
Official docs say FRAG is an EEPROM issue, though if memory serves my boxes also do it if I unplug their drives (though they still go through the flubber sequence).
RAM problems usually lead to a triple-boot-then-FRAO, so they're probably fine.
My bet is with one of the processors.
All I can recommend is applying pressure to the various chips inside the box and booting the console up. Keep trying different ones until you get a proper boot, and just hope that the one at fault has easily accessible solder joins. If you're really lucky you'll be able to spot a small burn mark somewhere, that'd save you some time.
Post by: AfterTheInsanity on October 13, 2007, 01:49:00 PM
Ive scoured the board looking for ANYTHING that could tell me whats wrong, but I didnt come up with anything. Something tells me it has to do with the video encoder or MCPX, since the video output is kinda... well, screwy. Im trying to find someone with a heatgun so I can reflow the solder around the Conexant encoder, but if that doesnt do it, I might end up baking the board in an oven to try and reflow the solder under the MCPX, GPU, and CPU. Anyone have any tips for this - temperature, time, etc?
Post by: networkBoy on October 13, 2007, 09:01:00 PM
The reset line has got issues.
Reset (RST) is active low, that is when that line goes low then the chips connected reset.
Looks like you may have a damaged trace and/or a bad chip somewhere. Try to follow the traces to/from the RST point on the LPC and look for any damage, use a DMM to check anywhere where it goes to a chip or via for voltage. If one chip has 3.3v and another does not there is likely trace damage. It could also be that the PIC or MCPx are holding the line low (or a broken ball under the MCPx, though not likely).
Lift the RST pin on the PIC (carefully) and see if that helps, if it does it's time to pull the chip off anf buy a new one. Finally if this is a 1.0 board, then the borked MCPx is more plausible. I'm not sure what they did, but the reliability of those things was not good on 1.0's but was better on later versions.
HTH,
-nB
Post by: AfterTheInsanity on October 13, 2007, 09:31:00 PM
Bah.
EDIT Uhoh, as its turning off I can hear that crackling sound that almost always comes from something shorting. Time to put it back under the magnifying glass.
Post by: AfterTheInsanity on October 14, 2007, 09:45:00 AM
Post by: networkBoy on October 14, 2007, 11:34:00 PM
-nB
http://ww1.microchip...eDoc/30605c.pdf
Post by: AfterTheInsanity on October 15, 2007, 02:09:00 PM
EDIT after leaving it plugged in, its acting kind of ghostly. Turns on and off at random, for anywhere between one and five seconds, until I unplug it. None of them lead to a screen with good visuals.
Post by: Bomb Bloke on October 15, 2007, 04:58:00 PM
Might not help at all but I for one would like to see them.
Post by: AfterTheInsanity on October 15, 2007, 05:38:00 PM
Hope I can remove it and salvage the board.
Never knew TSOP's burnt white.
Post by: Bomb Bloke on October 15, 2007, 05:50:00 PM
It's odd, though. I thought a modchip would've by-passed the TSOP and hence the problem. Well, unless the short wasn't directly under the original, I suppose.
Post by: AfterTheInsanity on October 15, 2007, 06:02:00 PM
And the D0 wouldnt shut the TSOP off, just bypass it (switching the address lines from reading from the TSOP to reading from the LPC - still leaving the TSOP powered up), or at least thats how I understood it.
Post by: networkBoy on October 15, 2007, 06:47:00 PM
QUOTE(AfterTheInsanity @ Oct 16 2007, 01:38 AM) 
And the D0 wouldnt shut the TSOP off, just bypass it (switching the address lines from reading from the TSOP to reading from the LPC - still leaving the TSOP powered up), or at least thats how I understood it.
Correct.
and bummer...
Post by: AfterTheInsanity on October 15, 2007, 07:44:00 PM
Post by: networkBoy on October 15, 2007, 08:59:00 PM
Post by: AfterTheInsanity on October 15, 2007, 09:06:00 PM