exxos's Atari, Amiga & retro forum

rubber_jonnie wrote: 25 May 2024 10:18 EDIT - I looked at the repair procedure, it's not too bad. Are you in the UK? I could probably do the repair if you are, I have all the tools, I'd just need to get the adapter for my programmer if I don't have one.

Thanks for the offer, if it comes to that I'd be very happy to take you up on your offer, I'm in the UK and not that far from you by the looks of it. I made the JTAG cable and tracked down the chip that needs replacing, but I wanted to go through the flashing process before I got too involved replacing chips. I need to put together a PC with a real parallel port, but right now I'm busy with another project.

I did all the research but I'd appreciate if you could have a look and see if I'm on the right track: https://wubsoft.org/gp32/gp32_jtag.html

wub wrote: 25 May 2024 12:47

rubber_jonnie wrote: 25 May 2024 10:18 EDIT - I looked at the repair procedure, it's not too bad. Are you in the UK? I could probably do the repair if you are, I have all the tools, I'd just need to get the adapter for my programmer if I don't have one.

Thanks for the offer, if it comes to that I'd be very happy to take you up on your offer, I'm in the UK and not that far from you by the looks of it. I made the JTAG cable and tracked down the chip that needs replacing, but I wanted to go through the flashing process before I got too involved replacing chips. I need to put together a PC with a real parallel port, but right now I'm busy with another project.

I did all the research but I'd appreciate if you could have a look and see if I'm on the right track: https://wubsoft.org/gp32/gp32_jtag.html

TBH from what I read the BIOS chip needs to be replaced, so flashing via JTAG may not work, but if you have 3 dead ones, it may well be worth getting one to me and I can do a replacement whilst you pursue the JTAG option with the other 2.

Sort of divide and conquer :)

I'm confident with microsoldering and have a hot air workstation too, plus a TL866 II Pro, so it'd be a case of finding the BIOS IC and adapter and flashing then installing, which I don't think would be too hard.

PM me with your location if interested and we can sort something out.

rubber_jonnie wrote: 25 May 2024 13:20
TBH from what I read the BIOS chip needs to be replaced, so flashing via JTAG may not work, but if you have 3 dead ones, it may well be worth getting one to me and I can do a replacement whilst you pursue the JTAG option with the other 2.

Sort of divide and conquer :)

I'm confident with microsoldering and have a hot air workstation too, plus a TL866 II Pro, so it'd be a case of finding the BIOS IC and adapter and flashing then installing, which I don't think would be too hard.

PM me with your location if interested and we can sort something out.

Yes, this all sounds like what I learned from my research. Apparently, assuming the bios chip isn't completely dead, the reflash will work until you remove the batteries so I was hoping to be able to confirm that my JTAG cable worked at the very least.

But thanks again for the offer, I'll send you a PM in due course! :)

wub wrote: 25 May 2024 13:58

rubber_jonnie wrote: 25 May 2024 13:20
TBH from what I read the BIOS chip needs to be replaced, so flashing via JTAG may not work, but if you have 3 dead ones, it may well be worth getting one to me and I can do a replacement whilst you pursue the JTAG option with the other 2.

Sort of divide and conquer :)

I'm confident with microsoldering and have a hot air workstation too, plus a TL866 II Pro, so it'd be a case of finding the BIOS IC and adapter and flashing then installing, which I don't think would be too hard.

PM me with your location if interested and we can sort something out.

Yes, this all sounds like what I learned from my research. Apparently, assuming the bios chip isn't completely dead, the reflash will work until you remove the batteries so I was hoping to be able to confirm that my JTAG cable worked at the very least.

But thanks again for the offer, I'll send you a PM in due course! :)

Sounds good to me.

alexh wrote: 24 May 2024 12:13 Nice. Thinking about expanding the collection? An original 1989 Gameboy? They are not too expensive. Or a Gameboy Color / Pocket? But I guess you have a Gameboy Advance so maybe you don't need another Gameboy same goes for an Advance SP?

I'd like a Genesis Nomad which was the portable Megadrive (not released in UK) or an NEC Turbo Express (portable PC Engine) but they go for far too much £££

Bandai Wonderswan they are not too expensive but the SwanCrystal which is the best to get is £££

I might have accidentally (On purpose) picked up a dead non-colour Wonderswan from the same seller for just £15, I do like a project...

OK, so the Wonderswans have arrived, and I'm not at all impressed with the packing from the eBayer, the two just stuffed screen to screen in a jiffy bag :mad:

Why can't people realise that these things are not their property once sold and pack accordingly.

Luckily they seem to have survived intact and do seem to be as described. Here they are with a Switch Lite for scale (I didn't have any Bananas):


They are a lot smaller than I realised!!

The mono one is a bit of a beater and missing a battery cover and as described, for spares/repairs only. It seems to have a bad screen, but does appear to turn on. Same for the Colour model, it powers on too, except the screen appears to be good :)

They were both a bit grubby but have cleaned up externally quite nicely, though I will do a through clean inside and out on both.

I need to find a cart next, though they are quite expensive, as without I can't test, and I can't currently find the FlashMasta SD cart anywhere in stock.

Fun and games to keep me occupied :)

Maintenance happening on my other laptop today. Fans pulled and cleaned along with the heat pipe fins, as usual full of cat fur!!!


Now just waiting for the replacement battery to come, as the old one has become a 'spicy pillow' under the track pad, causing difficulty when pressing the trackpad L/R buttons, so very stiff.

It's a common issue on this model, but the battery is about 7 years old, so I'll cut it some slack.

And all installed:


Battery is part charged, so worked right away:


Which was nice, and now the mousepad buttons are back to normal and just below the level of the deck of the laptop.

OK, so my Pocket 386 finally arrived and I was surprised that it was not only smaller than the Book 8088, but also the Libretto:


L -> R: Pocket 386, Libretto, Book 8088

It's not far off the Libretto in terms of size, but very neat for a portable 386 SX40. Windows 95 and DOS 7.1. I actually have several Windows 95 licences so MS shouldn't hunt me down :)

Nice collection ive been out of commission but am back in working order

Tom