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Re: Falcon CA401332-003 Rev D/C Service blog

Posted: 27 May 2021 09:13
by derkom
Aha! Guess that got mangled when the old port was removed for whatever reason. Very nice work overall!

Re: Falcon CA401332-003 Rev D/C Service blog

Posted: 27 May 2021 09:17
by dhedberg
Great work fixing the Falcon!

Looks like that track could very well become broken again by the wear from the connector. The repair is in a bit of a bad position (it'll be partly or completely covered by the connector). Perhaps adding a bodge wire would be a better solution?

Re: Falcon CA401332-003 Rev D/C Service blog

Posted: 27 May 2021 09:36
by Steve
dhedberg wrote: 27 May 2021 09:17 Great work fixing the Falcon!

Looks like that track could very well become broken again by the wear from the connector. The repair is in a bit of a bad position (it'll be partly or completely covered by the connector. Perhaps adding a bodge wire would be a better solution?
Hmm I was going to coat it with PCB overcoat epoxy, but perhaps you're right. I'll add a bodge wire on the underside of the board just in case :)

Oh and we're not finished yet with this Falcon. That was just the first 'issue'. Second is that it is reported to be unstable with its ct60 accelerator. So I will be testing that and attempting to solve it.

Re: Falcon CA401332-003 Rev D/C Service blog

Posted: 27 May 2021 09:42
by Steve
Just checking with others familiar with the Falcon, isn't R221 usually 33ohm? This board just has a zero ohm... Odd.

PXL_20210527_083930380.jpg

Re: Falcon CA401332-003 Rev D/C Service blog

Posted: 28 May 2021 07:13
by mikro
R221 has been changed to 0 Ω in PCB rev.H.

Re: Falcon CA401332-003 Rev D/C Service blog

Posted: 28 May 2021 08:49
by Steve
Thanks @mikro :)

Re: Falcon CA401332-003 Rev D/C Service blog

Posted: 31 May 2021 12:40
by Steve
@mikro

With this particular revision:
CA401332-003 Rev D/C
Y43502003362

Are you aware of any factory fixes it may be missing, or is it a final revision? Thank you

Re: Falcon CA401332-003 Rev D/C Service blog

Posted: 01 Jun 2021 11:39
by mikro
It's hard to say, generally speaking, all boils down to having a good clock patch and maybe update the audio circuirty but I have personally never done that. So as long the bus is fine and there are no DMA issues, you're good to go. :)

Re: Falcon CA401332-003 Rev D/C Service blog

Posted: 03 Jun 2021 15:10
by Steve
UPDATE:

So, we fixed the monitor port - second job was to fix stability with ct60. This board had the 47ohm resistor termination 'clock patch' if you can call it that. Initially I removed this and replaced it with Exxos's clock patch, but upon doing this the system display would go crazy and garbled. LUCKILY Exxos was working on a similar Falcon and fixed the issue by using a 100k resistor on the sdma line. Thankfully this fix also worked on this Falcon! What a happy coincidence! :)

Photos of work in the last few days:

NVRAM replacement:
nvram1.jpg
nvram2.jpg
nvram3.jpg

Clock patch install & 100k install:
clockpatchcool1.jpg
clockpatchcool2.jpg
clockpatchcool3.jpg
100kohm.jpg

ct60 ram shielding & replaced 220uf caps on ct60
ct60ramshield1.jpg
ct60ramshield2.jpg

Cleaning
Customer has some nice old stickers he always kept on the machine, as they are sentimental for him I carefully removed, cleaned & put back:

caseclean0.jpg
stickers.jpg
keybclean1.jpg
keybclean2.jpg
caseclean2.jpg
caseclean3.jpg
caseclean4.jpg

Working, testing some games!
abbaye.jpg
badmood.jpg

Conclusion of story:
GATES HAS NO CHANCE!

gatesnochance.jpg

Re: Falcon CA401332-003 Rev D/C Service blog

Posted: 03 Jun 2021 15:30
by exxos
Very nice work @Steve Good to know the 100K Also fixed the problem with your machine and also good to know the exxos clock patch works with the CT60 :) :thumbup: :cheers: