The ghetto mod thread

[Agent24]

Re: The ghetto mod thread

It was not a complicated design, but I needed to connect a connector with many pins... on the edge of the board... and having the PTHs would short everything.

Is there a grid between the (tiny) pads? What is the point of that?

[eccerr0r]

Re: The ghetto mod thread

beats the heck out of me, perhaps to let people to choose using the grid horizontal or vertical. Of course now someone needs to cut all in the orthogonal direction...

[Dan81]

Re: The ghetto mod thread

Do I win the award for the most ghetto thing? hehe

Anyways, this is one of my PS1s I fixed a few days ago.

Extended the laser ribbon cable because the drive I had wasn't for the model I had to fix.

It's a SCPH-5552, about the only ones beside the 7002s to require a long laser ribbon cable. My other two, a 1002 and a 9002, use normal cables. (the 1002 has a slim PS1 laser for example, and these have the right size ribbon)

[TechGeek]

Re: The ghetto mod thread

holy bell wire!

[Agent24]

Re: The ghetto mod thread

Looks like a spaghetti monster is lurking in there

I want to see how ghetto the eye pattern from the laser pickup is with all that!

[Dan81]

Re: The ghetto mod thread

Looks like a spaghetti monster is lurking in there

I want to see how ghetto the eye pattern from the laser pickup is with all that!

It actually works fine

I tested Gran Turismo 2 and Brian Lara Cricket on it and both loaded fine.

[RJARRRPCGP]

Re: The ghetto mod thread

It actually works fine

I tested Gran Turismo 2

I like!

[Dan81]

Re: The ghetto mod thread

I like!

Strikin' again with another ghetto mod.

abit IP35 Pro mobo - replaced one Winbond chip that was bad near the RAM slots. This however didn't change the fact that it would still give error 8.4 and not POST.

You can see the mod here Now it works fine (although that area gets really hot, but that's a design flaw, my older IP35-E had the same hotness issue) although I keep getting 0x7E on Windows discs, but that's another story.

[RJARRRPCGP]

Re: The ghetto mod thread

Strikin' again with another ghetto mod.

abit IP35 Pro mobo - replaced one Winbond chip that was bad near the RAM slots. This however didn't change the fact that it would still give error 8.4 and not POST.

You can see the mod here Now it works fine (although that area gets really hot, but that's a design flaw, my older IP35-E had the same hotness issue) although I keep getting 0x7E on Windows discs, but that's another story.

BIOS UI reminds me of socket 462, LOL. (And early-2010s' Gigabyte AM3)

[eccerr0r]

Re: The ghetto mod thread

What winbond chip, what determined it was bad?

The picture looks like a bunch of replaced MOSFETs for the buck converter (which doesn't look that ghetto)?

[Agent24]

Re: The ghetto mod thread

Winbond = probably SIO chip. Guess it wasn't generating some required system control signal.

[Dan81]

Re: The ghetto mod thread

What winbond chip, what determined it was bad?

The picture looks like a bunch of replaced MOSFETs for the buck converter (which doesn't look that ghetto)?

An Winbond W83220G, which is a N-channel FET synchronous buck regulator controller.

I found out it was bad because before replacing it, the board kept freezing on POST (with the same bridge applied on FET, as without it the board simply won't boot and stop on error 8.4 which is DDR voltage)

Agent24- The SIO chip is fine.

[momaka]

Re: The ghetto mod thread

Do I win the award for the most ghetto thing? hehe

Anyways, this is one of my PS1s I fixed a few days ago.

Yes! I think you do.
That's a lot of effort/time for a PS1 drive, but I suppose why not, right?
I have a microwave LCD that needs a similar kind of fixing - the thermal cable separated from the LCD and LCD is no longer functional. I was thinking of doing something similar to you - just run lots of cables and make my own "pads" on the LCD end. Actually, that project has been sitting on my bench for 3 years now (talk about procrastination, lol). It's for a spare microwave, though. I'll post it when(ever) I get it done.

Yeah the radio shack copper ringed perfboard is pretty crappy (FR2 and not plated through).

Yeah, if you're talking about those pair of "square" boards they used to sell, I agree. They do a little better if you put flux on the board and then drag solder / tin all of the traces before soldering your components.

though I would really rather have a real PCB done, cutting veroboard or adding wire links is a major PITA.

Adding wire links is easy. Just save those extra-long capacitor and resistor leads you clip from new parts. I have a small plastic box full of them, collected from all the years of recapping PSUs with new caps and whatnot. So when I need to make a long trace/link, I just put one of those leads on the board and then drag solder across it. Ends up looking alright, usually.

Oh... and do notice I reused this board. I think I used this board for something else, then ripped all the components out and built this on it. I wonder when it comes time for me to disassemble this and build something else

LOL. I did that when I was building my senior project in college - decided to re-use an old Radio Shack square board that had a project before on it that I never finished (as it wasn't needed). The board was even snapped off in two pieces, as that's what I needed for that first project. So after clearing the old components out, I put back the two PCB pieces together and held them at the ends with hot glue. Then proceeded to build my new project on it. Here's a pic of that:
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1546065485

I found out it was bad because before replacing it, the board kept freezing on POST (with the same bridge applied on FET, as without it the board simply won't boot and stop on error 8.4 which is DDR voltage)

That bridge you created essentially shorts Gate to Drain. I imagine this makes the MOSFET stuck On all the time. But it's not a good method, because you are back-feeding whatever chip is supposed to drive the Gate of that MOSFET. If the MOSFET is used just a simple pass-through switch with diode junction, then you're better off placing a jumper across Source-Drain junction. But if it's a buck regulator, this is certainly a bad idea (I see some inductors nearby, so check). In that case, you have to figure what's driving that buck regulator circuit and fix it, as that's likely the cause of the issue.

[eccerr0r]

Re: The ghetto mod thread

pretty nice, mine turn out pretty bad. I think this board was also a ripup and reuse, it is now a direct digital signal synthesizer.

Note that a lot of the times I don't cut things really short... in case I need to... rip up and reuse

[Dan81]

Re: The ghetto mod thread

That bridge you created essentially shorts Gate to Drain. I imagine this makes the MOSFET stuck On all the time. But it's not a good method, because you are back-feeding whatever chip is supposed to drive the Gate of that MOSFET. If the MOSFET is used just a simple pass-through switch with diode junction, then you're better off placing a jumper across Source-Drain junction. But if it's a buck regulator, this is certainly a bad idea (I see some inductors nearby, so check). In that case, you have to figure what's driving that buck regulator circuit and fix it, as that's likely the cause of the issue.

I think it acts as a switch and the other one next to it is the one that is important.

[eccerr0r]

Re: The ghetto mod thread

More nasty handywork... just because I didn't have a case for the DB9...

[stj]

Re: The ghetto mod thread

lol
so whats in it, a max202 or similar?

[Agent24]

Re: The ghetto mod thread

I think it might be a MUCU5 chip.

[momaka]

Re: The ghetto mod thread

I think it might be a MUCU5 chip.

Ewwww!!!!!

[eccerr0r]

Re: The ghetto mod thread

LOL, yes MUCU5 chip!

Actually no ICs, just two NPN transistors, three resistors, and some wire.

stj probably already got the answer because he saw a LOT of clues scattered everywhere, but the bonus question is: what is it used for (exactly).

Hint is that it doesn't need any additional power source...

In any case, perhaps I need to go over it one more time with a heat gun to smooth out the plastic...

Oh, and no, I don't think this will be torn up and reused like other things