REPAIR GUIDE - TurboDuo/PC Engine Duo: Total capacitor replacement chart

[NecroPhile]

Another Duo saved to OBEY another day!  Well done, ConHuevos. 

[ConHuevos]

Ok, today I noticed something that isn't normal.  I'm only getting audio from one channel.  My white audio plug has no audio coming out of the duo, via hucard or CD-ROM.

Any idea what can cause this?

I hope it's something simple I overlooked.  Worst case scenario...how much would it cost to have this repaired by one of the board members?

[thesteve]

could be your AV cable

[ConHuevos]

could be your AV cable

As much as I would like it to be, I don't think it is =/.

[BlueBMW]

If its not your AV cables, then its probably a corroded via or trace caused by the leaked cap fluid.  Did you clean the board really well before you put the new caps in?

[ConHuevos]

I tried my best with alcohol, the back of the board is covered in yellowish liquid I tried to clean off.  2 of my solder pads were somewhat messed up but I managed to salvage them.

[BlueBMW]

On this duo, I had no sound even after a cap swap.  Look at the black crud around one of the via holes.  A through cleaning then testing of continuity and repair of some of the vias was necessary.

/Repair/DuoSound2.jpg

[ConHuevos]

Via?

[BlueBMW]

Vias are the little holes in the board that make connections from one side of the board to the other.

[thesteve]

the via's are often bare copper plated, making them easily corroded.
a wire strand through the hole and soldered up fixes them

[ConHuevos]

Blue, how much would it cost to ship to you and fix the sound?  This is my spare duo, but playing order of the griffon with only 1 sound channel annoys me so much .

[NightWolve]

Randomly found this today, so for possible useful reference:

"PC Engine Duo/Turbo Duo Capacitor Replacement Set"

Cost: $9.99

http://gamedoctorhk.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1143



They've got NEC parts/games, laser units for DUO-R/DUO-RX, etc. Anyway, might be useful for someone though I think if I ever do this for my Duo when it breaks, I'm gonna try to buy tantalums this time instead (unlike my TE).

[ConHuevos]

Ya, I saw that when I went to replace mine.  But then I noticed they are from China, and really didn't wanna trust the quality of capacitors they're getting.  Besides, for $2 more I got all hi temp caps from digikey so I had piece of mind and knew they were from a good brand, not cheap Chinese junk (not saying that's what it is, but it may be).

Shout outs to thesteve for fixing my sound issue, fixed it the day it arrived at his door.  Thanks!

[SNKNostalgia]

Well, stayed up all damn night trying to fix the right (red) sound channel and I still get no sound at all. It was actually extremely low volume before I did the entire cap replacement. I tested the AV out on the side and the headphone jack. I am seriously out of ideas.

I also managed to lift a few traces, but was able to get a connection through the Vias (copper holes). I also have to redo the region mod connection, as it is a complete bitch to get to the lower cut pins and solder wires off the HuCard slot. Sighhhh...

Anybody know the full trace route for the right sound channel from beginning to end?

[SNKNostalgia]

  Well, spent a good 12 hours today trying to fix my Duo and this shit is hopeless. When I unhook the region mod entirely the system boots to CD start menu but the disc drive is just flat out dead. When I wire-up the region mod the system is stuck on a light blue screen no matter what.

I. am. screwed!!!

Anybody want to have a go with it? I am considering sending it off to get fixed. If it doesn't come back to life, then I guess I can scrap it. I definitely would like to keep the grahf made region mod board in the long run. The newer and easier S-video mod will more than suffice now that the knowledge is out.

[thesteve]

the blue screen means you have a wire crossed on the mod.
not sure why your cd drive is dead

[Charlie]

=>>Anybody know the full trace route for the right sound channel from beginning to end?<==

What, abbreviated schematics and technical descriptions aren't enough?  We have a lot of these here, about many of these consoles.
Try a seach for "Duo" and "schematic"....I'm pretty sure that there are numerous threads here about this, and many of them lead to other threads.  There may even be one actually related to the DUO and it's audio.

Good luck.

Charlie

[BlueBMW]

=>>Anybody know the full trace route for the right sound channel from beginning to end?<==

What, abbreviated schematics and technical descriptions aren't enough?  We have a lot of these here, about many of these consoles.
Try a seach for "Duo" and "schematic"....I'm pretty sure that there are numerous threads here about this, and many of them lead to other threads.  There may even be one actually related to the DUO and it's audio.

Good luck.

Charlie

I was just looking at that schematic the other day...  its there SNK, just search for it.  I'm pretty sure Charlie posted it.

[thesteve]

remember its not a full schematic, but it should get you in the ball park.
as a side note check the voltages on the caps by the EVC chip (SIP behind the heatsinks)

[SNKNostalgia]

I wondering if the 470uf just above the heatsinks is the culprit. It is possible I slightly overheated it with the solder iron. It was a big pain to get out due to the wires being bent when originally installed. My multimeter display shows random garbage unless I mash the screen in a little, so this will be fun.

Any tips on soldering to the hucard slot pins? I feel like a I am playing a game of operation that is 10x as hard. I am roughly intermediate to advance at soldering over the years, but not quite the expert. Maybe if I were to take some sort sniper tranquilizer, lol.

[thesteve]

rest your wrist on something for stability.
the 47uf SMD cap behind the heatsink (right side) is where i would start with a meter, as its the CDA volume control voltage

[SNKNostalgia]

Having another go at it tonight. Wish me luck, lol.

Volume level is now secondary, as getting the machine to play games again is my concern for now. I know it works after my previous test with region mod disconnected. I just have to check my wiring connections on the HuCard slot. I know I have the right pattern. It is a tight and small in that area, so it is easy to connect pins next to each other by accident. You couldn't pay me to mess with that section.

[thesteve]

remember, if your meter has a ---|>|-- function, you can test the mod with it.

[fraggore]

Thanks for the guide very usefull.

[turbokon]

I'm working on cap replacement on a pce duo I just got from game of Japan. I noticed that there is a place for a cap that's not on the chart. I can't remember if I removed the cap from that spot or not but from the looks of residue, I assume there was. Anybody knows what value cap this might be, next to that Sanyo chip?

[thesteve]

never installed

[turbokon]

Cool, thanks.

[thesteve]

jailbar filter caps (someone asked)

[NightWolve]

Wow, you really are a dangerous "cowboy," aren't ya, steve? ;) What kind of experimentation was necessary to figure this kind of thing out I wonder ?? Grounding certain pins of the video chip with caps, wouldn't have thought of that, ever... Does anyone have a good picture of this "jailbar" problem BTW ? Just curious. I don't quite know what it is exactly.

[cosmos99]

Hi everyone , here's a listing i've made at Digikey , it includes all caps ,same size ,shape ,voltage and capacity.

CMS

10 uf 16 v x 6 565-2442-1-ND (dia 4 surf mont 4,3 x 4,3)
22 uf 16 v x 19 565-2443-1-ND (dia 5 surf mont 5,3 x 5,3)
100 uf 6v x 10 PCE3852CT-ND (dia 6,30 surf mont 6,6 x 6,6)
4,7 uf 35 v x 4 PCE4687CT-ND (dia 4 surf mont 4,3 x 4,3)
22 uf 6 v x 19 PCE4647CT-ND (dia 4 surf mont 4,3 x 4,3)
47 uf 16 v x 4 PCE3889CT-ND (dia 6,30 surf mont 6,6 x 6,6)

ON HOLE

1000 uf 16 v x 1 P5142-ND
470 uf 16 v x 3 493-1523-ND
100 uf 10 v x 1 P5123-ND
330 uf 16 v x 3 399-6579-ND
100 uf 16 v x 2 399-6648-1-ND
220 uf 16 v x 1 493-1783-ND

[SNKNostalgia]

Finally sent my Duo off to thesteve. I got fed up with the cap replacement errors adding up.

Also, those pins for the region mod are quite a pain to get line up with the wires along with the small space. I even slightly touched the plastic on the HuCard slot with the iron. I was getting a little anxious I guess.

[JohnnyPhantom]

This is like a Where's Waldo game for me as hard as I look I cannot seem to find the 1X 3.3uf 50V cap on the photo, can anyone tell me where it may be?
thanks!!


Never mind found a previous post that says where it is, under the CD drive cables ^-^

[SNKNostalgia]

Forgot to mention... I got my Turbo Duo back from thesteve Monday. The system is running better than ever. Total cap replacement, rewired the region mod since I goofed it, took out the CXA 2075 and did the newer S-video mod with the jailbar fix, tweaked the laser to run even better and added some RCA stereo jacks to the back for me. The video looks even sharper, minimal jailbars, and the colors and brightness seem to be more accurate to the original look.

In 2 days I beat Gate of Thunder, Lords of Thunder, Double Dragon 2, Ninja Spirit, Cadash, and almost beat Super Star Soldier again. I am playing through Ys 1+2 and almost finished beating Ys 1. Seems to be running for the Gold.

[MotherGunner]

So I have an S-Video Duo-R and I believe I have the jailbar issue.  Are we talking about the faint vertical lines on the screen?  If so, does The Steve have a fix for this? 

I also have the same issues on a couple of NES's I am trying to get repaired.

[thesteve]

So I have an S-Video Duo-R and I believe I have the jailbar issue.  Are we talking about the faint vertical lines on the screen?  If so, does The Steve have a fix for this?  

I also have the same issues on a couple of NES's I am trying to get repaired.

post 127..............(look up)

duo-r same pins, top of board

[SNKNostalgia]

So I have an S-Video Duo-R and I believe I have the jailbar issue.  Are we talking about the faint vertical lines on the screen?  If so, does The Steve have a fix for this? 

I also have the same issues on a couple of NES's I am trying to get repaired.

Here's a guide to AV mod a Toploader correctly.

[MotherGunner]

Oh so it's not the vertical lines through s-video issue but referring to the PCB.  Does anyone know how to makes the vertical lines go away?

[thesteve]

yes it is the vertical lines
add 2 caps as pictured

[MotherGunner]

Thanks Steve. PM incoming. :-)

[NightWolve]

Urm, stevie, might you be willing to grant the people that are interested in eliminating the jailbar issue the knowledge of the capacitance value of those surface mount caps that you added ? ;) Or am I missing something here ? I didn't see where that info is at... Even if you don't have this problem, is it worthwhile to do it anyway ? Does this problem occur with S-Video and YPbPr output ?

[thesteve]

i used 22uf caps in the pic.
depending on your mod, you may need more capacitance.
it effects all outputs to differing degrees.
S-Vid (my way) doesnt suffer much.
anything from the RGB pins does

[DildoKKKobold]

Has anyone ever replaced the surface mount caps with new surface mount caps? I actually have a stock of the proper surface mount caps, but I imagine it would take a skilled tech to do the replacements.

[thesteve]

what do you mean?
we replace the aluminum surface mount caps regularly. (i use surface mount replacements)
the ceramic and tantalum rarely if ever need it.

[DildoKKKobold]

what do you mean?
we replace the aluminum surface mount caps regularly. (i use surface mount replacements)
the ceramic and tantalum rarely if ever need it.

Most people do like this one:

http://i1125.photobucket.com/albums/l594/superkon316/E5F7ADB3-2ACE-4C39-9749-958A676769F5-618-000001093B5D805C.jpg

They use radial through-hole capacitors to replace surfacemount caps. 

[thesteve]

using ceramic and tantalum SMD for replacements

[King_Vidiot]

Where's the best place to buy the caps needed for this?  I sent my turbo duo to a board member a few years ago but when I got it back it was still dropping the background music.  I assume they got lazy and didnt replace all the caps.  

Also can I just use regular caps? Or is sticking with surface mount caps better in the long run?

[NightWolve]

The regular aluminum caps are cheaper and you're better off with those. The surface mount aluminum ones are for tight spaces, but that isn't a problem when it comes to Duos. Neither is it much of one with the Express if you don't bother to put the RF shield plate back on. If you got money to spend, then you could go ceramic/tantalum like steve says, but it'd be way too much money for a Duo... I bought a big 900 pack cap kit for $25 bucks from a Chinese seller on eBay, and that's gonna have to do. Search eBay for capacitor kits and you'll find good deals on regular ones.

The seller has more: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190771132156

It arrived in 9-10 days. I've been impressed with all my purchases from China, both in price and the decent shipping time given the distance.

[ApolloBoy]

I don't know if I'd recommend cheap Chinese caps though, those usually don't last very long in my experience. For almost all of my recap jobs I use Nichicon, Nippon Chemi-Con and Panasonic caps which are excellent quality and should last for decades.

[NightWolve]

Who do you buy from ?

[BlueBMW]

I typically use Panasonic and buy from Mouser.