Images

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / The first of Many! (Grabbed my first TG16 game since I sold off the collection)]

Getting back into TG16, it's going to be a slow road as I notice the prices have jumped and leaped a few times since I last collected. Luckily I got a everdrive to help with the game droughts in between pickups as I wait to find games at a decent price (Still waiting to find Magical Chase for $2 at a yard sale) I grabbed this last night for $10 at my local game store (they didn't have much of a selection, about 6 games, and most were $80+)

It's a Classic! Keith Courage!

Let the re-collecting begin!

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: PCE Duo-R Won't read hu cards? What could be the cause?]

Oh man, I remember thesteve. He fixed my TurboDuo 6 years ago. The one I got couldn't read CD's and I couldn't get the pots just right, I replaced all the caps, but the sound caps had dissolved their traces, so I barely got the caps on, but wasn't pretty. He got it, fixed the drive, reworked the sound circuit better with ceramic caps, and made it better than ever! He didn't even charge me! I just supplied the shipping. He was a class act and a great member! I'm not afraid of doing repairs myself, just re-capped my turbo express last night, works great now! But glad to see other members here who might be able to help me when something could be too far gone for even me.

Welcome back, you were one of my account-undelete/rebuild experiments (about ~30-40) which works 100% now...

I extracted a better shot of the game, but no, I can make out what it is.



As for your repairs, we pretty much have only ONE active repair person (maybe two if you're willing to pay Canada shipping rates to Jodi/Turbo Reproductions as a last resort), ChrisComputers (KeithKourage). I'll forward him your thread, he's one of the few I privately invited to test the rebuilt forum and say hello. TheSteve/TurboKon pretty much retired from it, as did others... Voultar might take 1 Duo once in a blue moon as a special request for a friend, they require too much time to offer service for general customers.

[Buy/Sell/Trade / FS: TurboDuo, Turbo Express, and Game Lot]

Hey Everyone,
I had my collection listed on eBay, and figured someone here might be interested as well.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/321804234498

On eBay I'm asking $800 but here I'll take any reasonable offers ^-^

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Finally My Duo Works FLAWLESSLY & LOOKS AWESOME!!]

Hey everyone,
I'm not sure how many people were following my journey into PC Engine goodness, but a late last year, I picked up a Turbo Duo Cheap! It played some games, but it had the common issues that seems to plaque a lot of Duo systems plus it also has a spot on the CD drive lid that wouldn't come off, looked like dried glue, but nothing took it off, and it felt like it was in the plastic. I noticed when playing Castlevania, that the music would chop, or static, or just vanish. I've replaced all the caps in the unit, and that seemed to fix it. Then I tried other games and noticed that barely anything was working. I then replaced the laser, still no luck. I greased up the drives gears and put a couple drops of hobby motor oil in the motor, and problems remained the same. I then adjusted the pots and still nothing. My system would not skip audio tracks, causing most games to freeze. If I played a music CD and just let it sit and play, it would play the entire CD, but skipping a track would cause the issues to occur. I then did the best move ever, I sent my system to chop5. He tested the machine, and in no time was able to determine that the lasers motor wasn't spinning at the speed it should have been. He replaced it with a new motor and now it runs beautifully!! This was my only Duo, so I had nothing to compare the motor speed to, so I had no clue the motor wasn't spinning up to par and getting the laser to its destination on time. He then also replaced the audio caps I replaced, with even better caps! He dose INCREDIBLE WORK!!!! I got my system back and dove right in to some games, and I've never had a single problem since. Now that my system plays beautifully, its time to make it match that on the outside. Since the Duo is a hard to find system, shell parts are hard to find. so I needed something to cover that Drive lid issue.

Then I think I came up with a good idea, take a look! Black carbon decals!

I wasn't sure If i just wanted to cover the drive, or put a decal across the entire system, I've included the before, CD only, and across the entire system decal pics.


facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10151706544244374

facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10151706544404374

facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10151706544409374

Let me know what you think!

I'm loving my system now! BIG THANKS TO CHOP5 Who also gave me a Chop Sudo and works incredibly on my Memory Bank card!

Now I just need to detail clean it ^-^ get rid of all that dust build up in the nooks and crannys

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Looking for some Turbo Duo Repair Suggestions]

Hey everyone.
This is my "Last Attempt" thread post before I ship it out to "thesteve"
I have a Turbo Duo. I've replaced all the Capacitors and attempted to adjust the pots by ear and also with a multimeter measuring the resistance using the chart below. I also tried both the original laser and a new replacement laser. Same results.



It almost seems to be working great!... almost. What it does it, It will turn on, play HU cards PERFECTLY, but when I play a CD based game, either a real retail game or a CD-R copy. It'll play the intro of the game, the music, and then thats it. It will pretty much freeze. I've tested the system with a Audio CD and found that it will play Track 1 of any music CD just fine, perfect audio, crisp, clean of clicks or pops, and no static. BUT! when it goes to play any track higher than 1, the laser struggles, can't find where it should read, goes back and forth, the cd will stop spinning at times, and it never plays audio track 2 or higher.

I've attempted to adjust the pots and the dial on the laser as well, so far no improvements. Right now I'm back to the measurements from the chart above, based upon the problems, can anyone tell me where I should start to troubleshoot? or what pot to focus on?

Here's a video I shot of the problem

I'm open to suggestions, and like I said, if no luck still, off to "thesteve" it goes ^-^

Thanks everyone!

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Turbo Duo Pot Problem? I think? well... I dunno, read and you'll see :P]

Hey everyone, It's been a while,
It's great to be back ^-^, was wicked busy with other problems/projects these last few months. BUT!! Free time now, so I dusted off the non working Duo and replaced all the caps! Wooo!!
I also replaced the laser when I last touched it.
Now its like 99% almost working. Here's the scoop. I adjusted the pots according to this guide, https://www.pcengine-fx.com/forums/index.php?topic=8926.0 , measuring resistance with a multimeter
Using this chart...



Now, all my pots are lined up pretty close to those numbers. EXCEPT!!! 105.
on my 105 pot, AC is correct, BUT!!! not AB. AB shows ABSOLUTELY NO RESISTANCE at all. a big ol' 0 shows up on the multimeter, and when I do a connection test, the multimeter makes the "beep" noise to indicate those two points are connected. I looked around the entire board and I don't detect/see any solder bridges or anything. I can't see whats causing the connection. When I power the unit on, and load a game, as far as I can tell, the machine runs perfectly! Games load, HU card sounds, CD sounds, and redbook audio sounds perfect, no clicks or pops or anything.

Could it be a bad pot? are they replaceable? what should I do?

I'd like to make sure the system is 100% repaired, but this pot having no resistance makes me a lil.. iffy.

Should I just ignore it?

thanks for the help everyone!

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: TurboExpress Mod? Which would you do? 2.5 vs 3.5? And where to get LCD?]

Here's what threw me off

First I found this, doesn't look like picture goes to the edge.



then I found this, which shows the screen picture all the way to the edge.

(lost image)

(as far as my eyes can tell)
Not sure if its a game thing or a difference in LCDs used

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: PCEGT replace with 3.5inch TFT LCD]

simple isn't it

This is truly awesome! Can't wait to send my unit in to thesteve for the 3.5" LCD mod. It's one of those things I could probably do my self, but I'd rather pay him then risk doing it myself. Looking at the diagram he posted. I'm just trying to make sense of it. So he lifts and grounds pins 19, 25, 29, 32, and 39. Then he lifts and connects pins 20, 26, 33, and 40 to resisters, connectes them together after, and then thats where it looses me. I'm not a electrical genius so I have no clue what happens next (which why I'd rather send it to be modded then do this one myself) but what happens next? and whats CV?

from what I can guess, once again I have no clue, after the resisters, they connect to a 5.0V source and then NPN (no clue what that is) to a 75 resister (guessing thats 75k?) and then CV?

Sorry for my lack of knowing here, hoping someone could shed some light on where I'm lost, it's great to learn ^-^

thanks everyone!

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: TurboDuo CD Door advice, if I can't remove the problem, how can I cover it up?]

Hey John, what do you think...
the patch/shape came from the shape on the front of a Duo Box.... https://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x114/sparkss_photo/bf601fe05453ce30039638970ddbd64e.jpg

i will flush it out more, but it covers it well but the trick will be matching the black in the duo with the sticker, i dont think it should match up perfectly as its a cool shape and can stand on its own but you dont want it standing out like a sore thumb. Also for the rest of your duo try using some detailing spray that they use on cars. I use this... 
https://www.amazon.com/Meguiars-Quik-Detailer-Mist-Spray/dp/B0009IQXAE

Just spritz it on and wipe away and then use a clean cloth and rub it again, it WON'T over do it or make it to shinny, it will blacken it and help hide scratches or imperfections on the duo as it looks a little rough in spots or is it just dirty ?  this will also help the sticker to blend in with the body.  Any way its just a quick comp and hope others comment as well, or add ideas as will get her looking good

I kinda see what you mean with the shape, very nice with the box matching. that may not be a bad idea, but I may go with it being a flat black, or maybe a design to give it more of a "Hey its just a cool system skin decal" rather than a "hey im hiding something here shhh dont look"

But VERY NICE Sparky!!

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / TurboDuo CD Door advice, if I can't remove the problem, how can I cover it up?]

Hey everyone!
I recently got a TurboDuo for $5 and it works, long story short. The CD door has something on it or melted into it that I can't seem to remove. I've tried vaseline, soap + water, gasoline, and more with no difference. So looking for any advice on what to try next (looking for solutions that wont cause any more damage or eat away the plastic). I've also posted a WTB topic looking for a replacement door. Or is there a badass looking decal I can slap over it? or should I just leave it alone/as-is?



Thanks everyone!

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / New TurboDuo owner looking for some advice]

Hey everyone!
I've grown up as a Nintendo only kinda guy, with some Sega splashed in and a hint of 3DO.
I never knew about the TurboGrafx growing up. I recently just got a TurboDup for $5 at my local gaming store (pretty sure the price was a mistake) but anyway. I have alot of questions about this great lil machine and am excited to find such a awesome site exists for new and old fans of the TG/PCE!!

I'm not sure if I'm posting this in the right spot, if I'm not, please let me know and I'll fix that.

First the history, here's my story so far...
My local game store was having a sale where everything game, movie, music, and toy realted is 50% off!
I already grabbed a bunch of awesome deals
but I stopped by again the next day (the sale was a week long) and I saw this tucked away behind the counter, asking what it was (since I coudln't really make it out) it found out it was a Turbo Duo! With the controller, power, and tv hookups!
I asked how much? The employee said, I'm not sure if it even works, we havn't tested it out yet, how about $10? I asked "is that before or after the 50% off?" it was before. So I paid him the $5+tax and speeded home to play with it to see if it even worked. and by golly! it WORKED!!!

The only thing I don't like is what ever it is on the CD drive door, not sure if its just worn down or its some kinda gloss/glue on it, I'm gonna give the system my cleaning overhaul and find out ^-^

now here's where I'm at and could use a little input,
since the system only had a 7 day return period (not that it mattered, I wasn't going to return it for $5) I wanted to make sure it works so I burned a few games on CD-R's to test it out, as well as two game I wanted the most (Dracula X and Ys IV) are Japan imports only and I wanted to play them in english and found the patches to do so, so they have to be played on a CD-R. It seems like every game I tried had the same problem, they would load and play, but in about 10 minutes the music would suddenly static for a half a second and stop completely, and would only return when I went to another area or stage where a different track would play (or if i reboot the system).
I did some searching online and saw the Duo had a cap issue which would cause some sound issues, so I replaced those and the problem remained.

I then saw that the discs TOC's had to be correct, so I used binchuck and tocfixer and I'm getting better success but still a few games will cut out. Is this more a burning CD-R issue, is it because im using a 70min CD-R vs a 65min? could it be the laser (which I ordered a new one of to replace anyway just in case). or is it something else?
I don't have any REAL TurboGrafx-CD games just yet, waiting for a few in the mail.
Also I read that using CD-Rs will ruin the laser, is this true?

Any help is greatly appreciated
Thanks everyone!!