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#81

Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: PC-Engine Duo-RX CD-Rom Is...

Last post by SkyeWelse - 10/04/2024, 10:21 PM

Thanks Keith! I appreciate the advice. I took a look at the two black 16v 1000uf caps that are closest to the regulators and I'm getting roughly 12.45v in both of them so yeah, I think you're right in those caps seem like they are operating fine. I'm still puzzled a bit with the guide I linked to above suggesting the the read outs of the pots ABC measurements for the RX aren't anywhere close voltage-wise to what I'm seeing when I test, so I'm wondering how I would best calibrate all the pots if the voltages aren't matching up.

I have checked the continuity of the wires going to the lens and can confirm that both connectors seem to show good connectivity for the red and white wires and there isn't a short from what I can tell, at least not from those wired connections at least.

I guess that would just leave the lens replacement as the next logical step. I'll check the guides here to see which lens is recommended for replacement, but if there is one more recently available that is easy to install I'd love to know about it! I took a look at the lens that is there and it looks like I can mess it up if I don't know what I'm doing, so definitely want to follow a guide there if possible.

By the way, if for some reason I can't get this repaired myself, who all do you recommend to fix these up? Is someone offering that as as a service these days who is pretty well known and trusted?

Thanks again for your reply!

-SkyeWelse

#82

PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: TG-16 Manual Scans

Last post by NightWolve - 10/04/2024, 06:54 PM

What do you think happened? You think it was showing how rushed these ports and releases were being churned out in the US towards the near end of the TG-16's life in the US?

Yeah, all of the above. They were rushed, had to totally rely on human editors to catch typos like that as built-in Grammar/Spell Check didn't exist just yet in Word Processor publishing software (whatever was used to design/publish magazine/manual/booklet pages back then, early 90's).

#83

Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: PC ENGINE DUO "PLEASE SET ...

Last post by elartur77 - 10/04/2024, 12:13 PM

Something to try which might sound weird, but I come across maybe 1 duo a year with an issue where it has to be used for 3-4 minutes before a disc will start working sometimes on a cold start. I would assume this is caused by a bad trace or connection on the board but I haven't been able to figure out where.

Anyways, just for the sake of trying it, Just hit run to start up a CD over and over again for about 5 minutes and see if the DUO magically starts reading discs again.

Thanks Keith for your reply, I'm going to try your recommendations..

Just to add, I did some other tests:

-I washed and cleaned the whole board inside a plastic container with IPA and a toothbrush (now the board looks like new)

-I replaced some caps that I knew were low quality.

-I kept playing with the pots.

-Tested with diferent power supply (original and a generic one)

But after all this, it still shows "PLEASE SET DISK"

And then I was lucky enough to get another DUO which worked great and I did some tests, the pickups on both lasers worked great on the new DUO, and both lasers didn't work on the old DUO, only "PLEASE SET DISK" showed up on both..

So the problem is definitely the old board.

But I can't detect anything wrong with the board by eye, no corroded vias, leaking caps, no dark areas, etc. I checked all around the laser and under the board but nothing, I don't know where to start..

Or maybe is power related that why I tested with diferent power suply and the voltages of the regulators was 5v output..

Which part of the board should I check that could give me "PLEASE SET DISK" if anything is wrong?

Thanks

#84

PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: TG-16 Manual Scans

Last post by farankoshan - 10/04/2024, 05:07 AM

Did you guys ever notice that New Adventure Island's manual has some strange typo and grammar issues?

Check out page 8-9, the heading reads "Be Sure You Know How These Items"

That's it. Hahaha! Was there a slip in quality control? This late into the conversion efforts, did TTi staff start getting sloppy? Hahaha! That heading ends so abruptly.

Huh, you're right, never knew about it! The correction would be something like, "Be Sure You Know About These Items" or maybe with more words, "Be Sure You Know How To Use These Items" ?

And then at the back cover, the word "Adventure" is spelled "Adventyure".
 

Hm, another one...

What do you think happened? You think it was showing how rushed these ports and releases were being churned out in the US towards the near end of the TG-16's life in the US?

#85

Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: PC-Engine Duo-RX CD-Rom Is...

Last post by Keith Courage - 10/03/2024, 10:42 PM

Don't bother with a Recap! DUO-R and RX systems never need it. The only Capacitors that are sometimes known to fail are the 2 1000UF capacitors right by the 7805 voltage regulators(big heat sinks).

It's the Black DUO systems that get faulty capacitors.

The issue with your DUO is probabaly a weak/bad lens. Lots of times you can just adjust the V102 potentiometer to get it reading again but sometimes replacement is needed.

Also, check to make sure all wires to the lens are good. Lots of times the Red or white wires can short out from movement overtime.

#86

Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: PC ENGINE DUO "PLEASE SET ...

Last post by Keith Courage - 10/03/2024, 10:39 PM

Something to try which might sound weird, but I come across maybe 1 duo a year with an issue where it has to be used for 3-4 minutes before a disc will start working sometimes on a cold start. I would assume this is caused by a bad trace or connection on the board but I haven't been able to figure out where.

Anyways, just for the sake of trying it, Just hit run to start up a CD over and over again for about 5 minutes and see if the DUO magically starts reading discs again.

#87

Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: PC-Engine Duo-RX CD-Rom Is...

Last post by SkyeWelse - 10/03/2024, 07:28 PM

Thanks NW! I appreciate that. A lot of great guides here, just mainly wanted to see if I'm on the right path with reading those pot voltages. I did take the board out of the case and at least I don't see any leaking caps. Just trying to figure out if it's worth recapping as a first step or if there's more diagnosis I can try before I go that route. I've certiainly recapped boards before, but I wouldn't say I'm great at it and SMDs give me some troubles.

-SkyeWelse

#88

Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: PC-Engine Duo-RX CD-Rom Is...

Last post by NightWolve - 10/03/2024, 04:16 PM

Hey Tom, thanks for stopping by!

I'll forward this to @Keith Courage when I get a chance.

#89

Console Repair/Mod Center / PC-Engine Duo-RX CD-Rom Issues...

Last post by SkyeWelse - 10/01/2024, 11:02 PM

Hi everyone!

Glad to see that this forum is still alive and kicking! It's been awhile and I finally had some time in the last few weeks to start really making some progress on hooking up some of my older consoles. I had been using a Duo RX for years without any issues and all of sudden I'm getting that "Set Disc Error", that from what I'm reading seems to be like a general hardware error for pretty much anything having to do with the CD-Rom.

I've seen some other posts here with similar issues and one member (Joe) said he was able to fix his after his PC-Engine had been recapped. From what I've been reading, a recap can sometimes result in needing to adjust the potentiometers a bit with VR102 usually being the main culprit in most cases.

That's kind of what I wanted to try to play around with first before I start taking things apart from the actual cd-rom/laser assembly. I'm a novice when it come to electronics and a bit worse when it comes to the mechanical stuff... ended up breaking the plastic gears in my famicom disk system for instance, so would prefer to stay in my beginner wheelhouse first.

So the symptoms I've been getting outside of the Set Disc error is that the laser will recalibrate and move to the left to attempt to read the inner data layer of the CD. It will spin the disc for a second, then stop and the laser will move up and down (not left or right) just a bit in an attempt to read the disc. When it gives up the process, it will spin the disc one more time for about a second and then stop.



What I thought I might try first was adjusting the pots, and saw a great guide on the forums here that I was attempting to follow:

https://www.pcengine-fx.com/forums/index.php?topic=8926.0

Specifically, I was hoping to try reading the voltage (starting with VR102) of A to B and B to C and C to A, like this guide says:

vr101:AB=12.33 AC=10.65 BC=19.55
vr102:AB=7.89 AC=8.11 BC=11.28
vr103:AB=7.25 AC=7.14 BC=18.46
vr105:AB=0.38 AC=0.00 BC=0.38

But in my case, I'm not getting any where near a DC voltage reading of 7v to 11v, I'm getting like a 2.22v or maybe 2.03v when I adjust the pot a bit. If those values from that guide are showing that they should be much higher voltages, then that makes me think that somewhere along the lines, perhaps a capacitor or two are no longer working as they should and not outputting the proper voltage. The caps at a glance look fine... the PSU is an original one, rated for 9v, but is actually outputting around 13v when I tested it. After it runs through the voltage regulators on the board, I think it goes to around 4v?

I guess I'm just wondering if I'm reading that guide correctly and I in fact should be seeing higher voltages there. I was surprised a bit because it seems like with vr103, the B to C test should be something around 18v and that seemed a bit high considering the PSU being uses is around 9v to 13v.

I was wondering if you did a voltage test on your pots and if you saw something different than what I'm seeing currently. I'm trying to figure out if I should just get a cap kit from Console 5 and just work on replacing all the caps first and maybe that might solve the problem or get me closer?

If you or anyone else has any advice for me or confirmations on what my next steps should be, I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks for reading!

-SkyeWelse

#90

PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Joined the Duo club.

Last post by Tak-MK - 10/01/2024, 06:17 AM

I'm glad I could help! I didn't know it was of that much importance when I saw it a first