MOD - Pin 29 - PC Engine Duo video tutorial

[Duo_R]

ok....here is my first tutorial video. This is the Pin 29 lift and ground. Something I didn't clearly disclose:

this is an additional requirement for region mods in PC Engine Duos to work. If you simply install a region it won't play US Hucards. Here is how to apply this tutorial depending on your Duo:

* PC Engine Duo - follow the full tutorial (part 1 and 2)
* PC Engine Duo-R / RX - only do part 2 (and DON'T lift pin 29, just ground it)
* US Duo - You don't need to do anything with pin 29 


PC Engine Duo Pin 29 mod Part 1/2

PC Engine Duo Pin 29 mod Part 2/2

http://www.gamesx.com/wiki/doku.php?id=imports:pc_engine

After you do this, you are ready to install the region switch!

Let me know what you think!

[goombakid]

Nice! Thanks for the vids. I just FINALLY got my ICs from Futurlec, gonna attempt to mod both my TG 16 and PCE Duo after Thanksgiving.

Kinda wishing I got the Duo R instead of the Duo now...

[blueraven]

Excellent; I've been looking for the correct method to do this! Please Sticky this topic!

 

[Duo_R]

Also should mention that the first time you do this it feels like you are cutting a wire on a bomb. But it really isn't that bad.  I recommend practicing a pin lift on an old video card or some junk motherboard before a Duo.

Glad you guys like it, I am a newb when it comes to YouTube uploads.

[NecroPhile]

Another great how-to article; thanks for sharing such valuable and beneficial info. 

[BlueBMW]

Nice! Thanks for the vids. I just FINALLY got my ICs from Futurlec, gonna attempt to mod both my TG 16 and PCE Duo after Thanksgiving.

Kinda wishing I got the Duo R instead of the Duo now...

Maybe someone can verify this but I found that the IC mod chip doesn't work on US TG16s.  It works on everything else great.  I think someone else mentioned region mod troubles with ICs on TG16s in another thread.

[Duo_R]

Blue I think that becomes a problem when using TG16 + CD attachment. Region switch is the ideal solution unless the user never plans to do the CD upgrade.

[seefuu1]

Good gear man !

What i've found better for lifting the pin than a knife ,is a tool that your dentist uses ,one of them hook things.It get's under and around the pins better than anything else i've seen or used,and with just a tiny bit of pressure near the solder side of the leg, the leg of the HU IC just lifts up and off the motherboard.

Without using any soldering equipment to boot .Practice on some canibalised parts first though.

[Duo_R]

I have 1 of those dentist tools but it is too thick I think. I will check it out again but the hobby knife works great because it flexis more. .I just add a little pressure and it pops the pin up

[SignOfZeta]

Nice video. I would suggesting editing it down though.

[Duo_R]

Any suggestions on app to use for editing? I have windows.    

[SignOfZeta]

Doesn't Windows come with a free movie maker program? It used to anyway. They slapped it together after iMovie came out. Its nothing special, but it works as well as anything else for simple edits.

[Duo_R]

I always hated the windows video editor

[BlueBMW]

I've always used sony vegas movie studio.  Seems to work well enough.  You can usually pick up a slightly out of date copy on the cheap.

[goombakid]

Maybe someone can verify this but I found that the IC mod chip doesn't work on US TG16s.  It works on everything else great.  I think someone else mentioned region mod troubles with ICs on TG16s in another thread.

I'm done searching for a Turbo CD, so I'm not worried about it. I'm just doing the region mod on the TG16 for the heck of it.

What i've found better for lifting the pin than a knife ,is a tool that your dentist uses ,one of them hook things.It get's under and around the pins better than anything else i've seen or used,and with just a tiny bit of pressure near the solder side of the leg, the leg of the HU IC just lifts up and off the motherboard.

Although I'll be using an Xacto knife, I might just try this method on some old computer components. I may just modify a safety pin to fashion a hook to try this method. Thanks.

[seefuu1]

I have 1 of those dentist tools but it is too thick I think. I will check it out again but the hobby knife works great because it flexis more. .I just add a little pressure and it pops the pin up

Well the one i have is very thin and just hooks under those ting IC legs.

[BlueBMW]

I talked to Red Ghost and he said that he could never get the IC mod on a US TG16 to work.  I had one with an 8PDT pushbutton mod and it worked perfectly standalone and with a turbo cd.  But it sounds like trying to do the IC mod on a regular TG is an exercize in futility.

[SignOfZeta]

I can't understand why that would be the case. They do the exact same thing.

[NecroPhile]

Perhaps it's like the flash carts - it requires slightly more power and there's not enough to spare from some power supplies.

[SignOfZeta]

You mean to power the IC itself? That really shouldn't be a problem. Where was Red Ghost getting his +5?

[BlueBMW]

When I was trying to do it, I sourced 5V for several different sources with the same result each time.  The only thing I can think of is maybe the signals over the hucard connectors are too weak to go through the IC's / extra wires and still have a strong enough signal to be processed.  Here's what Red Ghost said in a message to me when I mentioned my failed IC mod on a TG16...

"As unfortunate as it is, I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one who learned the IC mod the hard way for the TG16. I messed with that for waaaay too long before finally determining that it just doesn't work."

I dont know if we really know WHY it doesn't work, it just doesn't.  Maybe you're luck will be different, but its a lot of work to do just to have it not work!

[SignOfZeta]

This is interesting.

Back in the day there were some Arcade Card games that wouldn't work right on US systems (only the US Duo, from what I remember) using the diving board and Barney converters. I remember them being Mad Stalker and Sapphire. Sapphire would crash on stage 2, Mad Stalker would only run the cinema. I knew two guys with useless copies of Mad Stalker, the Sapphire issue was mentioned on the Turbo Mailing List (never knew a guy who could get a Sapphire at any time near the release date).

At the time we had the same theory, that voltage drop across the add-ons caused signal quality issues. The Kisado was awesome because it didn't cause this problem and worked with everything.

[Platinumfungi]

Duo_R - Nice work  The addition of video tutorials is a great asset to the community! This should help out a lot of people.

BlueBMW and SignOfZeta - As per the IC region mod not working on TG16 units... It's been probably two years ago that I messed around with it, so my memory is a little fuzzy.

However, here's what I do remember:
- I did some digging and found a random hint from D-Lite's ancient messages that he was unable to get the IC mod to work with the TG16.

- My mod initially appeared as though it would work...but would always glitch out and have odd issues. USA games would play for awhile but have very bad on screen graphical problems and eventually freeze. JPN games seemed like they never wanted to get past the title screen. The few games I had to test would always freeze.

- I tried tapping +5V from several different locations. No change.

I tried everything I could think of at that point in time, but once I found the reference of D-Lite's same result I just gave up and was satisfied with the push button switch.

I'm sure it's possible...but someone really has to do some R&D to figure this one out...

[goombakid]

Thanks for chiming in, Red Ghost. And Duo_R, apologies for the slight tangent your thread is going through.

I'm gonna play around with the IC mod for my TG16. I may try applying the +5V and Ground to the IC individually. Possible voltage drop might be causing the ICs to fail? Just thinking why it fails.

Otherwise, the whole region mod basically switches the pin positions, correct? There's something I want to try if this IC mod fails (which I'm sure, at this point, will).

PC Engine Duo and IC mod, though, is OK?

[SignOfZeta]

The IC mod I did on my Duo R is still going %100. The chip came from D-Lite.

When trying to get this to work on the TG-16, the only things I can think are a) make sure your power supply is as solid as possible (ie: the white one from Radio Shack) b) tap it right at the DC in on the board, and c) try building some isolation into the +5 for the IC like...uh, I don't know. A capacitor or something, to smooth out possible voltage changes.