[Restoration] Human - Restore Like a Robot

[level42]

no, haven't done that yet, but will do so tomorrow. all i have to do is set the multimeter to ohm and see if there is any resistance, right? it should show 0.0, right? if a cabl passes that test, is it working or do i have to run a continuity test as well?

Yes that is correct. It should be like 0.1, 0.2 ohms, something like that. Anything above 1 Ohms is suspicious at least.
No need to do the continuity after the Ohms test. The Ohms test is a more accurate version of the continuity for this application.

You can leave the flat-cables on the boards if that's easier for you to measure them.

[Superully]

ok, did some more testing today and found two additional bad flat cables - making it a total of FOUR  now i don't have any spare obes left!

unfortunately, the game still isn't working, so i guess it has to be one of the boards.

@andré: anything else i could check?

IF NOT

@michael: any chance i could get your BSC board for testing?

[level42]

ok, did some more testing today and found two additional bad flat cables - making it a total of FOUR  now i don't have any spare obes left!

unfortunately, the game still isn't working, so i guess it has to be one of the boards.

@andré: anything else i could check?

IF NOT

@michael: any chance i could get your BSC board for testing?

You could replace the RAMs on the BSC. I find it strange because I tested all the boards pretty extensively, but just like my speach board, this stuff can die over a couple of hours without warning....
Andreas has them on stock. I actually bought a number from him at the daddelparty but have since lost them ( )....

[Superully]

are you talking about the four socketed ones? the one that you can find under the label "color ram" and the three to the right of it (in the B row)? if so, i could try swapping them with the ones from my defunct original BSC board.

talking about dying speech boards: mine was working perfectly in the beginning, but after a couple of games, the voices began to sound strange, as if there was some kind of "crackle" in them - hard to describe, but they didn't sound like they did in the beginning. i had thought about exchanging the voice board as well, but then i got this "the game is not working any more AT ALL" problem!

[level42]

Yes the socketed one's. Of course the one's on your original board can be either bad or good so it will be a lot of swapping to figure out.

Was the crackling just on the speech or on all sound ? Could be the volume pot.

[Superully]

Was the crackling just on the speech or on all sound ? Could be the volume pot.

it was only the speech - the sounds were crystal!

[Superully]

a quick update: one of the rams (the one labelled "color ram" on the original bsc board seems to be damaged (perhaps that's why it wasn't working), it looks exactly like an old battery damage at the feet of the ram: this greenish-turquoise stuff. the other three rams look ok. so i removed those three and tested them on the replacement bsc board in various combinations - three beeps again 

ok, here's where we stand: i've tested replacement boards (except the bsc board because this IS already the replacement board, i've tested and switched the flat cables. all i get is three beeps.

@andré: what would you do next?

[level42]

a quick update: one of the rams (the one labelled "color ram" on the original bsc board seems to be damaged (perhaps that's why it wasn't working), it looks exactly like an old battery damage at the feet of the ram: this greenish-turquoise stuff. the other three rams look ok. so i removed those three and tested them on the replacement bsc board in various combinations - three beeps again  

ok, here's where we stand: i've tested replacement boards (except the bsc board because this IS already the replacement board, i've tested and switched the flat cables. all i get is three beeps.

@andré: what would you do next?

Wait a minute is that battery damage on the BSC I sent you ?? The battery damage on the BSC board is always also caused by the battery on the ZPU board. Gravity slowly, but surely lets the stuff run down the ZPU board and then across the flatcables onto the BSC. I think the one I sent you was pretty clean ?

Your best bet now is Michael's spare BSC. Once you got that (and if it works) send me the other defective two BSC boards.

Neutralize the battery damage (the green-turqoise stuff) with some cleaning (white) vinegar ASAP to prevent any further damage to the BSC ! I think you've probably read how to do it in my threads...

[Superully]

Wait a minute is that battery damage on the BSC I sent you ?? The battery damage on the BSC board is always also caused by the battery on the ZPU board. Gravity slowly, but surely lets the stuff run down the ZPU board and then across the flatcables onto the BSC. I think the one I sent you was pretty clean ?

it looks as if the battery damage is located to the color ram only. i'll try to take (and post) a picture of it later!

[Muerto]

Package will go out on Tuesday  

[Superully]

you're the man, michael! thx a lot 

[Superully]

here are some close-up photos of the acid damage on the BSC board 







what is strange though is the fact that there's only (visible) damage on the sides of the board (both at the top and at the bottom) PLUS corrosion on the color ram chip in the middle.

here's a picture of the BSC board which i took directly after i brought the game home a couple of months ago. you can clearly see on the top left of the picture one of the damaged flat cables and the corrosion on it which obviously also damaged the BSC board itself!



just to clear things up: this damaged BSC board has already been replaced by a working one and i had the game up and running with it for two days - then i moved the game around to install a new power cord and all i get since then is three beeps. i didn't change ANYTHING inside. is it possible that something could be wrong with the replacement power cord itself?

michael is going to send me his BSC board on tuesday. he tested it this afternoon in his machine, here's what he told me about the test (hope you don't mind, michael):

when i tested the BSC it worked the first time, with no problems at all.
then i removed it again, and replaced it with my own and powered the machine up.... and nothing happened...!
i had to mengle a bit with the cabels (of course with the machine shut off) and tried a few times, and on the 3rd time it gave me the 8 famous beeps, and was running again! the conclution is that the cables/connectors are _VERY_ sensitive, or there was a dead spot somewhere.....

could it be there's something wrong with my connections? as i've said before, sometimes i get a jumbled up picture, sometimes i don't get a picture at all. the only thing i always get is the beeps - at least some consistency 

[level42]

The jumbled up picture is normal even when everything works 100%. What you see is random data in the video buffers which have not been cleared by the ZPU board yet.

Sure, connection problems can definitely happen, the flatcables are the most at risk but also check the pins of the connectors themselves (on the PCB) if they are not "eaten" as well.

As mentioned, I've got a set of those SCSI cables if you want them.

[Superully]

The jumbled up picture is normal even when everything works 100%. What you see is random data in the video buffers which have not been cleared by the ZPU board yet.

and this "not having been cleared yet" is caused by either an error on the other boards or a bad connection?

As mentioned, I've got a set of those SCSI cables if you want them.

don't know, i've checked all the flat cables in use and they came up ok. could it nevertheless be a connection problem?

[level42]

HEY !!!

They stole Ully's robot !!!!!!

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