Thursday, June 30, 2011

x_SegaCD_x Project Part 2

  So if you read up the other day, you saw that I came into temporary possession of a couple Old School Sega Genesis as well as a couple Old School SegaCDs to go with them. I broke them down, cleaned them up the best I could and inspected the parts to see if "theoretically" they would still run. However, they still needed some testing, and this is where part 2 comes in: testing...
  Testing these beasts would be no easy task, not because they are hard to plug in, but because I would have to hunt down cords. Keep in mind that when they were found, it was just the systems. No cords, no controllers, nothing else that may aid in bringing them back to life. That being said, it's a good thing I'm a pack rat from time to time. I indeed found a controller, a TV hookup and DC adapter for the Seags themselves (thank you Curlin) and I also had a universal adapter and a A/V cord lying about that I could use to test. Excellent!
  System one (the one with the extender) seemed to work just fine. The system powered on and showed the SegaCD welcome screen. That's always a good thing. I plopped a cd in, put a controller in and! ... ! ... ! ... ... .. nothing. I wasn't too excited, however, I figured it was because I was trying to use a burnt cd to test. So I tried another cd. This one...worked, kinda. It skipped all over the place. Almost made me think the cd motor wasn't spinning fast enough (or too fast) for the cd to operate correctly. So I went ahead and broke everything down before realizing I haven't tested the actual Sega Genesis yet. DOH! So I took the Sega Genesis off of the SegaCD and tested it with the game that was found (I think, Ms. PacMan) and sure enough, it worked. Excellent. I had to fight with the RF Unit. I think there is a short somewhere in it, I'm not 100% sure, but I fought with it long enough to see that it was indeed working. SWEET! On to system numero dos...
  After the few mistakes I made on the first one, this one was a little bit easier to test. The cd seemed to work just fine, at first. At some point it did start getting faster and skipping. I'd like to attribute that to the fact that it's sitting on top of the XBOX 360 currently, but I can't be 100% sure on that either. However, the game worked as well (2 working Sega Genesis systems, alright) and the cd continued to play while I was playing Ms. PacMan. Excellent.
  So where to now? I need to do a little research to see if this cd skipping was a general problem given the SegaCDs. If it was, there is probably an easy solution on how to fix it. I also need to test it with an actual SegaCD game. That will be the tell all as to whether it really does work or not. That will also be the best troubleshooting opportunity. Stay tuned while I get these beasts up and running, and back as good as new!


    Currently Playing: Kenny Chesney - Down the Road (feautring Mac McNally)

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

x_SegaCD_x Project

  SegaCD  A couple months ago I got a phone call from a friend saying that he had acquired a couple SegaCDs, with the older style Sega Genesis in each one. However, he wasn't entirely certain if they worked or not. Well, I finally got around to getting hold of them last Tuesday. Today, I finally got around to taking a good look at them. That was while #TheVoice was on. I was extremely excited to get in there and start taking a look at what was going on, and a little surprised at what I found.
SegaCD  It took me a minute to get the first one open. It wasn't because I couldn't figure out where the screws where, or the best way to get in it (side note on these older systems, they all pretty much use the exact same screw, which makes working on them extremely easy), but the culprit was: Deep Screw Holes. Yep, I had to search the house, and be find some ingenuity just to be able to reach the screws. With that done, it was time to let into it :)
  Keep in mind that I had two of them to get into. The first one, albeit much cleaner than the second, had a massive amount grass (that's my guess) as well as a bee. I broke it all the way down, removing every screw and every piece, trying to clean and inspect. Keep in mind that I have NO cords that I know of, so I can't test the SegaCD itself. Board inspection didn't show anything wrong with it however, with the exception that maybe the onboard battery is showing wear. I'm not completely certain, however. I pieced everything back together, took some pictures in between, and then started work on the second one!
  SegaCD  The second one was much cleaner as far as the grass is concerned (some still fell out) but seemed to be much worse in a rust department. I did my best to clean it up with a dry paper towel and did a pretty close inspection of the boards. Once again, nothing seemed to be extremely noticeable except some wear where the onboard battery is (two for two? Shame Shame Sega) but it could be normal wear given how it's been handled. I can't speak on how they have been handled before @PittsLawMan got a hold of them.
  So this is where you come in handy, people of my life. I'm actually looking for DC adapters for this. Apparently they are only supposed to use 1602 DC 9V 1.2A Sega Approved adapters. I'm still gonna see if I have a universal one that will work though. Additionally, I can test to see if it plays cds, but I still need to see if it will play an actual game. So if anyone has one they would be willing to let me borrow, or can point me in the right direction of a store that has them relatively cheap (please, avoid the Vault. I like being tetanus free) please let me know! And as always, if you have something you want fixed, and you don't mind me taking a look at it, feel free to hit me up x86computing@gmail.com

    Currently Playing: Dia Frampton - Inventing Shadows