Tempest Posted March 22, 2008 Share Posted March 22, 2008 I think my Cuttle Cart 2 may be dead! I pushed the memory card into the cart and noticed that it went way too far down. After opening the cart I noticed that the card holder had come loose. I pushed the plastic bracket back into place and made sure all the fingers were lined up with the sockets, but the Cuttle Cart either wont detect the card. Is there anything I can do? I'm not sure how, but my best guess is that the little metal fingers aren't touching the card somehow. Either that or something else broke when the card holder broke loose (although I doubt this as it seems to start up normally without the card inserted). Can anyone help me fix this? Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+remowilliams Posted March 22, 2008 Share Posted March 22, 2008 Excessive force will snap the MMC slot mech right off the board. I'd pop the case open and make sure you didn't do that first. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Mitch Posted March 22, 2008 Share Posted March 22, 2008 I think my Cuttle Cart 2 may be dead! I pushed the memory card into the cart and noticed that it went way too far down. After opening the cart I noticed that the card holder had come loose. I pushed the plastic bracket back into place and made sure all the fingers were lined up with the sockets, but the Cuttle Cart either wont detect the card or starts up with a broken 7800 screen (solid color Fuji). Is there anything I can do? I'm not sure how, but my best guess is that the little metal fingers aren't touching the card somehow. Either that or something else broke when the card holder broke loose (although I doubt this as it seems to start up normally without the card inserted). Is it possible that the card somehow got corrupted? Can anyone help me fix this? Tempest Ouch. It sounds like you broke a couple of the traces or solder joints, a couple of other people have done the same thing to their copy. You will need to resolder the MMC socket back in place. Mitch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted March 22, 2008 Author Share Posted March 22, 2008 I figured it out! The little chip that is at location U7 must have snapped off when the MMC socket came off. I found the chip, but there's NO WAY I can solder it back on. Any ideas? Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Mitch Posted March 22, 2008 Share Posted March 22, 2008 I figured it out! The little chip that is at location U7 must have snapped off when the MMC socket came off. I found the chip, but there's NO WAY I can solder it back on. Any ideas? Tempest That's even worse. Hopefully none of the traces came off the board. If you can find someone that can do surface mount work to resolder the chip back on you may be OK. Mitch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HammR25 Posted March 22, 2008 Share Posted March 22, 2008 I figured it out! The little chip that is at location U7 must have snapped off when the MMC socket came off. I found the chip, but there's NO WAY I can solder it back on. Any ideas? Tempest That's even worse. Hopefully none of the traces came off the board. If you can find someone that can do surface mount work to resolder the chip back on you may be OK. Mitch This guy does surface work. I have no idea what he'd charge though. He's in the Dallas area. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shadow460 Posted March 23, 2008 Share Posted March 23, 2008 There's another thread in the 7800 forum with a busted Cuttle Cart 2. Evidently someone in the 7800 forums is capable of this kind of repair. I have done some surface mount repairs myself, but given the value of the CC2 and the amount of damage, I'd rather not attempt this one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted March 24, 2008 Author Share Posted March 24, 2008 Moved the thread. BTW, here are some pictures of the CC2 chip and the board. http://www.atariprotos.com/temp/chip1.jpg http://www.atariprotos.com/temp/chip2.jpg http://www.atariprotos.com/temp/chip3.jpg http://www.atariprotos.com/temp/cuttle1.jpg http://www.atariprotos.com/temp/cuttle2.jpg http://www.atariprotos.com/temp/cuttle3.jpg Sorry for the crappiness of the pics, my scanner is only slightly newer than my 7800... Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Mitch Posted March 24, 2008 Share Posted March 24, 2008 It is a little hard to tell but it doesn't appear that any of the traces were damaged. In which case it would just be a case of getting someone to resolder the chip on. You may want to pick up a replacement chip though. Mitch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted March 24, 2008 Author Share Posted March 24, 2008 It is a little hard to tell but it doesn't appear that any of the traces were damaged. In which case it would just be a case of getting someone to resolder the chip on. You may want to pick up a replacement chip though. Mitch I'm not sure what kind of chip it is or where to get a new one. Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Mitch Posted March 24, 2008 Share Posted March 24, 2008 It is a little hard to tell but it doesn't appear that any of the traces were damaged. In which case it would just be a case of getting someone to resolder the chip on. You may want to pick up a replacement chip though. Mitch I'm not sure what kind of chip it is or where to get a new one. Tempest I took a look at mine earlier and couldn't quite read the part number. I suppose I could pull out a magnifying glass but I was too lazy. Once you get the part number some place like mouser or jameco should have the part. Mitch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+remowilliams Posted March 24, 2008 Share Posted March 24, 2008 Looks like 24A8 NZ17 ƒ8 Tiny little bugger. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
classics Posted March 26, 2008 Share Posted March 26, 2008 Are the solder pads still on the pcb or did they pull off with the chip? Hard to tell from the photos. Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted March 26, 2008 Author Share Posted March 26, 2008 Are the solder pads still on the pcb or did they pull off with the chip? Hard to tell from the photos. Steve The pads appear to still be on the PCB. It looks like just the chip fell off. Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard H. Posted March 26, 2008 Share Posted March 26, 2008 (edited) I'm attempting to fix one for vespertillio. The same thing has happened to it, but there's much more damage to the tracks connecting to the chip at U7. I'm going to try and get hold of a larger package version of the chip and do a 'spider wire' with some kynar and epoxy (when I find out what it is). (Also going to put in a new card connector, which is an easy fix as no pads came off). here are some pictures of the CC2 chip and the board Looks like most of your pads have come away with the chip. You're lucky because the tracks leading to the pads are still in place (not torn back like mine). Should be possible to glue the chip in, scrape a small amount of the solder resist off the track ends and bridge to the chip's legs with solder / fine wire. Edited March 26, 2008 by Richard H. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard H. Posted March 26, 2008 Share Posted March 26, 2008 (edited) Just got some info. The chip @U7 is a 5V to 3.3V level shifter for the memory card comms. It's a cheap component available in different package sizes. Turns out the memory card connector is absolete But Chad is sending me what he has left (7) So, if I get this one going OK, I'll have a go at your's if you want ? Edited March 27, 2008 by Richard H. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaggy the Atarian Posted April 6, 2008 Share Posted April 6, 2008 Speaking of dead CC2's, mine is dead as well. It might have been killed by a backwards POKEY chip though, which I had thought that I put in correctly. The chip I need to replace is the Xilinx Spartan XCS05 (5V version). Does anyone know where I could find this chip? I can't surface mount anything but it's good to see some links here pointing us to those that can. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard H. Posted April 6, 2008 Share Posted April 6, 2008 The chip I need to replace is the Xilinx Spartan XCS05 Wouldn't you need to get it programmed by Chad first ? I had a go at putting in the U7 chip, but after 3 attempts I gave up, the tracks / pads are just too badly damaged. I'm now going to plan B, which is to replace it with 3 potential dividers (6 resistors). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kroko Posted April 6, 2008 Share Posted April 6, 2008 The chip I need to replace is the Xilinx Spartan XCS05 Wouldn't you need to get it programmed by Chad first ? It is an FPGA. Its content is RAM based and is loaded into the chip on each startup. So it is sufficient to just replace the chip. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phonedork Posted April 7, 2008 Share Posted April 7, 2008 Wirrmp... Wirrrmmmpp....Wirrrrmmmmmppp....Wirrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrmmmmmmmmmppppp! J/K Its not expensive to just buy all the 7800 carts ya know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rik Posted April 7, 2008 Share Posted April 7, 2008 Man that SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!,I feel for ya man.Are the cc, cc2's that fragile?From the posts above,it looks like they're very fragile.I was going to bid on one once,i dont like delicate things,im kinda glad i didnt buy one.I like things built tough and rugged,which is hard to find nowadays,thats why i love the 2600,heavy 6,especially,so much! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
128bytes Posted April 7, 2008 Share Posted April 7, 2008 Just got some info. The chip @U7 is a 5V to 3.3V level shifter for the memory card comms. It's a cheap component available in different package sizes. Turns out the memory card connector is absolete But Chad is sending me what he has left (7) So, if I get this one going OK, I'll have a go at your's if you want ? I highly recommend using only RS-MMC memory cards in CC2's. My CC2 is used a lot, by adults and kids, and is still in great shape. Using RS-MMC cards protects the memory card connector by keeping the entire memory chip internal to the CC2 cartridge, which greatly reduces the chance of putting extra stress on the connector. RS-MMC cards ship with a full size MMC adapter, which is perfect for helping aid the insertion and deletion of the RS-MMC card. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted April 7, 2008 Author Share Posted April 7, 2008 Man that SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!,I feel for ya man.Are the cc, cc2's that fragile?From the posts above,it looks like they're very fragile.I was going to bid on one once,i dont like delicate things,im kinda glad i didnt buy one.I like things built tough and rugged,which is hard to find nowadays,thats why i love the 2600,heavy 6,especially,so much! They're not THAT fragile, but pushing the card down into the slot a bit too hard will cause the holder to break free and can possibly cause damage (as was the case with my cart). The card holder could have been renforced a bit better, but other than that it's a solid design. I still don't know how mine broke since I'm very careful with it. Who knows? Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+remowilliams Posted April 7, 2008 Share Posted April 7, 2008 Are the cc, cc2's that fragile?From the posts above,it looks like they're very fragile. They are not. The CC2 boards are one of the most advanced professionally designed products I've ever seen, enthusiast/mainstream or not. Most of the problems come from people not using RS MMC cards... I've let video game 'strangers' and kids handle the CC2 on their own with a RS MMC installed. There's almost nothing short of stomping on it that they could do to harm it in that configuration. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HammR25 Posted April 7, 2008 Share Posted April 7, 2008 How do you get the RS MMC back out once you've put it in? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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