pixelmischief Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 I opened up my Falcon tonight with the intent of scouting out an NVRAM replacement. What I found made me nervous. Someone, at some point, did something to the board, but I'll be damned if I can tell what it was. Can you kind denizens of the Atari Universe have a look and tell me what I've got here? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tillek Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 Dude... You're not going to believe this, but when I opened one of my Falcons I found....... Now I'm really curious as to what it was.... Now I'm curious about opening up Falcon #2.... Think that's going to happen after I get a few hours sleep! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pixelmischief Posted February 25, 2015 Author Share Posted February 25, 2015 Aight. Now I'm freaked. Am I seeing that right? Your shit looks piggy-backed! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tillek Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 If I wasn't so exhausted I'd open that other Falcon right now... but alas, I need some sleep. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pixelmischief Posted February 25, 2015 Author Share Posted February 25, 2015 You PANSY! =) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tillek Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 Yes... a pansy with homework... (41 years old and doing homework?!?!?! - hell yeah if I get to walk around the planet with young 20 something's and have them hang on my every word about computers in the "ancient times"). Anyway, found this thread earlier and on second look, this guy's Falcon didn't have the "Mod". http://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=27635&p=268752 So it isn't a "last minute fix" from the factory. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tillek Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 And opening Falcon #2....... I'm just a bit worried now about what was going on with Falcon #1. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exxosuk Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 (edited) Its a clock buffer "patch". Some falcons suffered from bad clocks (for some reason) so a chip was fitted to buffer them. Normally seen on machines which run CPU boosters and the like. Edited February 26, 2015 by exxosuk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rustynutt Posted May 15, 2015 Share Posted May 15, 2015 I'd be more carefull data wise of the Falcon without the buffer modification:) There are a few PCB mods that improve Falcon stability. One related to the ''74'' SDMA clock mod involves jumping a small ''dog leg'' trace of the CLKEN for the SDMA. The trace wraps around and under a resistor about 20mm to the left of the SDMA CLKEN pin. Another beneficial practice is to run the FPU in it's own Ocillator. The FPU and SDMA CLK traces are tied across the football size of the Falcon board. Given the number of ''fixes'' sometimes required to keep from wearing out the reset button in the vack of the machine, figure breaking the FPU and SDMA clocks can only help Not being an electronic type (just soldering does not count ), it may be worthwhile to mod the trace even without an FPU installed. Something about leaving the line unterminated, sans an FPU installed. With the last 7404 (not all F04's work alike in practice), the ''dog leg'' trace modified, and cutting the FPU trace run out of the SDMA trace, have had both the Mighty Sonic 32 and Afterburner running stable (SCSI working-no VIDEL garbage) @ 24/48 BUS/CPU clocks. Nimesis, Afterburner Cook Book and CT60/63 docs cover the mods above, better than i've stated Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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