Eclaire XL Power Up issue

[AtariGeezer]

I PM'd Panos about this yesterday, but I'd thought I'd ask here also for others' input.

 

After I turn the power switch on, the only thing that happens is the 3 LED's light up.

 

If I push down lightly on the main board 2 inches around the FPGA area and turn the power switch on it will boot up. Otherwise no video or sound..

 

As soon as I release pressure on the board, video goes dark.

 

I've tried on HDMI and VGA...

 

Any ideas / thought on what / where to check???

[foft]

That sounds like a dry joint to me which would be disappointing since these were professionally soldered. Do you push anywhere in particular? Did you try without the 40 pin cables attached?

[AtariGeezer]

If I push anywhere around the FPGA or on the FPGA, Flash Mem or SDRAM it behaves normally.

 

Yep, tried removing the 40 pin cables too, no change.

 

Been looking for a cold solder joint on the Flash Mem or SDRAM, but nothing jumps out at me.

[AtariGeezer]

Guess I need to get something like this?

eBay Auction -- Item Number: 362015334517

[BigBen]

I have the same problem. At the last meeting I had the board with me and wanted to test it for the first time. At first it also ran, but the longer it was in operation,

it came to intermissions. My first guess was the power supply. Since I had no other power supply I could not carry out the experiment.
Right now I'm holiday, I'll call when I checked it.

[foft]

I have the same problem. At the last meeting I had the board with me and wanted to test it for the first time. At first it also ran, but the longer it was in operation,

it came to intermissions. My first guess was the power supply. Since I had no other power supply I could not carry out the experiment.

Right now I'm holiday, I'll call when I checked it.

This does sound like the power supply.

[foft]

If I push anywhere around the FPGA or on the FPGA, Flash Mem or SDRAM it behaves normally.

 

Yep, tried removing the 40 pin cables too, no change.

 

Been looking for a cold solder joint on the Flash Mem or SDRAM, but nothing jumps out at me.

Did you also test with another psu? There can be odd capacitance effects sometimes on touching a board.

 

I think rather than buying a hot air tool (this board is not a good starting one) the next step should be some test cores to see what is going on. Do you have a USB blaster?

 

Edit: never mind, I see there is more info in the pm discussion.

Edited July 6, 2018 by foft

[AtariGeezer]

I figured out the problem with mine. It seems the Postal Apes really mishandled the package along the way and the FPGA developed bad connections with the 400 odd solder balls that are used to adhere to the PCB.

 

So now I need your (AA Members) assistance in locating someone state side who is qualified in FPGA re-work.

Anyone know of such a person or repair shop???

 

Thanks,

Jay

[+DrVenkman]

I figured out the problem with mine. It seems the Postal Apes really mishandled the package along the way and the FPGA developed bad connections with the 400 odd solder balls that are used to adhere to the PCB.

 

So now I need your (AA Members) assistance in locating someone state side who is qualified in FPGA re-work.

Anyone know of such a person or repair shop???

 

Thanks,

Jay

I’ve never done it myself but I’ve read for years of people using heat to rework stuff like this, either carefully with a heat gun or in an actual (food) oven. With modern solder-free stuff that’s *probably* not a health risk using the oven afterward, but I’m still not sure it’s something I’d do.

[AtariGeezer]

Yeah, thought about using a hair dryer and a make-shift reducer to narrow the heat flow, but Panos said without regulating the heat, it could cause further damage. Also thought about buying a Hot Air Rework station and trying that too, but as Foft pointed out that this isn't the best option since it isn't the best to start learning on

[Roydea6]

I know you asked about stateside, but have you considered asking Panos. He is in Athens Greece, but he sent my an Atari 600XL with all the trimmings installed. It took about 2 week to get here. So if he would agree you would have it back in a month.

[AtariGeezer]

Yes, but with sending to Greece is that it would be about $100 round trip. I would be using a small 9x9x2 inch Digi-key box for that if I did for peace of mind.

[+orpheuswaking]

It's nuts, postage into the US from Europe is fairly low cost but going the other way is nuts. I recently picked up an Eclaire and I am really hoping I don't have any issues with mine (I wish these had come mailed in a box)

[AtariGeezer]

Does anyone have any experience with DHL shipping?

 

DHL wants a shipping invoice and shipping label forms to go back to China, but they won't provide a link to these forms and the local DHL drop off stores don't have them.

 

Does anyone know where to get these???

[AtariGeezer]

I have the same problem. At the last meeting I had the board with me and wanted to test it for the first time. At first it also ran, but the longer it was in operation,

it came to intermissions. My first guess was the power supply. Since I had no other power supply I could not carry out the experiment.

Right now I'm holiday, I'll call when I checked it.

Did you get yours working?

[BigBen]

Unfortunately, I still have the problems, but I have circled an area. If I want to save data to Flash, I stay in the mask without error messages.

Any key input is not possible. At the moment I'm on my way to work, but I will tackle the problem at the weekend. It seems like there is a cold solder joint or the flash is over.

If I know more, I'll post it.

[AtariGeezer]

Unfortunately, I still have the problems, but I have circled an area. If I want to save data to Flash, I stay in the mask without error messages.

Any key input is not possible. At the moment I'm on my way to work, but I will tackle the problem at the weekend. It seems like there is a cold solder joint or the flash is over.

If I know more, I'll post it.

Interesting, mine has a cold solder connection/break under the FPGA/BGA chip. If I apply some pressure on that chip, mine will boot up and work as expected.

As soon as I can raise some cash it will be going back to Panos in hopes that he can fix it

Edited August 13, 2018 by AtariGeezer

[BigBen]

I have checked each of the voltages of 1.1V, 2.5V and 3.3V with an oscilloscope, there are no interruptions. The flash memory is soldered correctly.

The longer the EclaireXL board is switched on, the more often and longer the fault occurs. Now the board has completely passed, I get no picture displayed.

What else can I do now?

[foft]

I seem to recall you said the system resets rather than it just being video?

 

If its video then you can check if its the dac or not by using dvi/hdmi (this is direct from the Fpga). Or check if audio also drops out.

 

If its resetting, it could be a number of things. Not sdram probably since that is only used for extended ram (>320K) and in menus. It could be a bad connection under the fpga or it could be an oscillator issue. I say oscillator since if the pll loses sync then that resets the board. We did also change the regulator for 2.5v and 2.5v is really only used for the pll.

 

Do you have a scope? Be interesting to know if its resetting internally or the fpga is reconfiguring and there is a pin that can be monitored to show that.

Edited August 18, 2018 by foft