Frankie Posted July 9, 2021 Share Posted July 9, 2021 I have 4 Incognito's. At one point they all worked. I started with one of the original's and all was happy. The new batch came out and I bought a spare. Somehow I fried my working one. No video output. I thought it was something with my Sophia. I swapped my spare in and it worked. Huh.. ok, well, I'll try not to do that again. Then I did it again. Incognito stopped working. No video. xilinx chip seems fine, I can read and write it. .. Bought another two more Incognitos. Have a nice working one and a spare. Is there any troubleshooting I can do? Can I swap out that big square chip? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shoestring Posted July 9, 2021 Share Posted July 9, 2021 How did you brick it ? If you have the original boards, then this might help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frankie Posted July 10, 2021 Author Share Posted July 10, 2021 (edited) 4 hours ago, shoestring said: How did you brick it ? If you have the original boards, then this might help. I honestly don't know how I did it. I was working on it with the cover off and I may have shorted it out (touching the back of the board to some metal). I thought it was just a fluke, then I did it with another one. I have both an original and a first batch Lotharek. Edited July 10, 2021 by Frankie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shoestring Posted July 10, 2021 Share Posted July 10, 2021 Don't feel bad. I'm no stranger to that actually, having recently shorted out the video DAC in a machine recently. Those Incognito boards don't look easy to troubleshoot. Might be best sending them off to Lotharek to get fixed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_The Doctor__ Posted July 10, 2021 Share Posted July 10, 2021 Is that a new service? last I knew unless defective and within a period of time, it wouldn't be replaced or repaired... maybe it's best to ask @lotharek if he will or won't... I have tagged him in this message to get him reading your' plight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shoestring Posted July 10, 2021 Share Posted July 10, 2021 Not that I am aware of. It would not be covered in his case based on the cause. Though its still worth finding out if he is willing to exchange or fix the board for a price. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mazzspeed Posted July 10, 2021 Share Posted July 10, 2021 You have to solder two jumper wires on the underside of the motherboard, are you sure they aren't shorting on any form of shielding? Also, are you are using the first slot? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sugarland Posted July 10, 2021 Share Posted July 10, 2021 Did you check voltages in the machine and the Incog board? Maybe the machine is frying them? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sup8pdct Posted July 11, 2021 Share Posted July 11, 2021 My daughter fried an original before i had a chance to get it working properly. i think she plugged in 2 carts, both left carts, in to both cart slots while turned on. Not happy at all................... james Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Stephen Posted July 11, 2021 Share Posted July 11, 2021 I think the originals required 2 resistors soldered inline (or changed on the 800 motherboard) to avoid over-volting the Incognito when carts are plugged in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted July 11, 2021 Share Posted July 11, 2021 Unless the Xilinx chip is boiling hot, it's possible this is just a corrupted PLCC flash ROM. Buy yourself a TL866 USB EPROM programmer and reprogram the chip before you assume the worst. When you say 'No video output', do you mean a signal with a black screen, or no signal detected by the TV/monitor at all? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frankie Posted July 11, 2021 Author Share Posted July 11, 2021 3 hours ago, flashjazzcat said: Unless the Xilinx chip is boiling hot, it's possible this is just a corrupted PLCC flash ROM. Buy yourself a TL866 USB EPROM programmer and reprogram the chip before you assume the worst. When you say 'No video output', do you mean a signal with a black screen, or no signal detected by the TV/monitor at all? Well, the monitor goes from power-save to on, but it's just all black. Not sure what that is considered. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted July 11, 2021 Share Posted July 11, 2021 4 minutes ago, Frankie said: Well, the monitor goes from power-save to on, but it's just all black. Not sure what that is considered. That just means the OS failed to boot. So you should first try to reflash the ROM using the aforementioned external programmer. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frankie Posted July 12, 2021 Author Share Posted July 12, 2021 21 hours ago, flashjazzcat said: That just means the OS failed to boot. So you should first try to reflash the ROM using the aforementioned external programmer. Do you have a jed file for the xilinix chip so I can-reflash that as well? I figure I should make sure everything has been updated. My USB EPROM programmer arrives today. I can pull that image from my good incognito. (I can't pull the xilinix chip firmware because this board version has no jtag header). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted July 12, 2021 Share Posted July 12, 2021 Sure. Try reflashing the ROM first though. There is absolutely nothing to be gained from flashing the CPLD if it starts working again (the update with extra features not yet being ready). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frankie Posted July 12, 2021 Author Share Posted July 12, 2021 3 hours ago, flashjazzcat said: Sure. Try reflashing the ROM first though. There is absolutely nothing to be gained from flashing the CPLD if it starts working again (the update with extra features not yet being ready). It's ALIVE! I reflashed the SST chip (I don't know what it's really called) and my incognito came back to life! 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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