My PC Engine GT!!!

Phipscube

WipEout Fanboi
Joined
Apr 11, 2010
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Country
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Ringsted
Hi folks! I thought you might want to see my new toy? A PC Engine GT.... Inside and out!

Yes? OK!

Here goes!

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I'm gonna take out ALL the Electrolytic Caps and replace them... Why? Because the GT is notorious for failing Audio and Video because the Caps NEC uses are pure ASS! My particular unit was got "cheap" because it has (had) audio issues.

Here's a great guide to replacing your caps over on pcenginefx: -

http://www.pcenginefx.com/forums/index.php?topic=5303.0

And the image from Red Ghost: -

ExpressCapreplacementchart31.jpg


Lets get this beast open!

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Yum yum!

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Board is out, this thing is tiny! Amazing it was made in 1990!!

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Getting started with the caps, the small one is the single cause of the dreadded "blank white screen" video issue that many of these units have, replace that and... DING! Video back (great folks over at www.pcenginefx.com need credit for that also, its an all round awesome site for all PC Engine malarkey). Its wise to do all of them though, some are hiding under that metal shield so that has to come off too.

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Here is the board with plate off and all the caps replaced! It took me about 2 hours of careful work to get them done.

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Don't forget the one on the controller board!

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Here's the LCD screen! What a bulky old boy! Be very careful with this beast, you only need to look at it and 10 pixels die instantly! Once i'd put it back together I discovered one of the pixels had gotten stuck, I was ULTRA careful with it too. I have a proggie (again, very cool people at pcenginefx) I can put on a Neo Flash 128 cart one day when I Can afford one that should hopefully unstick the pixel. When playing its barely noticeable anyway.

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Arty shot!

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All back together again

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Here it is running with Don Doko Don! (awesome little game). Video is even nicer now as well as nice loud clear audio! WIN!

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I've ordered a switchless mod chip over on pcenginefx (a dude named blueBMW has them here: - http://www.pcenginefx.com/forums/index.php?PHPSESSID=9c7383f14229839e7134a738517065a3&topic=10112.0 ) This will enable play of US games by simply holding SELECT button on power up! Will show more when it arrives :)

Cheers! (y)
 
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Nice little "surgery" and nice toy indeed mate. Sure that you'll play with it for a long time. (y)
 
Awesome work as always my friend. Thanks for sharing. :)
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AWESOME! (y)

a true pity about the LCD, can this use another type of LCD or (and as I suspect) there SNK proprietry / bespoke?

do you know if there is a schematic for the LCD unit?
 
Cheers Guys :)

@Z

There are talks about making an LCD replacement over on pcenginefx, but if it will ever happen is unknown. One dude transplanted a 3.5" LCD screen to his here: -

http://www.pcenginefx.com/forums/index.php?topic=9334.0

but it involves a fair bit of butchery which i'm a bit uneasy with doing to my unit. its also converting RGB to AV... it still looks alot nicer than the original, but there is a certain charm to the old fuzzy screen I think :)

I'm not sure if a schematic exists, maybe I need to do some searching :) If I ever did a replacement, i'd like a drop in solution without any case butchery, but I think finding an exact 2.6" RGB replacement may be a little tricky??
 
@Phipsy

Well my friend, there are plenty of 2.5" LCD units, pending prices there are RGB and AV (composite) input models.

I shall partake of those linkies and see what I can conjour up =)
 
@Z,

2.5" would be ok I think :) The guy who hacked his with 3.5" provides R G B and S points on the GT mainboard so it may well be possible to hook one up that way. This would be bypassing the GT's own controller but I would imagine a modern display + controller is probably thinner than the old LCD display on its own. Whatever you can find will be most appreciated mate :)

@ John, thanks mate.... I love these types of threads too :ninja: I think we are all a bit freaky like that here :D

@ TickledPink... aye mate! A handheld PC Engine! (It came out in USA as Turbo Express too) And the coolest thing is it takes the very same PC Engine Game Hu Cards as its (not that much) bigger Brother!
 
The "Obey" Switchless Modchip came the other day, so I promptly installed it!

Here are some pics :)

First up the Chip + switcher. To the left is the chip, to the right is the switchless board that will switch the GT over to USA mode when holding Select button on power up.

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The underside. Each point is numbered with H for Hucard side and P for print side so you know which pin on the hu slot and from which side. A B C are the switch input, these are soldered to the switchless board or a physical switch.

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My machine is going to use the switchless board so JP1 needs linking. you leave it open if using a physical switch. (currently you can't make a switchless mod on the consoles, only the handhelds).

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Here are all the pins snipped on the hucard slot. 15,16,17,19,20,21,22,23. "H" is this side.

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And the pins taken out from the board. this is the "P" side.

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Starting to wire up the H side.

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Tidying up with heat shrink.

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And now the P side.

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I had to fiddle a bit to get the Chip in a place that fits with the boards closed together.

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I stuck it down with some strong double sided 3M tape.

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Routing the wires on the H side around and now soldered to the board.

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All the P side on too. +5V is on pin 38 of the hu card and GND is on 18. Pin 36 will go to the switchless board along with A, B and C.

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I closed up the back case to the mainboard and added labels to be sure. (R is pin 36).

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Here they all are attached. SEL will go to the select button on the controller PCB.

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Here :)

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Given enough slack for assembly.

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If your unit is a Japanese system like mine you need to lift pin 29 of the 6280 and attach it to ground. Don't forget like I did and have to completely disassemble the unit again with a DOH!! :D

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After this, job is done!

Kudos to BlueBMW and thesteve over on pcenginefx.com for making this chip :)

I've not got any US games yet :oops: But it boots fine with Japanese games and shows a greenish screen when holding select button with the same Japanese game inserted at power up (indicating wrong region) So I ASSUME its working, but will do a small update when I get a US game to verify :ninja:(y)
 
Awesome stuff there Les my friend!!!
I really love these detailed pics and clean hacks.

I as well tinkered my Gameboy today :)
- Added Prosound mod for crystal clear and load Line Out
- Added Green backlit LCD mod
- Added Transparent Power button with LED indicator for low battery :p

Gotta love small consoles \o/
 
Very cool surgery there phips. :)
That looked like fun.
 
@Marios, Thanks mate, yeah these old handheld beasts are fun to hack with! Have you got any pics of your GB? sounds sweet!

@Phil, aye mate it was good fun :) As always I was a bit nervous on first power on, but it all seems ok. Just gotta get myself a US game or two. I think the first one will be R-Type as its on one card for US, on Japanese release its spread over 2 cards (R-Type I being level 1-4 and R-Type II being level 5-8 ). I remember back in the day thinking "R-type II on the PC Engine? Is it an exclusive new version?" That was long before the REAL R-Type 2 was released.

@Amiga Forever, aye mate, even now after all these years its still cool, well I think so! :D My son thinks it looks big old fat and stupid :D
 
Great job there not sure if I would have the skills for that at least not
yet also this was a pdf moment with this one..

Chris :coffee:
 
Thanks Chris :)

When you say "pdf moment" do you mean you think I should make a pdf of the instructions to install the chip? If so there are detailed instructions Here: -

http://www.mediafire.com/?ad5obr3lls4usm3

These are linked from the mod chip thread on pcenginefx here: -

http://www.pcenginefx.com/forums/index.php?topic=10112.0

:ninja:

I call it a PDF moment when I find something that I might use in the
future I just use print feature in firefox and change it to adobe pdf
instead of using the printer I started doing this when the wife got
mad because she had no ink left to print something..:LOL:

:coffee:
 
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