Hey guys,
Long time no thread, so here's a little (little being the operative word here
) something I've been working on lately 
Recently I bought a faulty OpenPandora games console from a fellow on EAB, and it had the two classic faults that many first-batch Pandoras have - a purple-tinting LCD screen (faulty LCD ribbon cable) and a bad analog "nub" (joystick) which wasn't registering any movement.
So I decided to buy it and fix it as it was a good price and I felt I could tackle this repair project.
I recently lost my beloved PSP slim in a burglary, and it left a bit of a gap as I used to love playing all the SNES/MegaDrive games on it along with many other emulators.
I've known about the OpenPandora since it was announced years ago, and just had to jump at the chance to own one!
What's awesome is that the faults are covered under warranty, but there can be a long backlog at times waiting for repairs as the team are always very busy. After a few email exchanges with EvilDragon (the nice guy from Germany who builds and repairs Pandoras) he very kindly agreed to send me some replacement parts so I could attempt the repair myself. Since he was kind enough to give them to me at no cost, I sent the team a donation as a way of saying thanks
Since the faults began surfacing with the Pandora consoles, the team worked with their suppliers to improve the component quality and prevent further premature faults. New Pandoras are built with these new-batch parts which are of a higher quality and seem less susceptible to failing (so far).
I managed to get a new batch LCD ribbon and analog nubs:
So, the first thing I tackled was the nubs. These are assembled on small PCB "discs" which are butted up to the mainboard and surface-mount soldered, so the trick is separating the two boards.
This is normally done with "SMD shim", but a 0.05mm feeler gauge did the trick:
The gauge is carefully slid into the gap underneath the nub, and heat is applied to a joint with a soldering iron. As the joint melts, the gauge is carefully moved into the molten solder to separate the boards. This was repeated until all joints were separated, and the nubs could be removed from the mainboard. As you can see, with care and patience, this can be done with no damage to the delicate board:
The pads were cleaned up with wick and flux, the new nubs placed onto the board, and soldered into place:
The next step was to replace the faulty LCD cable. This was a very involved and delicate procedure, but is well documented in an excellent video by EvilDragon himself on YouTube. Here you can see where I was desoldering the speakers from the old cable:
I also had a brand new case/chassis ready for the Pandora to freshen it up a bit. The old one had a loose hinge, wobbly shoulder buttons, and a few hairline cracks. I'm pleased to report the new chassis set has fixed all of these issues - it's like a brand new console Well worth the £25 or so it cost.
Now the Pandora is restored to its former glory and ready for action! :drinkin:
I now have an awesome replacement for my stolen PSP Can't wait to get this baby loaded up with some Amiga games and other emulators!
Cheers for looking
Long time no thread, so here's a little (little being the operative word here
) something I've been working on lately Recently I bought a faulty OpenPandora games console from a fellow on EAB, and it had the two classic faults that many first-batch Pandoras have - a purple-tinting LCD screen (faulty LCD ribbon cable) and a bad analog "nub" (joystick) which wasn't registering any movement.
So I decided to buy it and fix it as it was a good price and I felt I could tackle this repair project.
I recently lost my beloved PSP slim in a burglary, and it left a bit of a gap as I used to love playing all the SNES/MegaDrive games on it along with many other emulators.
I've known about the OpenPandora since it was announced years ago, and just had to jump at the chance to own one!
What's awesome is that the faults are covered under warranty, but there can be a long backlog at times waiting for repairs as the team are always very busy. After a few email exchanges with EvilDragon (the nice guy from Germany who builds and repairs Pandoras) he very kindly agreed to send me some replacement parts so I could attempt the repair myself. Since he was kind enough to give them to me at no cost, I sent the team a donation as a way of saying thanks
Since the faults began surfacing with the Pandora consoles, the team worked with their suppliers to improve the component quality and prevent further premature faults. New Pandoras are built with these new-batch parts which are of a higher quality and seem less susceptible to failing (so far).
I managed to get a new batch LCD ribbon and analog nubs:
So, the first thing I tackled was the nubs. These are assembled on small PCB "discs" which are butted up to the mainboard and surface-mount soldered, so the trick is separating the two boards.
This is normally done with "SMD shim", but a 0.05mm feeler gauge did the trick:
The gauge is carefully slid into the gap underneath the nub, and heat is applied to a joint with a soldering iron. As the joint melts, the gauge is carefully moved into the molten solder to separate the boards. This was repeated until all joints were separated, and the nubs could be removed from the mainboard. As you can see, with care and patience, this can be done with no damage to the delicate board:
The pads were cleaned up with wick and flux, the new nubs placed onto the board, and soldered into place:
The next step was to replace the faulty LCD cable. This was a very involved and delicate procedure, but is well documented in an excellent video by EvilDragon himself on YouTube. Here you can see where I was desoldering the speakers from the old cable:
I also had a brand new case/chassis ready for the Pandora to freshen it up a bit. The old one had a loose hinge, wobbly shoulder buttons, and a few hairline cracks. I'm pleased to report the new chassis set has fixed all of these issues - it's like a brand new console
Well worth the £25 or so it cost.
Now the Pandora is restored to its former glory and ready for action! :drinkin:
I now have an awesome replacement for my stolen PSP
Can't wait to get this baby loaded up with some Amiga games and other emulators!Cheers for looking
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This is a very important character for the C64. I plan on making a full keymap for that emulator that matches the Pandora's keymap.
