Help save a sick CD32

[UberFreak]

Hi

My one & only CD32 unit is broken, here are the symptoms:

1) When powered on, it shows a black screen (there is sync)
2) Nothing happens after that, no CD action of any kind (motors or laser do not move).

No IC is getting warmer than usual & I tried re-seating the ROM.
Measured some voltages, which look ok (also tried a different PSU) and visually verified all capacitors, no signs of leakage.
Its important to note that according to the previous owner, this unit broke down more than 10 years ago & has been in storage ever since.

If anyone has any debugging ideas, it would be greatly appreciated

Also, if the CD unit's flat cable is disconnected from the board, sould it still get to the boot screen?
Sadly I have no way of getting another unit (they are incredibly rare here).

:help:

Thanks!

 

[rkauer]

If the unit is a PAL one, chances are the big capacitors are reversed and even if they didn't leaked, they will stop the machine to run.

 

[UberFreak]

Yes, it is the PAL version.
Are you talking about the regular caps, not SMD ones?
Are the markings on the board reversed as well, or only the caps?

Thanx!

---------- Post added at 21:35 ---------- Previous post was at 21:29 ----------

Cant seem to find any info on this, have any links?

 

[rkauer]

http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=41466

 

[UberFreak]

Hi

Checked my board (rev 3) against the pics in that thread, mine seems to be at the correct polarity.
I'll verify this with a multimeter, but looks like I have another problem

 

[UberFreak]

Just verified with a multimeter, polarity looks fine.

What I'd really like to know, is if the CD32 is supposed to reach the boot-screen if the cdrom drive is disconnected.