Broken Flu...

[Magus 86]

Well, here we go... I took my FLU apart to paint it, and as you probably all already know, the damn FLU wires got disconnected. So I tried to solder them back. For some stupid assed reason, the spot on the circuit board where one of the red wires used to be had no metal contact, and the solder wouldn't stick to the circuit board... I have no idea why that is... I spent nearly 2 hours trying to solder it before giving up. Then later a friend told me that it would be possible to put some kind of small metal thing like a nail or screw into the spot where the contact used to be and solder the wire to that, and it should work... so I tried it, probably because I'm an idiot. So as you can probably imagine, that didn't work... but now for some stupid reason, my screen doesn't turn on, and I have no sound. The red light above the screen turns on, and occasionally I'll hear a "pop" or "click" from the speakers when I turn it on(which always happened before), but nothing after that... but the screen just won't turn on, and I have no idea why. The green plasticky area around the spot I was trying to solder is slightly tinted brown probably from all the heat from the soldering iron, but all that's around that spot leads to the extension port on the bottom of the system... The screen wire ribbon thing is perfectly in tact... I have absolutely no idea why the screen won't work... Does anybody out there have any ideas? I realize what I did was probably completely retarded, but that shouldn't have affected the screen...

 

[Hooka]

Did you actually nail something through the curcuit board? if you did it might have caused fractures that cause some of the paths on the circuit board to become broken... but you can probably get a better opinion from somebody else, I really wouldn't know.

 

[Magus 86]

I put a tiny screw in, but because the screw wasn't pointy, I had to use a small nail to make a hole slightly smaller than the screw first.

 

[reaper79]

Sounds like you damaged something in the PCB and maybe broke a trace. Does anyone know if the PCB in the GP32 is multilayered? You maybe could have just soldered the wire onto the backside, don't know, never really looked close at the other side of the PCB. The only other thing I could think of is that the ribbon cable to the LCD has come loose, or solder dripped through the hole onto the other side and is shorting something out.

Good Luck.

 

[Magus 86]

The LCD ribbon is definitely not loose. I can't even figure out how to get it out. Damnit... I should have just left it alone... Then I'd at least have an NLU... Now I have a brick unless someone can figure out what I need to do. Son of a bitch...


*EDIT* WOOHOO!!!! It's fixed now... Reaper, thanks... You reminded me that during the soldering process, I accidentally dropped some in places where I didn't want it... I checked the whole circuit board for unnecessary solder and found it on 2 chips. I have no idea what they do though. One says "U5" right above it, and it's a tiny black chip with 8 "spider leg" metal things sticking out from the sides. It's right next to the battery spring thingy. And the other one is a lot bigger. It has at least 40 little leg things, and it's right above the extension port. There was some solder connecting at least 2 of the legs on both chips... I got rid of it with a flathead screwdriver, and now I have a non-lit unit. Alright, no more tinkering for me... This thing's getting closed up... for good.

 

[reaper79]

LOL, good to hear your back in the saddle.

 

[Magus 86]

Okay... just one more thing... everything is working perfectly, but I got rid of all the FLU crap... so now I have a nice little FLU switch-sized hole in the back of my GP32 case, and I'd prefer to have it closed up... any suggestions for what I should use to do that?

 

[reaper79]

Epoxy - hard, plastic like, and non-conductive just like a... Nevermind. Just use some epoxy, that's the grey stuff they used to hook the FLU switch on in the first place.

Did you actually take off the grey screen trim and pull out the FLU light guide?

 

[NeoStuey]

Okay... just one more thing... everything is working perfectly, but I got rid of all the FLU crap... so now I have a nice little FLU switch-sized hole in the back of my GP32 case, and I'd prefer to have it closed up... any suggestions for what I should use to do that?

​

Good to here you have the system back working.

On the subject of plugging the hole, maybe you could find a small plastic plug like they use for covering screws on self-build furniture and glue that over the hole. May not be aesthetically perfect but should do the job.

Good luck!

 

[daclassicgamingmaster]

Okay... just one more thing... everything is working perfectly, but I got rid of all the FLU crap... so now I have a nice little FLU switch-sized hole in the back of my GP32 case, and I'd prefer to have it closed up... any suggestions for what I should use to do that?

​

wow that sucks. i would go with some kind of plaster thats non conductive

well, u have a NLU now. Not a total loss

 

[Magus 86]

Epoxy - hard, plastic like, and non-conductive just like a... Nevermind. Just use some epoxy, that's the grey stuff they used to hook the FLU switch on in the first place.

Did you actually take off the grey screen trim and pull out the FLU light guide?

​

Yeah, I figured if the light's not gonna be working, what's the sense in having all the stuff still inside? I took out the actual light and the extra plastic screen thing...

Wait a second, that grey stuff is epoxy? I thought epoxy dried clear... Hmm... well, I don't have any epoxy, but I do have some PVC cement. But how can I get it to actually stay over the hole and not just fall thru it?

 

[daclassicgamingmaster]

quick question magus;

i thought it was painted already, like in your sig.....


did you try to paint it again?

 

[Magus 86]

Yeah, for some reason I decided that I absolutely had to give it an NES controller color scheme.

 

[reaper79]

Wait a second, that grey stuff is epoxy? I thought epoxy dried clear...

​

It depends on the type of epoxy, it looks like a metal epoxy to me, with maybe steel or titanium in it. Some epoxies are even colored, and turn purple. They could have also used an epoxy putty, kinda like clay that you have to rub together. You could always just tape up one side of the hole and then fill from the other. I don't think I would use PVC cement, then it would just be rubbery.