CPU Strangeness

General discussions or ideas about hardware.
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exxos
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Re: CPU Strangeness

Post by exxos »

rubber_jonnie wrote: Mon May 20, 2019 10:16 am More strangeness, the C103253 now isn't working with its original CPU in a socket. Frankly bizarre as it was fine a couple of weeks back.
Spray the CPU and socket with contact cleaner, also resolder the CPU socket..
rubber_jonnie wrote: Mon May 20, 2019 10:16 am Now I know why Exxos has sleepless nights and all sorts of strange problems trying to get boosters working!
Yeah, 95% of the time goes on "motherboard issues" :roll:
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viewtopic.php?f=17&t=1585 Have you done the Mandatory Fixes ?
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Re: CPU Strangeness

Post by rubber_jonnie »

PhilC wrote: Mon May 20, 2019 10:26 am Hi RJ,

Try putting some female headers on the CPU and then try it. Maybe the socket is getting a bit fussy about contacts. Have had this problem myself a couple of times
I already did try, but I have to say, the fit in the socket is far from good, but of course the PAK has a much better fit in the turned pin sockets and the CPU on that is soldered in.

Shows how unstable these boards can be.
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Re: CPU Strangeness

Post by rubber_jonnie »

exxos wrote: Mon May 20, 2019 10:34 am
Spray the CPU and socket with contact cleaner, also resolder the CPU socket..
Will clean the contacts, but given the PAK works, I suspect the soldering is ok. I will do that as a last resort. TBH, I think it is poor contact in the turned pin socket I'm using, as the CPU can almost be pulled out by hand.

Will come up with a solution and report back!!
Collector of many retro things!
800XL and 65XE both with Ultimate1MB,VBXL/XE & PokeyMax, SIDE3, SDrive Max, 2x 1010 cassette, 2x 1050 one with Happy mod, 3x 2600 Jr, 7800 and Lynx II
Approx 20 STs, including a 520 STM, 520 STFMs, 3x Mega ST, MSTE & 2x 32 Mhz boosted STEs
Plus the rest, totalling around 50 machines including a QL, 3x BBC Model B, Electron, Spectrums, ZX81 etc...
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Re: CPU Strangeness

Post by exxos »

rubber_jonnie wrote: Mon May 20, 2019 5:09 pm TBH, I think it is poor contact in the turned pin socket I'm using, as the CPU can almost be pulled out by hand.
I have no end of trouble with turned pin sockets :( Even the round header pins (albeit from China) Into have some sort of release on them which causes a bad connection, so I have to keep wiping the pins with IPA after I have sold strip on something to clean them up. Plus , either the pins, or sockets, or combination of both, never seem to be a good fit together.

Those round pins in the cheaper spring-loaded sockets, are not generally a good fit together either. But if you only plan to use a DIP CPU in a socket and nothing else, I really would use a spring-loaded socket, rather than the round pin ones.

I mean I was testing out a load of 1772's, where the 1.44 PCB use the round header pins, with a round pin socket, the amount of issues I had with the floppy drive just because of bad connections on those pins and sockets was unbelievable..

I think I may put a load of pins and sockets in my ultrasonic cleaner and leave them in there to clean up before I even solder them onto anything..
https://www.exxosforum.co.uk/atari/ All my hardware guides - mods - games - STOS
https://www.exxosforum.co.uk/atari/store2/ - All my hardware mods for sale - Please help support by making a purchase.
viewtopic.php?f=17&t=1585 Have you done the Mandatory Fixes ?
Just because a lot of people agree on something, doesn't make it a fact. ~exxos ~
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Re: CPU Strangeness

Post by rubber_jonnie »

I've kind of decided I will slot the CPU into a spare socket and solder the CPU to the socket so I can get the benefit of turned pin to turned pin plus solder. Then it's more like the PAK, which still works.

Will it work, I don't know, but the CPU is just so loose in the socket, it's got to be a contact problem. It's like the CPU is n't installed, which is what happened with my CO70789 unit I used the original CPU. I also have my donor board, so I'm going to pull the CPU from that, see how that goes.

The CO70789 is still using a turned pin socket on the beta IDE board, but the CPU fits that way better, and it runs just fine.

It's all damn nonsense, it should just work, stupid weirdness!
Collector of many retro things!
800XL and 65XE both with Ultimate1MB,VBXL/XE & PokeyMax, SIDE3, SDrive Max, 2x 1010 cassette, 2x 1050 one with Happy mod, 3x 2600 Jr, 7800 and Lynx II
Approx 20 STs, including a 520 STM, 520 STFMs, 3x Mega ST, MSTE & 2x 32 Mhz boosted STEs
Plus the rest, totalling around 50 machines including a QL, 3x BBC Model B, Electron, Spectrums, ZX81 etc...
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Re: CPU Strangeness

Post by rubber_jonnie »

Right, so the C103253 board no longer works with it's original CPU, but it does work with the CPU from the CO70789 board, which it didn't work with before.

The the C103253 still works with the PAK though.

Everybody feel free to have their head explode.

I need to pull the CPU from my donor board, see what happens with that!
Collector of many retro things!
800XL and 65XE both with Ultimate1MB,VBXL/XE & PokeyMax, SIDE3, SDrive Max, 2x 1010 cassette, 2x 1050 one with Happy mod, 3x 2600 Jr, 7800 and Lynx II
Approx 20 STs, including a 520 STM, 520 STFMs, 3x Mega ST, MSTE & 2x 32 Mhz boosted STEs
Plus the rest, totalling around 50 machines including a QL, 3x BBC Model B, Electron, Spectrums, ZX81 etc...
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Re: CPU Strangeness

Post by PhilC »

RJ, I know you are part of the Testing to destruction crew but please leave the weird breaky things to me ok :lol:

Good luck with the other board, don't ya just love loose connections.
If it ain't broke, test it to Destruction.
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Re: CPU Strangeness

Post by rubber_jonnie »

PhilC wrote: Thu May 23, 2019 6:57 pm RJ, I know you are part of the Testing to destruction crew but please leave the weird breaky things to me ok :lol:

Good luck with the other board, don't ya just love loose connections.
If I was deliberately breaking stuff, I'd be right with you, but I'm not!

Just weird stuff going down, just madness!
Collector of many retro things!
800XL and 65XE both with Ultimate1MB,VBXL/XE & PokeyMax, SIDE3, SDrive Max, 2x 1010 cassette, 2x 1050 one with Happy mod, 3x 2600 Jr, 7800 and Lynx II
Approx 20 STs, including a 520 STM, 520 STFMs, 3x Mega ST, MSTE & 2x 32 Mhz boosted STEs
Plus the rest, totalling around 50 machines including a QL, 3x BBC Model B, Electron, Spectrums, ZX81 etc...
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