Damaged connector on Giga Wing 2 cart

OldFoo · Post by **OldFoo** » Mon Apr 09, 2007 10:14 pm

So I just got my Giga Wing 2 cart and it arrived damaged. :smt012 I've been looking forward to this one too. One of the white connectors on the bottom of the cart is broken. Part of the plastic is missing, but all the pins are still intact and I was able to bend the pins back in line. However, it is still a bit tricky to get the mainboard to recognize the cart, as in it takes a couple of tries of reseating the cart. Is it possible to easily replace the connector? What is involved and where could I get the part?

Thanks,

-brumma

OldFoo · Post by **OldFoo** » Mon Apr 09, 2007 11:05 pm

Try asking the guy at http://www.irepairsega.com/. He fixes alot of stuff.

OldFoo · Post by **OldFoo** » Tue Apr 10, 2007 3:09 am

joshua3dg wrote:Try asking the guy at http://www.irepairsega.com/. He fixes alot of stuff.

Thanks Joshua--I've written him an email. Hopefully I'll hear some good news.

In the meantime, I've taken a closer look at the connector. It looks like it could be replaced fairly easily. The tricky part is getting the connector in and out without bending the pins that are inserted through the pcb itself--they're very fine and pretty long as well. Taking the old connector out would probably ruin it, so I wouldn't want to try without having new ones on hand. I haven't had much luck finding the proper part though. It's branded "Omron" but I haven't had much luck narrowing it down any further than that. Any ideas?

OldFoo · Post by **OldFoo** » Tue Apr 10, 2007 5:15 am

Omron is a big company with their hands in alot of things. But only a repair manual would have the appropriate part number for this connector. Or, looking through a whole mess of connectors to track it down. :smt009

OldFoo · Post by **OldFoo** » Tue Apr 10, 2007 5:35 am

joshua3dg wrote:Omron is a big company with their hands in alot of things. But only a repair manual would have the appropriate part number for this connector. Or, looking through a whole mess of connectors to track it down. :smt009

Yeah, I started that process--but I really don't have the time to keep looking.

Well, I managed to fix it, but not before a major scare and about 2 hours worth of labor. The stupid cartridge managed to bend the pins on the motherboard socket! Luckily, those connectors are two sided. The connector on the opposite side is actually the male or female version of the other side. The part on the other side doesn't connect to anything--it just holds the pins snugly as they run through the pcb. I swapped the damaged connector on the cart with the damaged connector on the mainboard. Since only one side of each was damaged, the opposite sides were still usable. It was slow going to avoid bending the delicate pins, and it took me a while to figure out a good procedure for getting them back together.

Anyway, I plugged in the cart and was immediately greeted by another 01 error code. I reseated the cart and it booted up fine. Next I tried the GD-ROM and the same thing happened--I reseated it and all was OK. Well, that's it for me! I screwed that DIMM board on nice and snug, and it's never coming back off. Either I get another motherboard for carts (or as a backup) or I don't play carts.

OldFoo · Post by **OldFoo** » Tue Apr 10, 2007 2:41 pm

That was a pretty dangerous move. That's why I didn't suggest you fix it on your own. Many have tried messing with these connectors and most do more damage than good. I should have warned you outright. :smt083

OldFoo · Post by **OldFoo** » Tue Apr 10, 2007 3:20 pm

joshua3dg wrote:That was a pretty dangerous move. That's why I didn't suggest you fix it on your own. Many have tried messing with these connectors and most do more damage than good. I should have warned you outright. :smt083

Yeah, but I'm pretty handy, so it all worked out fine in the end. I actually have fairly good manual dexterity. The cart had damaged the connector on the motherboard the first time it was inserted, I just hadn't noticed it. In fact, I wouldn't have attempted the repair myself if the mobo hadn't been damaged. I first attempted to straighten the pins on the mobo connector, but that was impossible. I was very gentle and took my time, and fortunately my cats left me alone long enough to concentrate. It was definitely a learning experience, and I feel better having accomplished it. However, that doesn't mean I'm not going to pick up a spare mobo ASAP--I am!