CD32 Problem... Help required. :(

[DyLucke]

Hi there again, this morning i unpacked my CD32 from it's "vacation" inside my "retro-cabinet"... Place where my retro-devices do their R&R after several time on duty.


I unpacked it from a four months retirement and plugged it to test some game i got from eBay recently... Banshee.

When i turned it on it showed the little CD32 introduction perfectly... Nice, then i put the disc into the drive... After a few seconds i got the usual OS screen telling me something went wrong... "Not enough memory".... DUH!

Reset... Everything went fine...

However here it ends the good stuff and starts the pain...

As long as i got a little pissed off by that strange error message i decided to try some other games... Just in case.

Tried Microcosm... Original.
The system hangs when the Psygnosis logo shows up, turns screen to grey, and after a few seconds the logo returns for a second and goes away... Grey screen again. And so on.

Tried Dragonstone... Original.
Got an error messsage telling me "cannot execute file"

Tried Liberation... Original.
"Not enough memory" ... again?

Tried Simon the sorcerer... Original.
Introduction loads, but speech is choppy, sometimes it enters into a loop, and then continues on... After the intro the system hangs over.

Tried Guardian... Original.
No problems noticed.

Tried Oscar... Original.
It seems to work.

Tried Whale's Voyage... Original
System hangs over at the "loading" screen.

Tried 444 games compilation.
After some MINUTES loading i got some "recoverable alert", telling me some library was missing... DUH!!!

Tried 200 games compilation.
Ages loading, only the mouse pointer was shown after it...

So... That's it... Something is really wrong with my CD32, and the only thing i can see after a visual chechout on the board are both liquid capacitors to be a bit inflated, one of them with a little leak.

Could it be all this mess produced by these caps?
Or maybe i have some other component blown up? Some memory maybe?
I wouldn't like to tag my CD32 as "kaputt"...

Anticipated thanks guys.

[Vlabguy1]

not sure but those leaky caps could be the problem.  Mmm  I should take my CD32 out for a test run.
If your need your caps replaced I can to that type of work if needed.

Rich
ny

[DyLucke]

Thanks Rich, it seems you were right about the caps.

I've replaced'em and it seems everything is back to normality with the CD32.

However i do have two questions, i've noticed after a couple of hours the capacitors i've installed are a bit inflated... I don't know if this could be normal due material dilatation.

If not, what is going wrong here? Maybe the PSU is giving a wrong power output that could damage these caps?

Or as long as i'm using a NTSC CD drive, on a PAL console could it harm the components?

I can't see any difference between PAL and NTSC drives aside a couple of rubber pieces, red for PAL version and blue for NTSC.

I've replaced the disc drive since the PAL one is refusing to read CD-R's, could i correct this problem or is the drive just wasted?

[RiFF_RaFF]

Hi there!

I remember from way back, when replacing some caps in my CD32, that they were installed the wrong way round from the factory..

I read it, at  that time, somewhere online, but I can't find it just now! Btw: I even think the PCB is marked the wrong way around!

-RR

[CLS2086]

the capacitors i've installed are a bit inflated.

Hi, could be Bad polarisation (use a voltmeter) or a too close voltage value (for IE with my DTR320, they used 16v caps for 15v power line that delivered a bit more...).

[amiga1260]

My first CD32 had also leaky caps, but didn't give those errors about memory. Replace the caps and try again to load the games you mentioned. By the way my caps are replaced.

If it still has problems, then clean the CD lens.

At last resort is to calibrate the lens or buy a new CD unit from Amigakit. You could also ask a friend to swap the CD unit to test it.

When the problems still occur, than you have to buy a new CD32. Maybe the memory chips are broken.

[save2600]

So are these $100 NOS units from China all going to have bad caps? How many need replacing? Still on the fence about getting one, but when I do - be nice to know what I'll be up against...

[Vlabguy1]

Post or send some pictures of the expanding caps inside the CD32.

This goes for anyone..if you need chips/caps replaced on your old Amiga stuff let
me know Im am very handy with da iron..(labor is free) you pay for shipping both
ways and parts!!

Rich
ny

Thanks Rich, it seems you were right about the caps.

I've replaced'em and it seems everything is back to normality with the CD32.

However i do have two questions, i've noticed after a couple of hours the capacitors i've installed are a bit inflated... I don't know if this could be normal due material dilatation.

If not, what is going wrong here? Maybe the PSU is giving a wrong power output that could damage these caps?

Or as long as i'm using a NTSC CD drive, on a PAL console could it harm the components?

I can't see any difference between PAL and NTSC drives aside a couple of rubber pieces, red for PAL version and blue for NTSC.

I've replaced the disc drive since the PAL one is refusing to read CD-R's, could i correct this problem or is the drive just wasted?

[amigadave]

Post or send some pictures of the expanding caps inside the CD32.

This goes for anyone..if you need chips/caps replaced on your old Amiga stuff let
me know Im am very handy with da iron..(labor is free) you pay for shipping both
ways and parts!!

Rich
ny

Nice offer Rich, I will keep it in mind if I ever need that kind of service and can't find some one closer to home.