Faulty RGB Laser Projector | Can I FIX it ?

[@rickoneill4343]

Your knowledge never ceases to amaze me. With every video you demonstrate great skill and patience. I've worked with a lot of techs over 20 years and follow a lot of repair youtube channels. You by far have impressed me the most in how you calmly resolve things. Keep up the great work!

[@BuyitFixit]

Wow, thank you!

[@DigiLab360]

Absolutely fascinating. Didn't realize debugging electronics could have me hanging off the edge of my seat. Thanks for sharing and you earned another subscription.

[@BuyitFixit]

Thanks so much DigiLab 👍Check out my video on the FLIR camera, or the ultrasound, or reverse engineering solar inverter software to work out the algorithm for the service password 😂👍

[@Andreas_Straub]

I was amazed about your very creative approach to this problem. Especially the last step with removal of the storage chip and the laser rewiring was a real risk, which turned out to work. Gratulation!

[@BuyitFixit]

Thanks Andreas 👍🙂

[@momak1986]

I love these videos, not just basic repairs, but also hacks/mods. Unbelievable...true understanding of electronics and reverse engineering. Keep bringing great content! You have my full support!

[@BuyitFixit]

Thanks momak1986! 👍👍 You're going to find next Saturday's video great then! 😂😂😂

[@momak1986]

Can't wait, I am already doing a marathon on all your videos so ...😆

[@carltonlane8931]

I’m,enjoying these videos,I find them fascinating,fixing broken stuff has always made me happy,I know my limitations,programming,I’m out,but I enjoy you talking though your work,well done.

[@BuyitFixit]

Thanks 👍

[@theoldbigmoose]

Incredible diagnosis and repair

[@BuyitFixit]

Thanks 👍

[@luckywetland]

That was literally a jaw dropping repair/mod video. I LOVE IT

[@BuyitFixit]

Thanks 👍Yes I've done a few good fixes like this 👍🙂

[@luckywetland]

@@BuyitFixit Awesome 😃I'm catching up watching the previous videos. KZbin algorithms worked well for the first time haha

[@ibrahimkocaalioglu]

That was a serious hack. Well done. You solve problems like Sherlock Holmes. ❤

[@BuyitFixit]

😂😂😂Thanks 👍

[@MrEwool]

Wow just wow, incredible what you can do, I love how much you go into the details of things, and find solutions that no one would have thought of, I tip my hat to you good sir.

[@BuyitFixit]

Thanks Morten! Got a good one coming next week.. not a repair but ends up s repair as well...

[@MrEwool]

@@BuyitFixit looking forward to seeing that 😊

[@SkySky-zr3bt]

You've lost me completely when you made cut onto pcb and then wire. Oh man! Thanks for sharing your knowledge!

[@BuyitFixit]

The firmware I managed to get hold of had a slightly different pin arrangement, so instead of having to try and reverse engineer the firmware to suit the board it was easier to make a few small modifications on the board to suit the firmware.

[@SkySky-zr3bt]

@@BuyitFixit Thanks for your explanation. (I think I have to see this clip again).

[@TYGAMatt]

Quickly becoming my favourite channel for electronic repair. Top class, well thought out 'bodges' to get stuff working. I tip my hat to you Sir.

[@BuyitFixit]

Thanks Matt, much appreciated 👍

[@JB-ux5yb]

Remarkable! Auf die Idee, die FW zu flashen wäre ich nie gekommen. Great

[@BuyitFixit]

Vielen Dank! Sehr geschätzt!

[@Mymatevince]

Amazing work Mick!!!

[@BuyitFixit]

Thanks Vince! Oh I bought one of those zeppelin speakers with a remote.. faulty of course :) also have a faulty google mini so might see what I can come up with. Not looked at either yet tho.

[@chrisbartlett6022]

I have no clue as to how you work this stuff out. From what I can see you have literally backward engineered the card to suit the Github data you found. Amazing.

[@BuyitFixit]

Thanks Chris. Wait until you see next Saturday's video 😂😂👍👍

[@chrisbartlett6022]

@@BuyitFixit Is that the ultrasound? Looking forward to it, I was a Paramedic so that will be interesting, seeing what makes them tick.

[@BuyitFixit]

Yes, and the software was also interesting 😂😂😂😂

[@dash8brj]

Thats pretty impressive - load a different firmware, rip off the flash memory, re-route the modulation pins of the lasers, and boom, it works! If the "show" files are in .ild format, you can find heaps more on the internet. ILD stands for ILDA, its the standard protocol for talking to laser, although your's does lack the 25pin ILDA connection. Nice work!

[@BuyitFixit]

Thanks! 👍👍Yes the files are in .ild format. I didn't know about the 25 pin connector thanks for letting me know.

[@marcyd2007]

Nice fix lad, good to see someone going the extra mile with the micro controller. Nice one for keeping Geordie's in the KZbin spot light 🙂

[@BuyitFixit]

Thanks Marc 👍

[@berlinberlin4246]

A link to the GitHub repro, in the description would be helpful to find the video via Google in the future

[@BuyitFixit]

Thanks for the suggestion! Added.

[@neiltheplayer]

That was interesting Mick but it seems (to me) to be a pretty low end laser projector. Images are okay but it appears to be pretty difficult to program. For what you paid, well worth it for the experience. Thank you for posting it

[@BuyitFixit]

Cheers Neil, yes I thought it was an interesting item, but low end of the market as you say.

[@maicod]

neat and smart thought out conversion to the non internal flash version !

[@BuyitFixit]

Thanks 👍

[@allenrusselljr]

Outstanding mod ! How people can thunbs down this or any of your videos, it blows my mind. Do you resell the devudes you repair or do you have an absolute kick ass man cave?

[@BuyitFixit]

Thanks Allen 👍If I posted "cheese" people would dislike it because it wasn't "chalk" it's just the internet I'm afraid. Generally I get positive feedback. I haven't sold any of the stuff I've bought I really need to have a clear out though!

[@Popeyes66]

Outstanding Fix. I'm sending you a virtual Pint .

[@BuyitFixit]

Thanks 👍It really hit the spot! 😂😂

[@joeywun]

Enjoy your video so much. Learn a lot from you! Great work!

[@BuyitFixit]

Awesome, thank you!

[@johnhousego9218]

Excellent diagnostics really enjoyed that thanks.

[@BuyitFixit]

Thanks John! Got another good video out on Saturday. Not quite a repair but it ends up being a repair and some reverse engineering!

[@elsaarmstrong-zp6ng]

A friend of mine used to work for a sound and lighting company about 20+ years ago! He showed me a laser setup that used a argon vacuum glass laser unit! It had a power supply about the size of a electric cooker and needed a cold water supply to keep it cooled! The running water came out warm when the laser was on! It needed a 240 volt ac 40 amp power source! It’s output was about 2000 volt dc and was very dangerous ! The transformer in it was massive and the whole thing must have been nearly a ton! It was full of safety switches and capacitors about the size of beer cans! There was a water cooled heat sink with rows of 2n3055 power transistors! He said it would cut out if 25% of the transistors failed! Before he said anything I said no i am not touching the bloody thing! He said he only opens it when it’s complexly isolated from the mains and discharges all the capacitors! 2000 volt 40 amp mixed with water sounds like a death trap to me!😂 It shows how much technology has moved on with that wee box you are working on! Of course it’s tiny diodes produce the same result nowadays! Very interesting video and as I have said already you must have the patience of a saint!😂 Fraser

[@BuyitFixit]

Cheers mate 👍Sounds like one hell of a powerful laser😂😂🙂I did have a glass He-Ne laser tube that I pulled out of an old laser disc player back in the day which was around 10" long, although that didn't have rows of 2n3055's or beer can caps in it 😂

[@elsaarmstrong-zp6ng]

Aye it was for outside shows only in parks etc ! the beams had not to be shown near people’s eyes, only shown up in the air or castle walls etc Lasers had classifications but i can’t remember what they were! Some of the large printers I used to work on had lasers that could damage your eyes, they were full of safety switches and shutters! I think they worked on infra red as you could net see the beam but I remember one m/c where the photo drum motor failed and there was a burnt line across the drum front to back as it had scanned the same area thousands of times before the safety circuits cut off the power to the beam! I was very careful working on these machines after that!!😅Fraser

[@yvesrochet3288]

Beautiful work, as usual. A question remain for me: after fixing a device, do you put it on a shelf (a Big One in this case)or on Ebay or a gift? 🙂

[@BuyitFixit]

Thanks 👍Good question. A lot of the stuff I've bought I've still got. I may Ebay some of the items in the future, and some of the items I have a use for I'll be keeping🙂

[@jansmit4628]

Instead of cutting the 3 traces, you could lift the resistors (tombstone them) and connect the wires to to floating side.

[@BuyitFixit]

I didn't think of that, cheers for commenting 🙂

[@andymouse]

Great thinking and very enjoyable fix !....cheers.

[@BuyitFixit]

Thanks 👍

[@ralphj4012]

Well done on the workaround. At a guess, the SD card is only supposed to have programs / on it and not the manual which ended up in the flash. I assume that you didn't have access to the firmware source, as then you could have changed the GPIO allocation. As you know, use caution with those mains connectors, although the cables were sleeved the connector rivets were exposed.

[@BuyitFixit]

Thanks Ralph. Unfortunately no source code and also the chip was read protected and had some copy protection in the firmware too! Based on the unique chip data. That was why there was another file to upload to the chip to bypass it. Good point on the connector. I didn't notice that. The chip shouldn't be copying anything into flash. It should just read the file into ram or read the sd on the fly. I'm wondering if the copy protection was somehow triggered and it bricked itself or it tried to update itself (if it has an update mechanism). Guess we'll never know but it was definitely an odd one! 👍👍👍

[@ralphj4012]

@@BuyitFixit Yes, apologies, I meant copied something incorrect into ram, not flash

[@jakeandrus690]

🤯 well done sir!

[@BuyitFixit]

Thanks Jake 👍

[@jamiejoker118]

Well done mate impressed as normal Keep at it.

[@BuyitFixit]

Thanks 👍

[@ioannisbalouktsis962]

Hi I love your videos. I would like to ask you the j link jtag is also suitable for emmc also? Kind regards

[@BuyitFixit]

Thanks! No Jlink is just more of a JTAG / SWD debugger. I dont think it supports EMC.

[@gilbertcuoco]

Nice! You can't find the correct firmware, so you just change the io's of the mcu to match the one of this firmware. Brilliant😁👍

[@BuyitFixit]

Yes 😂😂😂😂

[@DB25k]

Absolutely stunning wow, great video

[@BuyitFixit]

Hey thanks Dark byte 2k 👍

[@mazafreno]

😮😮😮😮 Unbelievable!!!! Best channel for me. Great!!!!!!

[@BuyitFixit]

Wow, thanks!👍

[@lutsevyat]

Hello. Do you have an electronic circuit of the Milwaukee M12-18SC charger? I can 't find her anywhere .

[@BuyitFixit]

Sorry, unfortunately not. I've not looked at one of those either. I've only looked at a couple of the 6 bay m18 chargers.

[@MegaTerryWogan]

Loving the vids mate - always loved looking inside things from a kid - like yourself. Would you have ant recommends for online courses for electronics - quick run thru basics and then onto more complex...? Wor missus is from Whitley Bay btw - you must be close to there 😂😂

[@BuyitFixit]

Whitley Bay.. Well that brings back memories! I used to work in a few of the arcades repairing the video games / fruit machines etc back in the late 80's. We live in Cumbria now. I did a couple of tutorials on testing a few basic components etc if that helps?

[@larrybud]

So what do you think the root cause was? Just a corrupted flash on the processor? Was there no way to change the code to the new flash to change the pinouts instead of doing a hardware mod?

[@BuyitFixit]

Yes, corrupted flash.You could have changed the code, but that would have required a lot more time and effort as you would need to find a decompiler first, and then try and figure out where all of the I/O pins were assigned and used, modify them, then test / debug etc.

[@larrybud]

@@BuyitFixit Gotcha. I didn't look at the github to see if the source code was included or not.

[@ncooper8438]

What was the flash memory chip for, in the end it wasn't needed?

[@BuyitFixit]

I think it was so store some built in images and presets in case you didn't have an SD card. It wasn't used on the firmware I flashed it with.

[@wisher21uk]

Excellent fix thanks

[@BuyitFixit]

Glad you enjoyed it! 👍👍👍 got another good one like this next Saturday!

[@wisher21uk]

@@BuyitFixit look forward to it 😊

[@PatrickLabelle]

25:12 We don't have the same taste for music by the sound it! 😂

[@BuyitFixit]

Nothing like a good screwdriver beat 😂😂😂😂

[@wherami]

you are one of the best steampunk hackers.

[@BuyitFixit]

Lol. Wait until you see the video next Saturday! 8k ultrasound scanner.. Mwahahahaha...

[@wherami]

@@BuyitFixit ohhh cant wait!

[@BuyitFixit]

Hopefully it goes down well.. technically not a repair although I do end up fixing a small issue.. with added comedy.. and a debugger :)

[@JAyjofirst]

Wow very nice Video ❤

[@BuyitFixit]

Thanks 👍

[@labiadh_chokri]

Nice hack, u could do the modification in the firmware if u finde the source code and the compilateur.

[@BuyitFixit]

Thanks 👍Yes you would just need to adjust the I/O pins in the software. A lot harder to do if no source code is available and you have to reverse engineer the binary..

[@TerryDeSimone]

*** - After 3 minutes in.. I would guess it was either the microcontroller firmware.. or the flash file he loaded.. one got corrupted... there has to be some type of factory reset procedure? Also that extra socket on the microcontroller board... 4 pins (RX, TX, GND, 3.3V).. could be UART for flashing... [EDIT]: After watching half way.. i was correct.. also the 'Adobe' in the .bin file you read, was from the .pdf file that was on the SD card.. that is how he corrupted it.. ur prolly only supposed to have the 1 file ur writing on the SD card.. [ALSO], his firmware says it's to add USB streaming.. do you know the format & how to create the files used to display? is it a certain program that creates the animations to show?

[@BuyitFixit]

I did search for firmware at the time but didn't find any except on Max's github. I did find the program to create animations. I used the original firmware from Max's Max's github, he wrote his own version that's on there too that does the USB streaming.

[@TerryDeSimone]

@@BuyitFixit Love the vids, keep it up...

[@oldguy8177able]

amazing

[@BuyitFixit]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@jose83771]

I guess fixing is not only replacing parts I guess I have a long way to go if I want to learn how to fix electronics lol

[@BuyitFixit]

I think this one was a bit of an exception. Most people wouldn't have repaired it like I did and would have just replaced the board, and not everyone has the same tools or skills. I've messed about with microcontrollers and code for years. Luckily I got working code or it would have been a replacement board or a no fix so don't be too hard on yourself! 👍👍

[@TerryDeSimone]

*** - at 26:39, top left corner.. looks like blown resistor... then at 28:57, top right side.. it looks like the capacitor got blown off & you can still see part of it..

[@BuyitFixit]

Thanks Terry, 26:39 is just the coating on the capacitor, you can see it better at 26:50. 28:57 yes there is a capacitor missing. I think it's damage from the previous owner. It's just a decoupling capacitor that goes to the IR remote sensor.

[@TerryDeSimone]

@@BuyitFixit No Problem.. just thought I would let ya know.. I wasn't sure if that cap was important or not..

[@BuyitFixit]

@TerryDeSimone No worries 🙂Thanks Terry 👍

[@rory9174]

Awesome.

[@BuyitFixit]

Thanks 👍

[@wherami]

overwrote the firmware. brutal.

[@BuyitFixit]

Yes. Still not sure how it managed that.

[@oliverer3]

​​@@BuyitFixitI wonder if it was meant to copy the contents of the SD card onto that flash chip and some firmware bug caused it write to internal rather external flash. The way the memory/storage control peripherals work on these MCUs I could definitely see something like that happening.

[@BuyitFixit]

I think the controller thought the pdf file was a firmware update and overwrote the firmware with the pdf. I did see something after making this on an Aliexpress listing saying do not insert the SD card without formatting it first or something so I guess they became aware of the issue.

[@wherami]

@@BuyitFixit gotta love those kind of bugs lol

[@wherami]

Or as it seems lately that's how a variety of microcontrollers do their imaging. Its a little sloppy to do that but it's a programming choice lol

[@peterdavey2767]

WOW

[@BuyitFixit]

Thanks Peter Davey!

[@douhacomcastnet]

Woot! Another UltraEdit user. . .

[@BuyitFixit]

Yes used it for years. It's quite an old version something like v10 😂😂👍

[@douhacomcastnet]

Me too, before I retired I used to keep it up to date.

[@599miata]

Too deep for me for the training that I got, mate.

[@BuyitFixit]

Yes, I've messed about with computers and software for years. I don't think a lot of people can do some of these things.

[@Harfinou]

As I heard "it worked fine, until I put the SD card in", I thought instantly "firmware overwritten" (probably by the previous owner, who made some mistake).

[@BuyitFixit]

Yes. I've had a few devices with firmware corruption. The Moanocaster I looked at and my latest video too!

[@SX939]

COULD HAVE JUST CHANGED CALLS IN PROGRAM

[@BuyitFixit]

Would have probably been the i/o port numbers not calls, but the I'd have to install a disassembler and figure out what registers did what for that particular chip.

[@stevenbliss989]

you touched the finely balanced and clean beam splitting mirrors! ....THE HORROR! :) ..but seriously, a NO NO!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@AlbertDongler]

If you had access to the source code you may have changed the port pins over to the existing laser connections you have, rather than removing the flash? Either way - very nice fault finding! 🙂

[@BuyitFixit]

Thanks. Yes changing the i/o pins in the software would have been easier, another way would have been to put the code in a disassembler and edit it manually, I've done things like that in the past too. Most recently was where I needed a service password for a solar inverter I repaired and the company said it was out of warranty and buy a new one. I show all of the emails in the video I did about it.