Trying to FIX a Faulty E.T (The Extra-Terrestrial) Talking Book

[@dr_ned_flanders]

What I like about Vince's videos is you can see the thought process that he goes through to fix something. He goes from zero understanding to fully grasping how the thing works from simple experiments and he takes you with him. Great stuff.

[@Plan-C]

Honstely, I just love your style, enthusiasm and refusal to care if it is worth fixing lol...

[@Malsherz]

These items, even if they're technically not worth fixing financially. Definitely a good practice/learning project.

[@Jordyperson]

@@Malsherz And also fun to do

[@howtowithelizabeth7513]

He gets tons of money from ad revenue and views so it’s worth it

[@calzonemoto4651]

@@howtowithelizabeth7513 but you can tell, that even if he didn't have a YT channel, he'd still be taking things apart and doing this by himself. Yes, YT can make your hobby pay for itself, but he enjoys this. It's more then a job.

[@CTCTraining1]

Vince, you managed to extract far more joy out of fixing this toy than was ever experienced by the children. Thx for another interesting repair.

[@wjhjr1415]

I am so glad you followed through on this one. Very much fun. Love it when something gives you a "dose" of enthusiasm. Thank you.

[@supperslash1376]

The blob is called a "CHIP - ON BOARD (COB)". More or less it is a custom-designed/programmed microcontroller [CORE] that is connected directly to the board. Then it is sealed by a "blob" of epoxy, or silicone, or... whatever the manufacturer uses. It is cheaper than a standard Micro+programing. {as far as a manufacturing viewpoint goes.}

[@Malsherz]

I'd imagine it's some generic eeprom honestly, since the internals of these type of books probably don't vary all that much electronically and it would just require flashing the appropriate program/sound files on to it and attaching it to the board. I also say eeprom for the simple fact that if they do produce a surplus of chips with a specific program they could reprogram the chip for the next line of books.

[@richards7909]

As far as I understood, the COBs are produced already "programmed" and cannot be reflashed/reprogrammed. This is why you use a COB because it only contains what you specifically need. When you produce these in 10s of thousands, the savings over an off the shelf chip is quite significant

[@TDax]

The really cool thing about this fix is the simplicity of the circuit......you can actually work out what does what.....still a nice fix Vince....well done

[@JonPadfield]

Awesome! Just got off a gaming session with my mate to see an hour long Vince video! My evening just got even better!

[@eveangreen1871]

xd same!!!

[@TombstoneChris]

Okay so first off I have no idea how to repair things but I am so intrigued and entertained by your videos. And honestly you are helping me learn. the other day I was able to repair an HDMI chip on an Xbox One S. and you are the only one on KZbin who will upload a 1 hour video of trying to fix an old ET book. Most people see it as trash but you see it as a challenge. I can tell that fixing things is what makes you happy and you are in your element when doing so. And when you cheered after hearing ET I too clapped my hands cause I was excited as well. Thank you for making these videos.

[@skonkfactory]

Usually there's a mask rom area with the sound data in the chip under the epoxy. The chip is usually a semi-custom chip with a microcontroller and some chunk of ROM that was "programmed" at the time the chip was fabricated.

[@docbanzai]

Hey Vince. Great stuff as always. It’s really nice to see you getting back to doing more unusual stuff as it’s always a pleasure seeing your process, working out how these things work. I know they’re out of your comfort zone but you’ll always learn something new (as we all do from watching you. No criticism intended, always enjoy your vids. Thank you for the many hours of entertainment and, even better, thanks for teaching me so much. Cheers mate!

[@MyRegardsToTheDodo]

2002 was the 20 year anniversary of the movie, it was re-released back then.

[@Jaklas1979]

more phones less guns :(

[@Hounddoggy33]

Yes, with the cops carrying walkie-talkies instead of guns and some dialog changed because of 9/11

[@philsinclair]

I never get bored of these Fix It videos. The longer they are, the better 👍

[@MakingMovesMajor]

These videos help me learn problem solving and help me repair my items. Thanks!

[@QsTechService1]

That’s the state I live in Wisconsin .. To repair this type of panels I’ve used #2 lead pencil ✏️ ‼️ Works awesome as long as you have a surface to scribble the lead pencil to .. Nice video thanks for sharing

[@desideratkonglomerat5889]

Great job! Once you asked what kind of items we like to see most to be fixed: I prefer cheap and old stuff like that. Remember the speaker with the broken wire? Fixes with a minimum of equipment: brilliant!

[@mrjsv4935]

Nice fix. At one point (in the 1990's) I was repairing books in a library for a while, and this one would've been too challenging one for me, if this kind of electronic books existed at the time :D Recently bought E.T. in UHD 4K movie disc, my first one in this format to be watched with Xbox One.

[@anivarhain]

So nice to see you so happy when things start to work

[@davidsmith-ih2kk]

Dear Vince you can't really assume the carbon tracks are just conductors with no resistance after all what about potentiometers they have carbon tracks but with resistance added just a thought still love the tenacity and the videos you have a very positive attitude to fixing stuff and you get more and more intricate it's almost a change to watch you work on a dare I say it simple device Really it's just great to watch you work

[@elshrapnel]

HOORAY ITS WOOORKING!! Several minutes later: SHUT UP!

[@ConnerPlaysROBLOX]

Lmao El Thunder

[@ConnerPlaysROBLOX]

@El Thunder

[@andersmmvfc.8376]

Imagine that voice with that exact comment in 11 robotic vacuum cleaners as soon as it bumps in to some thing! Plz push for that!

[@jawmedia7575]

I love the unboxing at the beginning. Cut it nice and neat then rip the paper off viciously

[@TheSkaldenmettrunk]

So the Pad was actually faulty, alltough it wasn't looking broken at all. Love it. And I love E.T.

[@andersmmvfc.8376]

If you use coppertejp again clean the ends of the temp with ipa, to get the glue of the ends. Thank you for a wonderful video!

[@cyrustakem7993]

"excellent it is not working", haha, something i never thought i'd hear someone say

[@banditkeithkingofduelmonsters]

You should invest in some copper foil tape with double sided conductivity. I got a decent size roll for under 20 dollars years back for shielding guitar cavities and it works perfect. Although, I prefer shielding paint for repairing conductive pads on electronics.

[@Mymatevince]

Brilliant, I never knew it existed. I have just purchased a couple of rolls from Amazon. Hopefully it can be used in future fixes. Thanks for sharing this Bandit Keith. Nice one :-)

[@rays7437]

Very enjoyable and satisfying fix! Great video, Vince!

[@luckyduck3594]

I didn't think I would enjoy this one, and I didn't....I loved it!!

[@theantithesis1]

The infamous "special edition" of E.T. was released in 2002 where the guns were turned into walkie talkies. So, this book was timely.

[@robinnesting3811]

I adored this video! I absolutely loved how happy and excited you were when you made it work! Also, for anyone like me who gets over-interested in tools and equipment being used, I'm pretty sure the black and red screwdriver is from the Wirehard "62 in 1 Precision Computer and Smart Phone Repair Tool Kit" with the 56 bit driver kit! :)

[@MichaelBritt23]

Awesome video! I like the troubleshooting and discovering how those simple boards work.

[@wthornton7346]

First Rule of Electronics Club - Thou Shalt measure voltages. Nice work!

[@kevin46942]

Hi that was a very hard fix. ive watched your videos before. but this takes the cake. Ps i’ve lived in England for three years before moving back to Canada

[@TheSlysterII]

What a lovely fix video, nice one Vince.

[@NGDemonSlayer12]

It's funny how you say toward the end that it won't get many views, yet I watched the whole damn thing because it was so interesting!

[@nicholas790]

Egad! ET was such a wretched thing! I hated that movie! But you created an amazing experience for me! You made ET entertaining! And that's beyond amazing!!!

[@Rockythefishman]

Interesting fix on an interesting item. I was convinced it was the blob chip, glad I was wrong

[@logothaironsides2942]

ET! Every child wanted a BMX bike after watching that film! Those books were everywhere, some of them were Star wars with Anakin Skywalker as the main character. I think there were numerous versions. Very expensive if I remember rightly.

[@CLC-1000]

Great item. Nice to see a different product on your channel. 👍

[@coolelectronics1759]

once he starts probing the transistor Im like "oh shit! he has just established communication with E.T!" lol.

[@mcramp20]

Saw it first in summer of 83, great video!

[@maximwannabepro3021]

The chip is probably a rom, like the chips that have the games stored on the gameboy cartridges for example

[@TheCod3r]

"Excellent, it's not working, I'm pleased with that" 🤣🤣🤣 story of my life that bud, waking up daily just to find something broken so I can fix it 😅

[@zen707]

Never heard someone so happy with a fix :D

[@imzimansvideos]

Good work mte on my daughters book i used a pencil to go over the trace and wher it was broken went over alot with a normal pencil then covered with selotape seemed to do the job

[@paulsenior33]

I bought some metallic paint to repair the heated rear screen on a car I used to own. It came with an applicator brush and a paper template. Something like that may be less messy than the syringes.

[@StizzedOut]

You could of said screw it, its a stupid book, but you followed through, and percerviered, really enjoyed this one

[@ryan61384]

I know there wasn't a second movie but if you live in the US they had E.T. on some commercials for Comcast/ Xfinity. So that might be as close as you can get to a recent E.T. citing. Also they re-released the movie on DVD in 2000's with deleted scenes.

[@noice1071]

A professional would have put this in a bin. Only an amateur would have stuck with it. Well done 👍

[@MRooodddvvv]

Its just a ROM chip just like in cartridge connected to primitive DAC on data bus and counter in low part of address and high part of address is connected to buttons, So buttons act as bank selector and counter just goes trough addresses within bank. TADA ! You got a sound !

[@BlackSouLII]

Great work my friend, may your passion lead you to even bigger rewards ✌

[@will9603]

Your best fix to date!!!

[@Dave64track]

I remember watching ET on vhs that's was some time back great fix with the copper tape. Good fun to watch as you tested all the buttons with your tweezers good laugh. Keep up the good work Vince.

[@treenamcgowan7652]

Vince : Hello? E.T. : Hello I had a good laugh when every time you tried to speak E.T. kept talking and you told it to shut up. Haha.. I laughed probably more than I should have. Glad you managed to get it going again. 😊

[@bryanmora960]

“So, basically we got: 1,2,3,4,5,6... oh, sorry” I exploded laughing Great video Vince. As always. Thank you for you time making videos. Entertaining and awesome.

[@155andRising]

Hi Vince , I think the film got re-released a few times and new merch was released inline with those which might explain the late production date - ( edit ... according to Wikipedia it was first released in 1982 and then re-released in 1985 and 2002 to commemorate its 20th anniversary)

[@MyRegardsToTheDodo]

And 2002 got a digitally altered version, too, even though the edits weren't that extreme. The police guys in the scene where the kids escape on their bikes originally had rifles, those were edited out, instead they're holding walkie talkies now.

[@anthonynicholson8062]

@@MyRegardsToTheDodo Which Speilberg admitted he made a mistake, and for the 30th anniversary edition, changed it back and said he would never touch any of his older movies again.

[@155andRising]

MyRegardsToTheDodo I never noticed that , I’ll look out for it next time I watch it 👍

[@thelividhero]

Just wanted to say I tried the manual disc eject for my XBOX One. It worked perfectly. Paperclips work for it too, but it truly depends on the size

[@drgusman]

Those IC's usually have a mask rom, very similar to old game cartridges. Mask roms are called like that because after the IC waffer has been produced a photomask is used to "print" a conductive layer that interconects the rom cells and "program" the information. So basically that IC contains the necessary hardware to reproduce a waveform, an input controller (keyboard) and an empty mask rom, in this way it can be used for many designs, when the product has been decided the mask rom is programmed and it's ready for use.

[@GadgetUK164]

Seven is "shut up!!" lol =D Nice video lol! Same technique I used on keyboard membranes! You can get a really nice conductive paint that would have been ideal for that - you will see it soon! =D "ET fix it?" He meant to say "Vince fix it"!

[@TerroxNL79]

"Good, its not working!, I'm pleased with that" Exactly what I would think :)

[@JoshWeeks]

Ok, I was barely paying attention but I teared up a little when it started working

[@crowbarviking3890]

currently at ~36:50 and thinking.. "Wait a moment.. the capacitors are still lying on the mat"... makes me feel like being a child and watching DORA the explorer.. wanting to shout "there they are, there they are!" Anyhow, great vid so far :-)

[@thattiktokdad__]

Can relate😂😏

[@BikerBloke600]

Well Done Vince. Mick 👍🍻

[@christopherrawnsley6093]

Great video, I think your getting better at producing them . love the bit of humour added .

[@michaeld1879]

Great Video! Love the energy you have! Looking forward for more videos

[@UhrwerkKlockwerx]

I missed these trying to fix it vids

[@andersmmvfc.8376]

I get so happy when I hear Vince excited for real again! Thank you looking forward to that camera! Are your 30 day challenge coming soon? This covid thing is not making me sick but really fat ;)

[@vgplayersandhaters518]

its a great video and Fix. not to give two much up it was odd the failure on this and normally more fail again great video

[@DEmma1972]

I love the dry colour.

[@dottymagic]

Vince, Can you do a video explaining the terms and lingo you use? i.e shorts, going to ground, pads, rails etc ?

[@hadesmcc]

That was a spectacular fix.

[@durascvc7021]

Excellent, it's not working ... I'm pleased with that :) - me too Vince, me too!

[@lukedavis436]

Hi vince I have a recommendation for you on items like this that can't be soldered with heat... I have some Solder glue which is used in model kits and it's very good on cheaper objects and hard to reach areas

[@theannoyedmrfloyd3998]

E.T. 2 was basically a TV commercial which aired last year around the holidays.

[@mattwecrazy3236]

Great fix! Keep it up! (Can't believe I just spent an hour watching you fix a $5 book! Lol)

[@fyphfoko]

"E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is a 1982 American science fiction film produced and directed by Steven Spielberg, and written by Melissa Mathison." i remember it comming out around that time too, when i was too young

[@borisarchby2]

Another excellent video, in some vids we see reflows and in this he talking to ET.

[@AdamTheHammer]

i loved E.T as a kid, i cant help but feel that a 2nd film would spoil it though, kinda like the way atari did lol

[@MusicFurler]

I like E.T too when I was younger but. Never speak of that awful game. I tried it ok nice never again.

[@antonoudenhoven7573]

Nice one,i like the way you handle those challenges haha. I have a question,what do you do whit all the stuff you fix. Just curious lol

[@lo377ps]

Those chips will have mask ROMs in it. Thy will be programmed before mounting to the PCB. They can't be reprogrammed. Every book will have a different chip b

[@CarnageXtreme]

Personally I prefer fixes like this over the gaming console fixes. I like seeing new things, and learning how they work.

[@a2zme]

Awesome fix .. I was rooting for you cause I wanted to hear ETs voice again :)

[@retrocomputeruser]

Vince can I suggest to also add the Vietnamese dong to the currency conversion for the price you paid for items (just for entertainment purposes). Entertaining video you did for something I wouldn't have been remotely interested in buying. A nice change from console repairs also.

[@CaffeinatedTech]

Oh man, those sharp scissors do something to me. A sharp blade is so damn satisfying.

[@dallazthedutch714]

"I'm hoping something else might be wrong with it." Over an hour video? Lemme grab a beer😋

[@tyrese1044]

Loved the video Vince. I was wondering if you are going to try to fix dualshock 4 controllers anytime soon. I'd love to see you try again :)

[@Sortskjegg]

Why didn't you just fold the end of the strip to make contact to the other side? Like your videos!

[@DaMu24]

Ya know, I thought Vince would take a break, spend some time with a book. This was not what I had in mind.

[@serialblacknblu]

Don't know if anyone mentioned this but here in the states and insurance company I think it was did a commercial with E.T. and a grown up Elliot with his family. I'm sure you can find it on KZbin. (It was for Xfinity not insurance. Sorry)

[@alierengam1749]

which solder sucker do you use?

[@dodgydruid]

I got in my post today... a Poljot soviet quartz watch, a QQ Sequentia and a very chunky Sekonda mechanical... none work so today is going to be stripdown and find out on the Poljot.

[@WildDiamond07]

Kid: *reads book and dials 911* Also the Kid: What have I done?

[@danielkirk5660]

Vince - "They're the sort of batteries a lot of people wouldn't have in the house" Me - Proceeds to empty 3 kitchen drawers full of em

[@petermoore4056]

You could try thin strips of aluminuim foil, lined up in a row on kapton tape and stick them down over the broken tracks.

[@M1LAD81]

Instead of using silver paint, you can just fold over the copper tape on it's front conductive side and secure it with tape so it makes a good connection. Just another way.

[@Nelsonasdf]

What is the blue tablet thing you use to work on your electronics?

[@Jack-nb1zx]

I’ve only watched up until 48:40; however, I will watch the rest later. Have you tried adding carbon back to the traces? This might not work, but graphite has carbon in it.

[@monomcmoist7312]

What kind of laptop is the little one you're always using?

[@smashyrashy]

you're a genius sir!

[@SPEXWISE]

I'm that old too I even remember E.T. biscuits.

[@The1queencollector]

Still got my 1982 ET boxed soap lol, still smells of 80s nostalgia

[@whizzbits]

That's weird, still got mine as well. Was from Avon 😂

[@MrDbone75]

Good evening to you sir