So many broken parts on this Sound Blaster!

[@maxtornogood]

Sacrificing one card to save another is never a bad result. Better than 2 dead cards!

[@tony359]

Yes - and I honestly think that EMU is gone! Thanks!

[@SockyNoob]

Exactly

[@1337Shockwav3]

@@tony359 If the EMU is gone, perfectly fine approach. Otherwise borrowing parts which can still be obtained easily is fine as a temporary fix.

[@tony359]

indeed - I have plenty of through hole parts but not a lot of SMD. SMD are cheap... in large quantities. If I need 10 from Ebay, they're not cheap :)

[@1337Shockwav3]

@@tony359 eBay also has become a lottery, with parts sometimes being either expensive or relabeled china frauds. I've had that when I needed a THT TDA1543 of which I borrowed an SMD variant off a SB16 temporarily in the end til I finally got a good one at a moderate price.

[@bitsundbolts]

AWEsome!

[@tony359]

ahahah yes!

[@harvaldi]

Great repair. Nice to see some PC part on you channel again.

[@tony359]

ahah, everybody was tired of Apples! Some pears for a change! :) Thanks!

[@JovinRepairs]

The echo was cool. I was thinking of an old school LAN party with everyone blasting out their best speakers to E1M1

[@tony359]

ahahaha yes, I remember that. One was done via parallel ports with one of my friends :) When NICs were too expensive!

[@jefftoll604]

Well done.. Glad to see the card is working again.

[@tony359]

Thanks!

[@walter7671]

My first VGA video card was a Trident 8900 with 1 MB of RAM. I got it as a gift because it didn't work, but I managed to repair it. At that time, many people were using Hercules monitors and, at most, VGAs with 256K of RAM, so it was an expensive card. This repair made me nostalgic, I had a Sound Blaster 16, then an AWE64. Interesting work.

[@tony359]

thanks! Mine was a basic S3 and I could only do 640x480 because that was the max resolution my monitor would take... :)

[@joelkist6493]

Very satisfying video... keep up the good work and thank you for sharing your knowledge and success.

[@tony359]

Thank you for watching!

[@Very_Dark_Engineer]

I have 3 PCI Sound Blasters and I discovered for myself lets name it a "contact surface disease" All those sound cards have had spontanuos problems in initialisation at the system boot, but after couple times of careful inspection and cleaning they all started to work without problems. By the eye is no corosion on the contacts, nothing, but with magnification tool (60x) some layer of transparent material became visible, like a layer of dried oil. Cards from 2001 and 1999, came from Italy

[@tony359]

Too bad electronics is not like wine :) They don't get better with age!

[@rogert151]

i had the same problem, sometimes the card will be detected but the PCIID will be wrong so the driver wont find it, washing or cleaning with alcohol fixed it

[@Very_Dark_Engineer]

Nice comparison, i agree

[@Very_Dark_Engineer]

@@rogert151 Nice to hear, so thats quite a common problem i see

[@iainansell2139]

Great repair video Tony, the beginning made me laugh when you were having trouble trying to find a working mother board lol You got there in the end 😂😂😂

[@tony359]

it was a bit frustrating! :D I wanted to test that card but everything was failing before my eyes! :D

[@pvc988]

That's not cooling gap. That's magic smoke pressure relief valve stuck in open position.

[@tony359]

indeed! I just needed to put the smoke back in and seal it :)

[@gordonwelcher9598]

This man has a amazing neck.

[@coffee115]

That ISA tool is an amazing product for small cases. Thank you!

[@tony359]

You're welcome - bear in mind it's not designed to permanently house cards so the card will end up at a random height. I thought it for diagnosis only. But if that works for you, then happy days! :)

[@r4z4m4t4z]

good good job! chair dancing was great

[@tony359]

ahahah thanks!

[@joaoc_PT]

memory chip can be swapped out by a larger capacity one by the use of the 2 additional pads to increase memory to 2M or 4M (did that to mine)

[@tony359]

Hi - yes, I did that on the "spares" AWE64. It "worked" (you should be able to see in the footage from windows) but only "noise" was coming out when playing synthesized music...

[@RetroTinkerer]

Hello ​@@tony359Nitton Åttiofyra have a video detailing the upgrade from 512kb to 2MB maybe there is some clue as to why it didn't work in your case. Nice repair BTW, thanks for sharing and happy holidays!

[@tony359]

I think it did work - the original RAM was shorted. I replaced it and at some point I could see 2MB under Windows. But now the EMU is heating up too much. I think the EMU is shot, I can test the DRAM and it works. Thanks though!

[@artursmihelsons415]

Excellent video and great job, as always! 👍 I still have my old P1 overclocked audio recording PC with SB16 and 80GB hard drive. That sound Blaster was great and expensive card, back in days. I didn't change it, because I didn't liked background noises from modern PCs and cards.. 😂 Only, from sitting in shelf, that PC developed an random hung up issues.. Looks like I need to sort it out for nostalgic purposes.. 😂

[@tony359]

I very much understand those nostalgic reasons!

[@vojtechadame5860]

Amazing work, by the way 100nF capacitors are probably the most common value you'll ever come across. Because typically, if you have noise problems, the simplest answer is: Just put in some 100nF capacitor and see the noise, it should mostly go away.

[@tony359]

Yes, I was checking the caps behind a Pentium II CPU and... 100nF. I might get a bag :) Thanks!

[@RubyRoid07]

Nice one, Tony! Great job! Appreciate your videos!

[@tony359]

Thanks!

[@cromulence]

The AWE series are a fantastic series of cards. There's a module player for them to play MOD files using the EMU8000 wavetable on the card. Also do note that despite having the Value moniker, these cards really are great quality - the value only received that name after the AWE64 Gold came out. It's the same as the old AWE64.

[@tony359]

Any Sound Blaster was silly expensive back then. I really couldn't afford one but obviously they would work with everything. Then Windows came out and compatibility was not an issue anymore as long as drivers were there...

[@eddiehimself]

I got an AWE64 Gold a few years ago because when I added up the cost of a "value" AWE64 and a memory board to increase the RAM to what the Gold has, it turned out to be the same price lol.

[@tony359]

ahah, marketing :)

[@minombredepila1580]

It is crazy how much pressure and banging that poor card has suffered. So good that Tony (the resuscitator) is here to revert it. Such a good SB. I wonder if your musical expertise would bring one of these days a way to test the output of the real Yamaha chip and compare it with its clones. This would make a good video, though (wink,wink).

[@tony359]

I guess it just needs a large bin full of old electronics parts :) And maybe a heavy AT case :)

[@catriona_drummond]

that is some damage, seems this card has been through an earthquake.

[@tony359]

yes! The usual bin full of old computers I guess :)

[@rogiervanl]

Enjoyed it for sure, now searching for an AWE64 too 😅

[@tony359]

ahah - I know the feeling! :)

[@ste76539]

The first trace you repaired - there was another that although it didn't look completley broken, it did appear only barely connected via a very thin sliver. I think I'd be reinforcing that one too, unless it may just be compressed in that spot giving the appearance of more damage under the microscope? It's hard to tell on video.

[@tony359]

Probably it wouldn't hurt to reinforce it though I added solder so that adds thickness. Thank you!

[@Sir-Dexter]

nice

[@decoydaniel]

I had a very similar situation with an AWE64 with physical damage and wouldn't work with DMA 1. It ended up being a break between the ISA pad for DMA 1 and the main chip. Getting it soldered together again fixed it for me. Might be worth tracing it back to the chip and see if you can find a similar problem.

[@tony359]

Oh, I didn't think of checking DMA1 again - are those hardwired to the southbridge??

[@decoydaniel]

@@tony359 Sorry, I might not have been clear enough. It wasn't a motherboard issue, it was a break on the sound card. I looked up the pinout for the ISA slot, found out which pin is for DMA 1 on the sound card's edge connector, and then traced it back to the main AWE 64 chip. They didn't have continuity, so I found the break and fixed it. I'm not sure how the DMA lines are wired on a motherboard, sorry. :)

[@tony359]

I think I understood that - I didn't know there was a "DMA 1" pin on the ISA socket - hence it goes to the southbridge. Cool.

[@fronskedeboer]

I see another video coming: I fixed my SSocket7 and Slot1 board!

[@tony359]

ahaha - well the Slot 1 board is on the bench now :)

[@dazamad]

Were the capacitors 0201 size? I have trouble with these sizes using an iron. Nice repair

[@tony359]

I think they're bigger, I can't imagine how to deal with 0201! :)

[@garymucher4082]

Breaks on any electronic part is okay IF the magic smoke didn't escape... Hard to put that magic smoke back in... Thumbs Up!

[@tony359]

ahah good point!

[@fft2020]

What I would love PCB Way to have was replacement brackets lithe the one missing on your awe64.... metal would be great but 3d plastic should be ok too. Can you put in the good word Tony?

[@tony359]

I'm sure there are 3D print projects around. Metal would be great too.

[@FloatingFatMan]

I loved the old AWE cards BUT that default reverb really annoyed me! :p Great video, now go fix those motherboards (and show us! ;) )

[@tony359]

ah interesting - could that be disabled via mixer? One MB is already "fixed". you'll see in a future video! :)

[@FloatingFatMan]

@@tony359 You should be able to yes, though it's been a few decades since my AWE32! ;)

[@eddiehimself]

How come you're using an ATX to AT power adapter when you've got ATX power connectors on those Socket 7 boards?

[@tony359]

because all retro boards have AT, not all have ATX and sometimes you need to change jumpers to make them ATX. Also I like I have a switch on the AT adaptor to power up - so I don't need to find the "Power On" pins on different boards. It's simpler :)

[@TheRepeatloader]

i figure--- a retro hamburger might be worth putting into it to restore... :D

[@esc2dos]

Good Sir, could you please post a link to your 16bit 90 degree riser card, I can't seem to find you when I search on the projects page. So glad you created this, Grazie. Edit: I searched for "90 degrees" and I found it. just needed to search for the project not the creator, my mistake.

[@tony359]

Oh sorry, I forgot to add the links to the description! I'll do that now!

[@esc2dos]

@@tony359 Is there some way to order just the PCB you designed? I can't seem to find a way to prevent them from assembling the item. I was hoping to solder on my own 16 bit slots. Don't want to trouble you, very much appreciate you making this public.

[@tony359]

no trouble of course. I thought it was just the PCB, the BOM is for your reference. I tried adding the PCB to the cart and it only shows a PCB in the following page. Alternatively you can download the gerber file and do whatever you want with it! :) Let me know if you see the same thing on your end!

[@esc2dos]

@@tony359 You're absolutely right, it is just the PCB, I didn't realize the size of the PCB increases the price. Everything I've had made by them was much smaller. Look forward to building this. Appreciate your time.

[@tony359]

amazing! Please do let me know any feedback - I am not a PCB designer! :)

[@worroSfOretsevraH]

Any update on the brocken PS3 with the delid gone bad? Are you going to make a video on repairing the cut traces?

[@tony359]

Thanks for asking, it's an old video! I tried multiple times and I couldn't make it. I haven't given up but had they been 2-3 traces, I could have made it. They're too many and too close. I can do one but I can't do the adjacent one without moving the previous one... Everything is the size of a microbe. There's a reason why I like working on vintage electronics :) It's in a box though...

[@snakezdewiggle6084]

G'day Tony.! Oh no. Don't tell me the Shuttle mobo is dead.!? IIRC, some Sound Blaster cards would work, and some created boot failures, on the Shuttle. I do remember, up grading the PSU caused problems. I probably should rebuild it. What cpu are you using.?

[@tony359]

That Shuttle is weird! No, I was testing it without the SB. You'll see it again in my next video! :) I tried a couple of CPUs, I think one was a "vanilla" pentium.

[@asanjuas]

What happens with those two boards that is strange!!

[@tony359]

I'm testing them a bit more now - you'll see them in my next video :)

[@asanjuas]

@@tony359 ok but... That is weird.😲

[@Constantin314]

dancing while repairing a sound card is the way it's meant to be! :) Tony, in your experience, when you use USB 2 UART, you connect the wires like this: Tx (from USB) to Rx (from the broken part) and Rx to Tx?

[@tony359]

Tony's party dance :) I never know how to connect them - if it doesn't work, swap them around :)

[@JamesPotts]

That's generally the case (unless a part is mislabeled). At work, we still use serial ports _a lot_ on our embedded products.

[@Constantin314]

@@JamesPotts thank you, James, it makes sense but i wanted to know for sure

[@menotyou8369]

Scappers are just evil.

[@SianaGearz]

Hold on hold on. The emu8011 is just a sample ROM isn't it, it's not a DSP. You might be able to clone it with some eeprom chip of suitable persuasion, or maybe you don't need it at all, just remove it build yourself a RAM board that you put on the card, and load any of the larger soundbanks which don't use ROM samples? You can inspect soundbanks in Viena to see whether they use any ROM samples or not. Also to check whether it receives voltage which is suitable for it and non-ripply and whether there's maybe some confused signals on the pins, and i suppose you can measure out possible latch-up on the IC pin drive circuits as well, to see what's up.

[@tony359]

I'm sure anything is doable, not sure it's a project I want to embark though, it feels a bit beyond my skills! It's also a very cheap card though I appreciate those things are not done for money :)

[@SianaGearz]

@@tony359 RAM add-on board for AWE64 is absolutely not the tiniest bit beyond your skills, there's ancient open source hardware designs around that use 72pin SIMM, to use as-is or as a starting point. Furthermore 2MB RAM can be soldered directly on the AWE64 board instead of 512K, you just need to change the strap resistors. It has been described. Unfortunately producing new SBK compatible with DOS the only software i can think of is Awave Studio, not sure how buggy it is. It also appears that most SBK files use some ROM samples. It can however import the ROM samples from the well known SF2 file, or maybe even convert it back to SBK. When using the card from Windows with SF2 files, perhaps it's not so dire, but smaller size banks will be full of ROM samples. But i also think running 90s games from Windows 95-98 is totally fine and works well when you have an SB16 compatible ISA card like this. It's also definitely not beyond your skill to figure out as little of the ROM pinout as needed to see whether an experiment of replacing it with an eeprom would be safe (though potentially unsuccessful), or to try reading your existing ROM from a good card in your programmer.

[@tony359]

Maybe I misunderstood you - the other SB has 2MB indeed, I think you can see it from the Windows footage. I installed it and moved the resistors as you say. I had it working but any sound from the synthesizer was just "noise". The fact that the EMU is getting quite hot is telling me there is something wrong inside. It started with a shorted RAM.

[@SianaGearz]

@@tony359 Yeah could be that the ROM is pulling some data pins on the common memory bus up or down, latched up; or could be that it's not working at all and when ROM samples are read, you get random noise. I don't suppose there's any control information in the ROM, just sample data.

[@Bergi2000]

Yeah, nice relaxing for once... :-)

[@tony359]

Yes! But still fun with three faults - plus the caps!