gscartsw / gscartsw_lite / gcompsw switches support thread

[superg]

This bothered me when I looked at it earlier, but now that I've zoomed in with a camera it really looks pretty gross. Seems like the vcc and d- pins are touching. I'm not sure if that's relevant, since I only see traces to vcc and find, and the USB standard states that it can withstand the d pins shorted to either vcc or gnd indefinitely.
https://ibb.co/cFP1Gmb
https://ibb.co/N1Wdts0
https://ibb.co/s6XLVvj

Edit: just saw your post. I really appreciate you taking the time to help me despite that I bought this used. I I'll give what you wrote a go tomorrow morning and report back. I also promise not to keep pushing for help if these results don't look promising.

It looks like the previous owner tried to "refresh" solder on microusb connector. The connector is pretty scratched so he didn't have the right tools.
Even if power and data pins are shorted on there, don't worry about that, they are not connected on switch and power supply so this isn't why it doesn't work. Try my suggestions and let me know.

[superg]

Hi, I purchased your gscartsw a couple months ago and just got around to trying it out.

Everything works except my N64. It's the Borti4938 THS7374 RGB Amp w/ TTL C-sync out, and I'm using a C-sync cable from Retrocables.uk

I turn the N64 on, which is hooked up to my OSSC and normally works fine, but I get no picture. Do I need to move a dip switch? Any insight would be appreciated.

Try DIP-1 and see if that helps.
C-Sync N64 cable: make sure it doesn't have active sync cleaner inside.
I think I have N64 with Borti board and that works but my primary N64 has full Tim Wortington mod with deblur enabled (also works).

[daihashi]

This bothered me when I looked at it earlier, but now that I've zoomed in with a camera it really looks pretty gross. Seems like the vcc and d- pins are touching. I'm not sure if that's relevant, since I only see traces to vcc and find, and the USB standard states that it can withstand the d pins shorted to either vcc or gnd indefinitely.
https://ibb.co/cFP1Gmb
https://ibb.co/N1Wdts0
https://ibb.co/s6XLVvj

Edit: just saw your post. I really appreciate you taking the time to help me despite that I bought this used. I I'll give what you wrote a go tomorrow morning and report back. I also promise not to keep pushing for help if these results don't look promising.

It looks like the previous owner tried to "refresh" solder on microusb connector. The connector is pretty scratched so he didn't have the right tools.
Even if power and data pins are shorted on there, don't worry about that, they are not connected on switch and power supply so this isn't why it doesn't work. Try my suggestions and let me know.

Hope you're having a good 4th of July.

I have some pretty good news, the Altera lives! I used my SMD rework station and followed your instructions exactly as you wrote them. I did get some voltage drop as I added chips, but the LED blink/steady initialization still happened and the first 4 voltage drops were very minor, so I just recorded the results and continued. The last drop on L7 was a little more, but the LED still blinked and went steady. Only L3 produced significant voltage drop, and the LED would not come on.

My results are listed below. Now that I'm done with measurements, I've put L3 back in place for the time being so I don't lose it.

RESULTS:
-----------------
all removed = quick blink + steady LED, 4.98V
L5 = quick blink + steady LED, 4.95V
L9 = quick blink + steady LED, 4.9V
L4 = quick blink + steady LED, 4.9V
L8 = quick blink + steady LED, 4.89
L3 = No light, 1.8V (removed and continued to L7)
L7 = quick blink + steady LED, 4.63V

Sent from my GM1917 using Tapatalk

[superg]

I have some pretty good news, the Altera lives! I used my SMD rework station and followed your instructions exactly as you wrote them. I did get some voltage drop as I added chips, but the LED blink/steady initialization still happened and the first 4 voltage drops were very minor, so I just recorded the results and continued. The last drop on L7 was a little more, but the LED still blinked and went steady. Only L3 produced significant voltage drop, and the LED would not come on.

My results are listed below. Now that I'm done with measurements, I've put L3 back in place for the time being so I don't lose it.

RESULTS:
-----------------
all removed = quick blink + steady LED, 4.98V
L5 = quick blink + steady LED, 4.95V
L9 = quick blink + steady LED, 4.9V
L4 = quick blink + steady LED, 4.9V
L8 = quick blink + steady LED, 4.89
L3 = No light, 1.8V (removed and continued to L7)
L7 = quick blink + steady LED, 4.63V

Sent from my GM1917 using Tapatalk

Very good, so this is repairable!
So the culprit is U5 and U6 multiplexer chips. Order them here: https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/ ... ND/5994127
Both are Audio left and right channel multiplexers, this is classical supergun damage. Before ordering, make sure you have unsoldered L3 and L7 (this is pair that provides positive and negative voltage to multiplexers so you have to remove both) and use your switch, it should be functional but you will get no audio. After you replace both U5 and U6 with the ordered parts, solder back L3 and L7 and you will get audio .

[daihashi]

I have some pretty good news, the Altera lives! I used my SMD rework station and followed your instructions exactly as you wrote them. I did get some voltage drop as I added chips, but the LED blink/steady initialization still happened and the first 4 voltage drops were very minor, so I just recorded the results and continued. The last drop on L7 was a little more, but the LED still blinked and went steady. Only L3 produced significant voltage drop, and the LED would not come on.

My results are listed below. Now that I'm done with measurements, I've put L3 back in place for the time being so I don't lose it.

RESULTS:
-----------------
all removed = quick blink + steady LED, 4.98V
L5 = quick blink + steady LED, 4.95V
L9 = quick blink + steady LED, 4.9V
L4 = quick blink + steady LED, 4.9V
L8 = quick blink + steady LED, 4.89
L3 = No light, 1.8V (removed and continued to L7)
L7 = quick blink + steady LED, 4.63V

Sent from my GM1917 using Tapatalk

Very good, so this is repairable!
So the culprit is U5 and U6 multiplexer chips. Order them here: https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/ ... ND/5994127
Both are Audio left and right channel multiplexers, this is classical supergun damage. Before ordering, make sure you have unsoldered L3 and L7 (this is pair that provides positive and negative voltage to multiplexers so you have to remove both) and use your switch, it should be functional but you will get no audio. After you replace both U5 and U6 with the ordered parts, solder back L3 and L7 and you will get audio .

Excellent, thank you so much for the guidance on this. I'm not in a rush, so I'll just wait until the new multiplexers arrive.

Thank you again, and hope you have a great weekend.

Sent from my GM1917 using Tapatalk

[superg]

Excellent, thank you so much for the guidance on this. I'm not in a rush, so I'll just wait until the new multiplexers arrive.
Thank you again, and hope you have a great weekend.

Yeah, but the idea is, make sure everything else is functional before ordering these!

[daihashi]

Excellent, thank you so much for the guidance on this. I'm not in a rush, so I'll just wait until the new multiplexers arrive.
Thank you again, and hope you have a great weekend.

Yeah, but the idea is, make sure everything else is functional before ordering these!

Good point, looks like I got a little ahead of myself . I'll test in the morning and order the parts if everything works as expected. Thanks again!

Sent from my GM1917 using Tapatalk

[BReese8675]

Hi, I purchased your gscartsw a couple months ago and just got around to trying it out.

Everything works except my N64. It's the Borti4938 THS7374 RGB Amp w/ TTL C-sync out, and I'm using a C-sync cable from Retrocables.uk

I turn the N64 on, which is hooked up to my OSSC and normally works fine, but I get no picture. Do I need to move a dip switch? Any insight would be appreciated.

Try DIP-1 and see if that helps.
C-Sync N64 cable: make sure it doesn't have active sync cleaner inside.
I think I have N64 with Borti board and that works but my primary N64 has full Tim Wortington mod with deblur enabled (also works).

I just looked the the product page, it says it has a sync cleaner. Is there nothing I can do but order another cable?

[anakin]

Hi,

I guess I fried one of my gscartw 5.2 and would be happy about some advice. It happened, when configuring a new cable. After testing it the gscartw led went off and did not come back to live.

My soldering skills are ok, but I actually got no clue about the electronic part to troubleshoot it myself. I already did the procedure you suggested to daihashi and narrowed it down to L4. Leaving it out gave me always close to 5V on L1. Led stays on.

But now I am stuck on how to proceed.

[anakin]

Hi,

I guess I fried one of my gscartw 5.2 and would be happy about some advice. It happened, when configuring a new cable. After testing it the gscartw led went off and did not come back to live.

My soldering skills are ok, but I actually got no clue about the electronic part to troubleshoot it myself. I already did the procedure you suggested to daihashi and narrowed it down to L4. Leaving it out gave me always close to 5V on L1. Led stays on.

But now I am stuck on how to proceed.

[anakin]

Hi,

I guess I fried one of my gscartw 5.2 and would be happy about some advice. It happened, when configuring a new cable. After testing it, the gscartw led went off.

My soldering skills are decent, but I actually got no clue about the electronic part to troubleshoot it myself.

I already did the procedure you suggested to daihashi and narrowed it down to L4. Leaving it out gave me always close to 5V on L1. Led stays on.

But now I am stuck on how to proceed.

[superg]

I just looked the the product page, it says it has a sync cleaner. Is there nothing I can do but order another cable?

Still try DIP 1 if you haven't already. When you turn on N64, do you see the switch LED quick blink for a second or so?

[BReese8675]

I just looked the the product page, it says it has a sync cleaner. Is there nothing I can do but order another cable?

Still try DIP 1 if you haven't already. When you turn on N64, do you see the switch LED quick blink for a second or so?

Actually DIP 1 did the trick, thanks!

[superg]

Hi,

I guess I fried one of my gscartw 5.2 and would be happy about some advice. It happened, when configuring a new cable. After testing it, the gscartw led went off.

My soldering skills are decent, but I actually got no clue about the electronic part to troubleshoot it myself.

I already did the procedure you suggested to daihashi and narrowed it down to L4. Leaving it out gave me always close to 5V on L1. Led stays on.

But now I am stuck on how to proceed.

What do you mean by configuring new cable? What was the cable and what was the console?
L4, L8 pair are two power rails to RGBS multiplexers, all 4 of them (U1-U4). It could be any or all of them or it could be just sync multiplexer (U4). No way to know for sure but to make a reasonable guess which one requires understanding what happened.
Also, make sure you're comfortable unsoldering TSSOP cases (clean job requires smd rework station), there are tiny pins and if you never did that before there are high chances that you will mess it up.

[superg]

Actually DIP 1 did the trick, thanks!

Yeah, that is usually enough but you will get a bit more of an image shift due to two sync cleaning circuits. If that works for you, keep it like this, but if it doesn't, it's better to have a fully passive cable.

[daihashi]

Happy to report that it works as expected. I rotated the chips on L3 and L7, so that they were only on on pad, as opposed to disconnecting them completely (I'm notorious for misplacing tiny components).

Initially the top 1/8 of the screen was misaligned, but turns out I just needed to reseat the scart cables. As you can see, the image appears as expected.

https://ibb.co/XpkbZSZ

You mentioned that damage to the U5 and U6 multiplexers was stereotypical supergun damage. Before I saw your comment, I had intended to connect my consolized NeoGeo MV1-FZ to the gscartsw. It has a Supergun MAK STRIKE V3 attached to the Jamma connector.

Is there a safe way for me to use this with the gscartsw 5.2, or should I just avoid not entirely because supergun is inherently not safe to use with gscartsw?

Sent from my GM1917 using Tapatalk

[anakin]

Thank you for the quick answer.

I wanted to make an NESRGB cable w/ 75 ohm terminated sync for an av famicom and must have wired something wrong. At least I think that was the reason. I noticed the led not turning on some hours later.

The soldering/reflowing part is not the issue. I am confident doing it.

If U1-U4 are the most likely culprits I will order the parts and change them. Are there any other parts I should consider adding to the order? As usually shipping will be more expensive than the parts itself.

Thank you again for your help.

[superg]

You mentioned that damage to the U5 and U6 multiplexers was stereotypical supergun damage. Before I saw your comment, I had intended to connect my consolized NeoGeo MV1-FZ to the gscartsw. It has a Supergun MAK STRIKE V3 attached to the Jamma connector.

Is there a safe way for me to use this with the gscartsw 5.2, or should I just avoid not entirely because supergun is inherently not safe to use with gscartsw?

Supergun is a grey area. Basically my message is that I don't support it. If you're willing to try, make sure your supergun conversion have attenuated audio and everything is on your risk. People say that HAS supergun is properly designed, as of other conversions, there are so many that it's impossible to say for sure.

[superg]

I wanted to make an NESRGB cable w/ 75 ohm terminated sync for an av famicom and must have wired something wrong. At least I think that was the reason. I noticed the led not turning on some hours later.

The soldering/reflowing part is not the issue. I am confident doing it.

If U1-U4 are the most likely culprits I will order the parts and change them. Are there any other parts I should consider adding to the order? As usually shipping will be more expensive than the parts itself.

Thank you again for your help.

Most likely it's only multiplexer damage, don't order anything else.
Yeah, get 4pcs IC and just to make things easier start with replacing U4 first. Most likely sync multiplexer is dead. Then if it isn't the case, replace the rest.

[anakin]

Thanks again.

Can I move u5/u6 to u4 in order to test, if something else isn't working?

[superg]

Thanks again.

Can I move u5/u6 to u4 in order to test, if something else isn't working?

Yeah, you can potentially try that. You don't even have to move, just unsolder U4, solder back L4/L8 and see if you still get voltage drop or not. If voltage is ~5V, this is for sure U4, you can move any of U1-U6 to U4 to get sync and then you can visually inspect if it's fine otherwise.

[daihashi]

Supergun is a grey area. Basically my message is that I don't support it. If you're willing to try, make sure your supergun conversion have attenuated audio and everything is on your risk. People say that HAS supergun is properly designed, as of other conversions, there are so many that it's impossible to say for sure.

I think I'll just follow your position on the matter, and I will keep the consolized MV1-FZ separate from the gscartsw entirely.

I've ordered 4 multiplexers, 2 to replace U5/U6 and 2 more to keep on hand as spares.


Sent from my GM1917 using Tapatalk

[anakin]

Ok. I desoldered U4 and soldered L4/L8 = 5V. I moved u6 to u4 = 5V. Can I try now to hook it on my tv?

[superg]

Ok. I desoldered U4 and soldered L4/L8 = 5V. I moved u6 to u4 = 5V. Can I try now to hook it on my tv?

Yeah, absolutely. No voltage drop is safe to keep on, try it!

[anakin]

Ok. Tried that. I am happy that something is showing up, but I guess it does not sync properly.

The image is "rolling" on the TV. The LED on the gscartw blinks pretty fast and does not stop.

[superg]

Ok. Tried that. I am happy that something is showing up, but I guess it does not sync properly.

The image is "rolling" on the TV. The LED on the gscartw blinks pretty fast and does not stop.

Not good. Just to be absolutely sure, check another console and see if DIP 1 helps.
If nothing helps it could be that more than one multiplexer is damaged (or something else, but unlikely). In that case you can try to use another multiplexer as a substitution.

[anakin]

I tried different consoles, DIP 1 and moved u6 to u4. Tried again different consoles, that are known working with my other gscartw. Same result.
I ordered some multiplexer. In 10-15 working days we will know more .

I somehow enjoy the tinkering. So eventually I will get there.

Thank you for your help and dedication.

[Taboleo]

Hi superg. I have a little problem from you website store. You said that can I still back order and it will be shipped when available. But when i'm going to purchase the gcompsw via paypal the shipping for my country cost $9,999.00



Do you do international shipping? if that so, Could you fix the shipping prices? And yes i´m from Lima - Peru. Thank you in advance for your incredible work.

[rsetteadv]

Hi there,

I've bought a gcompsw recently. Greate product!

According to getretrostuff's website: "Any SUPERGUN conversion (or other silly arcade mods in general) will permanently damage the switch."

Do you guys know if such warning also applies to a Neo Geo MVS Consolized? Has anyone tried plugging one o the gscompsw?

Thanks for the help.

[whatamansion]

Everything still on track to arrive this month, superg?

Just saw my HD Retrovision SNES, Genesis and PS1 cables will be shipping out by the end of this week. All I need in my life now is the gcompsw to go along with it