I have noticed recently that my xrgb2 is having strange issues. The picture sometimes gets a slight red or blue tint, and when you poke the device, that tint disappears. I've already checked the scart and vga connectors, they both seem to be fine.
The device is also getting pretty hot quite fast. I've seen guts of the xrgb2, and it surprises me that it is so badly designed - there are 3 voltage regulators inside and not even a single radiator to cool the thing down. Could this possibly be related to the tint problem ?
XRGB-2 weirdness
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PC Engine Fan X!
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- Joined: Wed Jan 26, 2005 10:32 pm
Yes, the XRGB-2's A/C adapter gets very warm if plugged into USA 110-120v AC line. If running for a very long time during lengthy gaming sessions, the picture does start to act up a bit. The only remedy is to let it "cool down" for a while then power it up again.
I'm sure a cooling fan mod would make things more bearable for the electronic components inside the XRGB-2's plastic shell casing.
Only if Microcom did include such a radiator fin-type to cool things down or even a cooling fan to keep things cool and within optimal operating conditions. Of course, it would have added more plastic to the casing to accomodate them during the manufacturing process. As it is, a stock and unmodified XRGB-2 is already slim and portable enough.
PC Engine Fan X! ^_~
I'm sure a cooling fan mod would make things more bearable for the electronic components inside the XRGB-2's plastic shell casing.
Only if Microcom did include such a radiator fin-type to cool things down or even a cooling fan to keep things cool and within optimal operating conditions. Of course, it would have added more plastic to the casing to accomodate them during the manufacturing process. As it is, a stock and unmodified XRGB-2 is already slim and portable enough.
PC Engine Fan X! ^_~
I finally got around to investigating that contraption, and even managed to fix it 
The cause of the tint problem was more trivial than I had originally expected.
I did a couple of tests, like installing a fan to see whether it helps or not (it didn't), measuring the current on the board, etc. Everything seemed to work just fine hardware-wise. I took a closer look at that funky power switch...just to find out that it connected 10 different signals, and that included rgb signals, h/v sync, audio, power and some other.
Poking the switch would cause lots of nasty onscreen colors disturbance. So I took it apart, and noticed that some of the pins inside the switch that connect with each other were slightly corroded. It's probably impossible to buy a replacement for such switch, so I decided to hard wire every signal except for the one that turns the device on, that is 13.8V. That fixed the problem, but I might install an analog switch like 4066 or similar in the future. It should be there instead of that retro 30 pin switch in the first place anyway...
The cause of the tint problem was more trivial than I had originally expected. I did a couple of tests, like installing a fan to see whether it helps or not (it didn't), measuring the current on the board, etc. Everything seemed to work just fine hardware-wise. I took a closer look at that funky power switch...just to find out that it connected 10 different signals, and that included rgb signals, h/v sync, audio, power and some other.
Poking the switch would cause lots of nasty onscreen colors disturbance. So I took it apart, and noticed that some of the pins inside the switch that connect with each other were slightly corroded. It's probably impossible to buy a replacement for such switch, so I decided to hard wire every signal except for the one that turns the device on, that is 13.8V. That fixed the problem, but I might install an analog switch like 4066 or similar in the future. It should be there instead of that retro 30 pin switch in the first place anyway...
