Pacman

[jonhughes]

So here is an indication of what can go wrong when you're attempting to fix a PCB.

I got this PCB from a member on here. We had a good chin-wag and I paid £20 for this PCB, another Pacman PCB (£20) and a Galaxian (£20). I got the first Pacman PCB going relatively OK. The second was a nightmare. Bargains? Decide. This second PCB had corrosion on it and a short from GND to 5V from the start. The Galaxian still isn't working

I'm good at repairing Pacman PCBs - I've done a few now but think of how long it took me to trouble shoot all these chips. How much is a Pacman PCB worth - £90? Some members on here won't go near a PCB that has been repaired - in their eyes it's radioactive contaminated.

So I paid £20 for the PCB, my time to go get it and the fuel. I then spent long hours tracking down the faults, removing the chips putting in new sockets and the cost of the parts. Was it worth repairing? Would I do it again - no thanks on this one.

PCB repairing isn't all what's is cracked up to be on numerous occasions and when you're buying a PCB it's pot luck on how much work is required to get it going if at all. The fix log is too long to list, as you may well appreciate.

 

[bonehead]

Wow that’s some numbers of parts you replaced!!! At least it lives again.

 

[Lurch666]

I know doing a difficult repair can make you question why bother but the harder the fix the better the satisfaction of finally getting the damn thing working.

I do it because I enjoy solving puzzles and fixing these things with (in my case) a less than full understanding how the parts interact make it a challenge and I enjoy a good challenge.

I know a full fix log would be like war and peace for your board but a general overview of what was not working and the things that actually fixed it would be (for me at least) an interesting read.