N64 region mod

[Tsurugi_Takuma]

Buy one of those $50 hotair stations (like the Atten 858) and just heat the pins/pads until the solder melts.

Any risk of damaging the PIF using the hot air? Looking at a Swedish version of the Atten 858.

[meneerbeer]

Buy one of those $50 hotair stations (like the Atten 858) and just heat the pins/pads until the solder melts.

Any risk of damaging the PIF using the hot air? Looking at a Swedish version of the Atten 858.

Yes there is a risk, but that is also when soldering it. Just try not to heat it for too long. I do not know if you can regulate temperature, but if you can try not to put it too high. Maybe also look up some videos. At some point I think I will buy a hot air station as well.

In my experience chips can take an awful lot and it is really hard to destroy them. But it never hurts to be careful.

I do not know if I ever mentioned this, but I am currently working on a VGA adapter for the N64. I have the thing installed in my N64, but unfortunately it is not working yet and I have no clue why (I am getting an image, but it is jumping all over the screen in a weird pattern, at least the FPGA and VGA signal seem allright ). It kind of sucks, because everything is lying at my parents and I am only there in the weekends, so I can not really work on it a lot. Once I finally get it to work I am planning to also have a look to add the clock switching. I should have enough extra I/O for it.

Interesting fact is that the version made for the prototype with long wires is working correctly (with some minor glitches from time to time), but the custom-made board is not. I think it is a timing issue considering the prototype board has a much newer FPGA.

I will most likely not add the PIF switching. I do not have an NTSC N64 and if I did I would not be too eager to mod it (unless I can get it very cheap). I have a flashcard for N64, so booting up NTSC games is not a problem for me anyways.

[Tsurugi_Takuma]

Found a way to make it work without hot air. Used 1,2 mm copper wire to be able to add heat to 1 whole side of the PIF, added some solder and I pulled up 1 side at a time. The PAL-chipped got somewhat abused, but once I get the PAL PCB cleaned I can solder some wires and try out that PIF and the PAL board. I have 2 more PAL boards, so no worries.

The day after I finally managed to unsolder the PIF my father in law called to inform me that he had talked to some guys at a lab at his work and they could help me. Imagine me tinkering with a 64 at a place where they make classified high-tech gear hehe.

The SOP-DIP converters I got from Ebay turned out to be 0.5-1.0 mm to narrow in width, but I managed to solder the PIFs in place.

Still waiting for 1 of the crystals i ordered, I suspect that they might have gone missing :'(

Hopefully I'll be able to finish this project during Christmas when I have 14 days off, but as long as it is finished before I have HDMI out from the 64 I'm happy. Right now I'm building up to a small N64 collection, I have about 70 games I've never even played and 30 more that I've already played. Many 1080p gaming hours ahead

Cheers 'n' beers!

[Tsurugi_Takuma]

Now I really feel like swearing :'(
When trying to solder the cables to the pads, that used to hold the PIF:s, ones of them came of... And the cable I used was a wee bit to thick so that space was gonna be an issue. I'm really out of my depth here hehe Pads coming of is not good if I understand it correctly

So now I might open up another PAL machine and cut of the PIF with a dremel, that way I can solder the wires to the legs instead of the pads if I'm really quick with the iron. Opinion are greatly appreciated!!!

[sanni]

To prevent any damage to the pads never apply any pressure on the pad with your iron. Also do not heat the pad up too much. So either turn down the temperature of the iron or just touch the pad with the iron for a second or so until the solder melts and not longer.

You can still use your mainboard with the missing pad. Have a look at this picture (press download and then view the full size picture so you can zoom in) and follow the trace of the missing pad to a point where you can solder a wire to:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/w8fv38h2xret ... V.tif?dl=0

[Tsurugi_Takuma]

I was careful with the JAP one. I'll look into the schematic asap, thanks a bunch

[Tsurugi_Takuma]

Soooo, could I solder to the small holes that are in the traces or are they just there to confuse me?

[sanni]

Those are called vias and yes you can solder wires to them. You might have to carefully scratch of some of the solder mask around the via to get a better connection.

[Tsurugi_Takuma]

Soldered it to a chip leg instead. Now to muster up the courage to see if the JAP 64 can play a PAL game when the PIF is replaced. Hope I didn't short anything and that I didn't cook the PIF... The soldering doesn't look to good, but after everything is in place and works I'll use another spare PAL machine and make something nicer.

Thanks to your help Sanni!

[Tsurugi_Takuma]

JAP 64 is up and running with the PAL PIF

Games are in black and white, but I guess that is just my LG monitor that can't handle the composite signal? Guess that will be sorted once the HDMI mod is installed.

Next step is to assemble the new board and connect everything to the FPGA.