Hi to all!
Just a quick update on my GX4000 to CPC Plus mod... Stage 1 is complete and the console is happy and healthy the only flames coming from the console are being rendered happily on the Burning Rubber title screen! Whoo Hoo! ;D
I've checked everything several times all components are in place, connected correctly and appear to be functioning correctly!
(EDIT: Hmmm a curious thing seems to have happened, when I insert PANG into the modded console, it loads the title screen and then progresses no further, this does not happen on my plus and did not happen before the mod, all other games are working normally though? ::)
EDIT 2: I have tried disconnecting some of the mods, the only two I haven't tried are the CAS1 connection to the extra RAM ICs and the 3 10k resisters at IC8 but PANG refuses to do anything beyond the title screen?? The Cart is clearly a bootleg though maybe that has something to do with it?)
So that is STAGE 1 complete (RAM upgrade and components added as per The Cranium Guide).
STAGE 2: Connect keyboard from 464 Cost Down Unit
STAGE 3: Build Disk Interface and connect
STAGE 4: Build Expansion Port, This will most likely be an IDE style connector to enable me to connect Centronics or Edge Connector adaptor that I will build later.
STAGE 5: Finish off with HxC and MegaFlash.
Things I will consider adding when the system is confirmed as 100% working: PS/2 Mouse Adaptor, possible Wireless Controllers mod.
A mod for Wii controllers would indeed be nice :-)
Well I have seen it done on the C64, at least I think it was a C64. I liked the idea of bluetooth enabled controllers as it would be cool to use with an emulator on a pc or wii for example. However it seemed a bit of a pricey solution, also I discussed it a bit with Bryce and he seemed to like RF better as it was less costly. As for my self I'm not currently ruling out Bluetooth completely.
The thing that I would most like to do right now is get Pang working again! I wonder if pang looks for something on Plus machines that is currently not present on my modded GX4000, a keyboard maybe?? Does seem unlikely though, maybe it doesn't like 128K on a GX4000?
That's really strange.
Can you try to run that "Arnold diagnostic cartridge". Well, you probably need to burn it on EPROM (for the cart) by yourself. But it provides detailed tests of the ASIC features.
Ah! that would be useful, thanks TFM/FS, I don't currently have a burner if, I can locate an image, I used to get a friend to burn EPROMS for me but I don't think I will be able to do that this time as I think he lives in Japan now ::) I'm going to have to buy one by the looks of it.
The only other thing is that the Basic/Burning Rubber Cart from my Plus machine behaves a bit weird too on the GX4000, but it did before I started the mod on both consoles, it does not start with a F1/F2 Menu, it just goes straight to Amsdos and reports "File not found at 30(and some other numbers) a power cycle boots right to Amsdos without problems. I thought this might correct itself when I did the first part of the mod but it still persists!
Anyway, the console works fine apart from the PANG problem so I will continue with the rest of the mod and when its nearing completion hopefully I will have a diagnostic cart sorted to do some tests.
Sounds like you've got a bad contact on one of the upper address lines. Clean all the contacts.
Bryce.
Bah! I cant believe I never considered cleaning the contacts! Thats almost too obvious isn't it lol! Thats probably the best place to start really I will give it a go...
Ok I gave it a try but no luck, so I just spent an half an hour probing with a multi meter, I found one short on ASIC pin 127-128. It looked like a very neat solder job until I tilted it slightly and noticed a very slight curl in the one strand of wire I was using. Desoldered with my (unfortunately crap) solder station, soldered in a new strand of wire, fired her up and PANG now works fantastically! RESULT! The moral of the story: When checking continuity its also a good idea to check for unwanted continuity on other pins close by. Duh! ::)
Congratulations :) It's the simple minor mistakes that end up taking hours to find and have you tearing your hair out :D
Bryce.
PErhaps you could send me your PANG cartridge so I can test it on my models to check if it comes from the cart ???
;D
well, I tried anyway...lol. :D
@ Bryce, I second that! Like I say the solder joint looked perfect and I had checked it so my brain refused to accept the possibility of a fault there. Good job I don't always listen to what my brain tells me lol!
@ MacDeath, lol nice try! ;D I've waited years to get my hands on a Pang cartridge, even if it's just a bootleg I keep it under lock and key! ;) I have never even played Pang on an emulator, I used to play it on my Atari ST years ago before the CPC emulators had plus features! I'm glad I waited to play it on a genuine Amstrad machine, things don't quite seem to impress me as much on an emulator. Can't beat the genuine hardware!
So pretty soon I will be hooking a keyboard to the GX4000, then comes the more challenging task of building the disk interface! Cross your fingers!
@Badstarr
Please, please, please, please, PLEASE - photo-log and document your work =)
mainly so we can have a lot of hardware pr0n shots, and secondarily I would love to perform this upgrade with a GX4000 shoved into CPC464 Arnold chassis (because its beautiful).
@Zetr0 I will be documenting the whole thing from start to finish, I intend to write a guide with photos as the Cranium guide has pretty much all the info there but as it looks like its quite an old document from the days when photos were a pain to access on the internet, in parts it takes a little bit of effort to to figure out. Plus I will have made the mistakes so I should be able to forewarn of potential issues when performing the mod ;D . Just looking at my cost down 464 chassis which is currently in pieces next to the GX4000 I'm modding, it looks like it should take the GX main board obviously you would need to reroute the cartridge socket and desolder from it's original position as it may not fit due to height. I considered doing the exact same thing however, I like the idea of being able to unplug the keyboard and have a fairly stock console when thats all I require sort of a modular CPC Plus :-)