I recieved a PC Engine duo a couple months back, and the person that gave it to me had recapped it, and also rgb and region modded it as well. It worked great up until a couple weeks ago, when it started just randomly resetting during games sometimes, or just outright crashing. Its never after any set amount of time playing or anything, it just does it whenever it feels like it. Any ideas what would cause a PC Engine Duo to just randomly reset and/or freeze during games, and if so, any potential fixes? i love the PC Engine, and i gave my US TG-16 to a friend after i got my PC Engine Duo, so im stuck without a way to play any PC Engine stuff
PSU/cable? Also check for cold joints or oxidation. Happened with my friend's CDX - random crashes/reboots and it was really hard to find that conductive gunk that formed unwanted resistor.
Someone will have to open it back up and go over it. Since it was modded there is no telling what may be causing the issue. Does it reset while playing CD-ROM and Super CD-ROM games with the internal Super System Card? Does it reset while playing official HuCards? Or does it only have this issue with a Flash cart inserted? Another thing is that the /RESET line is on the HuCard connector and a region mod could have caused a problem there. Maybe something is loose or causing a spotty short that randomly causes the resets.
I dont think its a capacitor issue at all, as CD based games still work 100% fine. Im actually fairly certain ive narrowed it down to 2 things... either the pins in the HuCard slot are worn out and need bent back into shape, or one of the solder points between the region mod and the card slot is wonky. I came to this conclusion after toying around some. if i put a hucard in, and use my index finger to press down slightly on the tail end of the card, it works 100% fine. the second i remove my finger, the game crashes/freezes/resets/whatever. I just got my hands on a T10 security bit, so im gonna pop it open either tonight or tomorrow and see what i can do. Also, @MottZilla , i just got done playing through BSX Zelda for the first time last night, and noticed your name on the patched rom i was using. Thanks for your work and time on that, was a lot of fun!
I'm glad you enjoyed it. It's a fun game many have probably not played. About the PCE and holding down the card eliminating the issue, it's possible that one or more of the HuCard pins isn't bent but is just making poor electrical contact that pushing down on the card fixes since a different part of the pin then touches the contact on the card. You could try cleaning it. Although I guess it's also possible if pressure fixes the issue then maybe you have a bad solder joint somewhere. I'd try out the cleaning first since it's the least invasive. Even just repeatedly inserting and removing a cheap HuCard for a few minutes might help. I say use something cheap since it will put more wear on the card. Not that I'd expect you to be using some rare game.
