What's this Mega Drive mod do?

But the wire doesn't attach to the connector just the solder that it's going to break away from (look at first pic, that's what's happened there).

I really want to know why this was seemingly done at the factory. Very confusing.

 

What's more is how many consoles left the factory with work like this done. Most Genesis 2s I've seen have something along these lines done. One thing we can do is remove the wires and test the board after.

 

What me and familyguy are trying to say that maybe they had reports that "that area" of the pcb was prone to breaking. Not very specific reports. Hence - the wires. It seems plausible that some deskjockey would give such an order about soldering the wires there without thinking it through.

 

I'm not going to do it. I'll just mess something up, I have no experience or skill at all.

 

I am well aware what you are saying, I am trying to explain that the wire serves no purpose.

The tracks are huge, its not going to help if the solder cracks (as your board clearly shows). I cant think of any reason why they would install those wires on your board.

If there was a poor connection on the vias, fine - but that wire doesnt help that. It would need to goto the opposite side of the board.

 

I can do it sometime later on and test it out. Post the results back in here.

 

Maybe the people applying the *fix* were incompetent. That not too far fetched...

 

i am not talking about the solder cracking (this is normal for any device that uses any powerjack). I'm talking about reports of the pcb breaking. I'm not saying that the pcb is prone to breaking. I'm saying, what if they had reports about that area being problematic. What if they didn't bother to find out what those reports were all about and just slapped a bunch of cables on it lazily.

Awesome. Will be waiting for your report. Although I doubt it will actually make any difference. Still interesting to have a final answer about something

 

If the board was physically breaking in that area - what about the opposite side? The boards are 2 layer, not just one.

The vias clearly lead to the other side of the board where they will go to the rest of the console.

 

Aw, man. It seems we have a communication issue.
"What if they didn't bother to find out what those reports were all about and just slapped a bunch of cables on it lazily."

 

No, it seems we have a lack of understanding issue.

So, you have a product and get reports of a problem:

Instead of investigating the issue - so its both resolved and also so it wont happen again (costing money for repairs), they just slap on some wires and hope for the best? Especially when anyone with even a tiny amount of understanding of electronics can see its pointless?

Not sure in which world this makes any sense, but its not this one.

Instead of nonsense guesswork, this should be a conversation for people who understand some of the basics. By your own admission, you dont even own a soldering iron, I am not sure why you are debating this.

 

Yeah, that's what "a communication issue" means.

That is not true, my friend. I do own a soldering iron.

Like I said, what if the decision was made by a deskjockey? Aka manager? Aka lower rang boss who has no idea about electronics? I can see this happening. Especially in an asian/japanese company where subordination is key.

 

Not for multiple board revisions.

And I don't mean understanding issue as in the words we are saying, I mean knowledge of electronics.

I could imagine your explanation if it was 1 board revision, but to make multiple board revisions with same fault - not so much. Doing rework like this would cost money, managers don't just spend extra money for no reason. There must be a reason for this, but I can't see what. You have just thrown random guesses rather than anything based on fact or electronics knowledge and ignored explanations why your suggestions make no sense

And if you have a soldering iron, it's a recently development, as thread recently you were going to heat up a screw or something.

http://assemblergames.com/l/threads/ps2-wont-read-discs.61204/#post-875511

 

Yes, I'm not trying to keep that a secret, I am simply guessing and that's perfectly fine.

You haven't come with any facts nor theories. Instead all you're saying is "I don't know" and "weird".
And "you're wrong because of I said so".
The fact is we have no proof or real knowledge to the reasoning behind this.
You saying "it doesn't make any sense" is just another guess. Because you don't actually know the real reason.
And the fact that we don't have any real facts is exactly what makes any theory or guess eligible for consideration.

 

You don't even understand why I'm saying it's weird, that's why you do not understand what I've been saying. I've said plenty to explain why it's not what you said.

Keropi did, anyone who knows the basics will too.

Anyway, done going in circles with you, will wait for someone with more knowledge to chime in with thoughts of actual interest.

 

Thank you, my dear, slightly arrogant, friend.
I see now why you go under the "Keyboard Error: Press F1 to Continue" title. It makes sense now

 

If you remove the wires, do you have braid?

Would like to see if there are vias under the solder, as maybe there is a design flaw and the vias aren't connecting the power planes from bottom to top of board.

If so, maybe they used a fibreglass pencil to reveal the top of the vias and soldered the wire to that and to the jack, getting the power to the other side of the board.

It still doesn't make much sense, a blob of solder with no wire would do the same and you wouldnt expect the fault to carry over multiple board revisions, but only hypothesis I have at the moment.

 

Yeah, I've got braid and I've got an Edsyn solder sucker. Should be really quick work to see what the wires are there for.

 

Funny how you go out of your way to convince me that I don't know what I'm talking about just so you can repeat what I've already said.
Are you for real?

 

It doesn't look like they misdesigned it at all. The area where the solder is looks like a circular pad (just like the other 2 clearly visible that don't have wires attached) , not a patch they have used a fibre glass pencil. It also doesn't look like there would be vias under it either.

But its worth checking if someone's got one open. But, as per the bit you didnt quote - it would be pretty unlikely for the same fault to persist across board revisions.

Also you wouldn't need the wire at all, more reason why it seems unlikely it's that - why spend money on wire when you would only need a blob of solder.