RED ZONE Soft power off troubleshooting

[costa]

 Hi there.

I am doing the regular maintenance process of my RED ZONE, and I have this issue: soft power is not working.
It presents the usual behaviour: screen fades out, software stops running but the fan still on and the power led green stays ON... it does not enter in stand by mode.

Of course, I have read several times the threat from Lydux and Caius on this subject, tried to associate the schematics in there with the Compact, but they are not the same.
Of course it has some differences, because this is the Compact model, and their thread was for a Expert and Super:
http://nfggames.com/forum2/index.php?topic=4999.msg32798#msg32798
http://www.gamesx.com/wiki/doku.php?id=x68000:soft_power_switch_troubleshooting_and_repair

I have run the pwrtest on the RED ZONE, and the RTC_ALARM is always "0".
Other values are in line with the expected according to the wiki article.

So my question is: how accurate is the test?  Can I blindly believe that the RTC chipset is bad and replace it?
For the RED ZONE (which is a Compact, actually - that is, they have the same motherboard and other components), the RTC chip seams to be:
Ricoh  RF5C15 (1JL 1X).
(For the Expert, it is the RP5C15).

Can I have some help to fix this? It would be also a good addition to the existing wiki page, and I would be a little more happier.


My concert is that the RTC is a SMD chip, very close to two oscilators and some really thin wires that go to the overclock circuit.

Appreciate feedback and help on this.
Thanks

[costa]

No hints here?