TurboExpress repair

[kendrick]

Anybody know what the typical failure points for a TurboExpress are, and what kind of repair amateurs like us could reasonably accomplish? I ask because I just picked up a boatload of extra game hardware from a friend who's getting married, and among the more interesting pieces is a TurboExpress with a busted screen. There's a little play in the case where if you squeeze the area around the D-pad too hard, the power cuts off. There's no visible damage, so I'm working off of the assumption that all the individual components are fine and there's a continuity problem somewhere.

I imagine that if the interior of the Express looks anything like the interior of the Duo, there are plenty of cheap or cold solder joints which could be easily reconnected. Barring that, I suppose I could just shell out $60 for a quick fix job by the Retrogames guys, but that would be silly since I already have a working Express.

Any thoughts are appreciated.

-KKC

[NFG]

The TG-Express is a tiny beast inside.  There's a screen, a main PCB which has a metal RF shield soldered over the entire assembly, and a sub PCB which connects to the card slot.  If memory serves that's it for major components.

The problem is the extra layer that's all over the PCB, you can't see the traces under it.

[kendrick]

Crud. Okay, thanks for the info, looks like this beast is officially good for spare parts only then. If you hear the Dungeon Explorer theme echo over the valley followed by a large explosion, it's probably just me. :)

-KKC

[cloudd]

Is the backlight blown? I think you would still be able to see the screen though faintly. You should just open up the turbo express and see if the ribbon to the screen is loose or if it is corroded that goes to the mainboard. I mean you really don't have anything to loose. I can't rebember if the screen is in a seal tin case or if it comes a part?

[NFG]

The screen is in a separate case and isn't sealed, just screwed together.

[kendrick]

To answer the earlier question, the backlight works fine. As a matter of fact, the whole thing works fine if you power it off of batteries instead of the AC adapter. I found that very odd, but I tried several games on both types of power and the AC power consistently gives no video output, whereas the battery power gives me all forms of output fine.

What's weird is that this is backwards from my known good TurboExpress unit... On AC power, it produces video but no sound. I'm all flummoxed about it now, but I'm inclined to just run everything off of batteries and call it a day.

-KKC, who will focus instead on PS2 repair...

[NFG]

The power connectors on those things tended to be really flaky.  As a whole they're unfortunately kinda known to fail.  If it's not the power port it's the amp, or the plastic screen cover coming off...

If your system runs fine with batteries you might consider wiring up a new plug for it and connecting the inputs to the battery terminals.

[phreak97]

if all else fails, you have a buyer.. send it my way:)