25 Aug
2016
25 Aug
'16
10:11 a.m.
On Thu, Aug 25, 2016 at 1:05 PM, Rob Jarratt
<robert.jarratt at ntlworld.com> wrote:
Just a bit more info on this.
I tried cleaning up the corrosion, and that briefly seemed to make a
difference, but then I realised the problem persisted. I looked again and
realised that the corrosion around the DE-9 pins was a bit bad. Initially I
thought to solder some jumper wires around pins 2 and 3, but when the solder
would not melt very easily, I found that it kind of flaked off under a bit
of heat and physical pressure. This made me think that although I was
getting continuity with my DMM, the joint was not that good. So I desoldered
the whole DE-9 connector, cleaned the board with PCB cleaner and then
resoldered it back.
This seems to have fixed it.
My own cab kit was also exhibiting gray solder that did not flow, so
without even testing it, I presumed it was faulty and I removed the
DE-9 and cleaned the PCB. That's as far as I've gotten this week. I
still plan to test the resistance of the traces because, sometimes,
those are consumed or heavily damaged (I've been reading a lot of
Amiga Varta repair threads lately - that's another platform I'm
cleaning damage on). The question I have for the MicroVAX is if I
trust the integrity of the DE-9 itself. I can solder in a fresh
replacement, but I _think_ the old one is probably still good.
-ethan