Worklog N64HH - N64 Portable

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Swapped ram chips with 4mb and relocated PIF, worked great. Trimmed board and now wired it up, cannot get it to output a video signal. Chips get warm, does anyone see something wrong?
 

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I need help please. I have been troubleshooting my trim for 2 weeks. Here is what I've tested so far, please give any advice or things to test

Board worked fine with pif relocation and 4mb RAMBUS chips Before trimming
Jumper pack and cartridge are in and have been removed and reinserted several times
Sanded up to 1500 grit
Tried different jumper packs and games
No shorts between voltages and ground
3.3v on all 3 locations
5v on the one location
RCP, CPU, and both RAMBUS chips get hot
All Pif connections are correct (tested several times) 23 goes to “24” on the pif relocation, right?
4.7kOhms 3.3v to GND
5.9kOhms 5v to GND
 

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This might be a dumb question as you seem knowledgeable, but have you verified that the screen is being powered and that it’s on the right input?
 

CrashBash

No emulation, real hardware
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Man I haven't seen an N64 trim in a while, love how clean the wiring is running through vias.
 
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You do not want to see how messy my fusion Timeline is lol. I am working everyday on this case design, here's a few pics. Will use all OEM buttons, L button will act as Z, No Dpad as of yet, thought about using a PSP slider as a small D pad. OEM screws as well
Screen Shot 2023-01-20 at 8.07.10 PM.png

Screen Shot 2023-01-20 at 8.06.06 PM.png

Screen Shot 2023-01-20 at 8.06.34 PM.png

Also test printed a side of the handle and I got it feeling pretty identical to the OEM controller
5E98D66B-8E65-460E-BC9F-02928173913B.jpeg
I plan on making button combos to adjust screen settings
 
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I've put work into this almost every week since my last post. Unfortunately, I did several test prints of the controller-inspired design and it just is not comfortable to hold. Also, the unit needs to be so thick in only the middle, because the controller is very slim, which makes it not too great to look at...... so sorry to those looking forward to that design.

However, I returned to my original design and am making quick progress. The internals are fully designed, except for a mount for the motherboard. This unit will use my ED-64 plus pressed up against the heatsinks, which will be actively cooled by a very slim, metal housing blower style fan. The two long buttons on top are for volume and brightness. The long oval holes will have a dust cover mesh sheet glued to the inside of the housing. The power button will be transparent for LED battery status. Gman's PD charger is here as well
Screen Shot 2023-03-22 at 9.46.40 PM.png
 

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cy

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Unfortunate to see the effort go to waste. I really thought an N64 Ashida would've been really cool, but I guess the design doesn't translate too well to the N64.

I noticed in an earlier post you were using Gman's 64Amp. Was wondering how you acquired it - I'm doing an N64 portable of my own right now and wouldn't mind some crisp clean digital audio of my own over my original analog audio U-Amp solution.

Great work log either way! I can't wait to see this puppy come to life!
 

Y2K

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I've put work into this almost every week since my last post. Unfortunately, I did several test prints of the controller-inspired design and it just is not comfortable to hold. Also, the unit needs to be so thick in only the middle, because the controller is very slim, which makes it not too great to look at...... so sorry to those looking forward to that design.

However, I returned to my original design and am making quick progress. The internals are fully designed, except for a mount for the motherboard. This unit will use my ED-64 plus pressed up against the heatsinks, which will be actively cooled by a very slim, metal housing blower style fan. The two long buttons on top are for volume and brightness. The long oval holes will have a dust cover mesh sheet glued to the inside of the housing. The power button will be transparent for LED battery status. Gman's PD charger is here as well
View attachment 26717
I actually really love the new design, it looks extremely sleek, kinda like an N64 G-Wii but more curvy hahaha. Ik you're pretty far into this design, but one thing you can do to improve the overall thickness is put the batteries behind the controllers and shape the grip to fit them, kinda like an N64 Steam Deck look. If you planned on using 4 18650s you could move to 2 21700s instead possibly and get fairly decent battery life? Just a thought, no need to go crazy if you're already satisfied with this design, its quite good either way!
 
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Nick! Your model looks so epic! I wish I had time to make a case for my n64... Alas, great job my dude.

I noticed in an earlier post you were using Gman's 64Amp. Was wondering how you acquired it - I'm doing an N64 portable of my own right now and wouldn't mind some crisp clean digital audio of my own over my original analog audio U-Amp solution.
Look at GMan's github. It has all the resources. And its open source... The parts were OOS for like a year recently... So if you can get them right now I would just order them and build it when you're ready.
 
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Making progress.. New, better feeling trigger shapes, volume and power on top, corrected button placements.
479F1D01-21F4-4101-8116-EF170B18C55F.png

take a look at my custom pcbs lol, they are from the og controller. I plan to make 3d printed mounts to make cutting the board easier to replicate. The pieces will be held by brackets that’s screw into the front:
87EBC98D-ED37-4FB1-85FA-A0AE5C3FBC4C.jpeg
 
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