Faulty SIMM socket?

[mR_CaESaR]

Thought I'd create a new thread rather than fill up the purchases thread

Made a gamble purchase on what would've been my "grail" pcb.. Cps3 and 3s!

The "gamble" comment is due to the message below which the seller did state..

I took the gamble because I thought.. Maybe one or two simms are faulty and if they are, I could easily purchase off darksoft..

After cleaning the simms, I still received the same message.

xodaraP was nice enough to offer me his super bios cart so I could test what was wrong. Nimmers also offered his cart for me to test and since he's in the same city, it made more sense.

Enter the tester... (I will need to purchase one of these)

First test shows simm4 not registering...

I was optimistic.. I thought, great! 1 out of 6 isn't bad.. So I decided to erase all the simms and move the simm that was in simm4 and put it to simm6 to know for sure if it was the simm or the simm socket..

Unfortunately, I could read the simm on simm6 and also erase it but couldn't read simm4...

I've pretty much come to the conclusion that the mobo (or simm4 specifically) is screwed and I'm not sure if the cost to try and fix simm4 is worth it.. What are the bloody chances that a simm socket is faulty!?

Of course if I find a cps3 mobo on its own for an "affordable" price (very subjective ) I'd probably go down that path.

So for now, only "half" the grail has been acquired.. The search continues!

Thanks again to xodaraP and Nimmers! Aussie community FTW!

Things I've tried:

1. Cleaned contacts with IPA on all simms and simm4 socket and both sides - no difference
2. Checked for continuity on the simm socket - each corresponding pin facing each other has continuity
3. Swapped around the simms in different slots, simm4 is always blank
4. Done an erase on all 6 simms and appears to have worked (placed a simm in simm 7)
5. Done a write test on all 6 simms and appears to have worked (placed a simm in simm7)
6. Checked for broken traces around simm4 and couldn't really see anything popping out.

I'm going to get xodaraP to try and reflow it as I have no idea what that actually means

Has anybody here ever come across a broken simm socket before?

TIA

 

[mR_CaESaR]

Got told that "reflowing" just meant to re-solder so I did that for simm4 and unfortunately, it didn't do anything different.

As with my previous tests, the moment I place the simm in another socket, it shows up fine in the test menu

 

[Raph_friend]

If you can't repair it and decide to put for sale, please tell me.

 

[Denson]

Hi, I have around 10 faulty CPS3 motherboards laying around. Most have obvious damage in one place or another but you may be able to salvage a good socket from one of them?

let me know if you’re interested and I’ll have a look through them for you.

 

[jpinball80]

hi, did you find a solution, i have a cps3 with exactly the same problem ?

 

[XeD]

I had an issue like this due to improper pin alignment. Most likelyfrom forcing simm into position. With simm install in slot 4 only (or which ever slot is not registering simm) boot up the darksoft menu. Before you go to the flash memory screen, gently push the simm toward the scsi connection. Enter the flash memory screen. Do you see it now? If not back out of that menu and gently push the other way toward the jamma edge. If one of those work the pin is push back to much. I used a small point dental pick but I'm sure you can use a small safety pin. Gentle insert the pick between the plastic housing and metal pin. This will push the metal in inward.

hope this help some of you

 

[mR_CaESaR]

I had an issue like this due to improper pin alignment. Most likelyfrom forcing simm into position. With simm install in slot 4 only (or which ever slot is not registering simm) boot up the darksoft menu. Before you go to the flash memory screen, gently push the simm toward the scsi connection. Enter the flash memory screen. Do you see it now? If not back out of that menu and gently push the other way toward the jamma edge. If one of those work the pin is push back to much. I used a small point dental pick but I'm sure you can use a small safety pin. Gentle insert the pick between the plastic housing and metal pin. This will push the metal in inward.

hope this help some of you

Thanks for this, i will give it a try over the next few days and report back.

It's be great if it's this issue as this seems like an easy fix!

 

[mR_CaESaR]

Just reporting back that moving the simm modules didn't work.

Each time they got moved, it didn't appear in the memory test menu