[torontocbm] Re: Adventures in C64 Rom Replacement...

  • From: Tom Luff <tomluff@xxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: torontocbm@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Tue, 5 May 2009 20:00:39 -0700 (PDT)

Hi Walter,
 
Your method of removing solder chips is similar to mine. After cutting all the 
pins and throwing away the chip, I add fresh (flux core) solder or flux to the 
pins and board. Old dry solder does not transfer heat from the iron to the 
board very well.
 
Then I heat each pin and as the solder flows I pull the pin out and repeat the 
same for the nest pin. After I go back with a solder sucker and iron, reheat 
the solder and hole. As the solder flows again I use the solder sucker (or you 
can use solderwick) to remove the remaining solder.
 
This works well for the most part, however if the pin hole is surrounded with a 
large foil area then it may prove difficult. The extra foil dissipates the heat 
from the iron too much. To remedy this try a larger size soldering iron tip. A 
large tip has more mass and the iron can heat the tip easily. The more heat 
stored in the larger tip, the more heat can be transferred to the large foil 
keeping it hot enough to flow the solder.
 
Try these extra steps before buying new equipment I have been doing repairs for 
TPUG for almost 2 decades.
 
Joe's method works well and require applying flux to the chips he wishes to 
remove.
 
Tom

--- On Tue, 5/5/09, Miraglia, Walter <Walter.Miraglia@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:


From: Miraglia, Walter <Walter.Miraglia@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [torontocbm] Adventures in C64 Rom Replacement...
To: "torontocbm@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <torontocbm@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Received: Tuesday, May 5, 2009, 3:06 PM





Howdy all,
 
Just thought I would share a my experience 
Removing the ROM from a 64c computer…
 
My Commodore 64c is the kind with the kernel and Basic
On the same chip: 251913-01 and soldered down to boot (so to speak).
 
I got brave, and got my nippy cutters and after saying a few little prayers to 
myself,
I went in and chopped that chip out.  I wish had been more careful with the 
legs…
(more on that later…)
 
Using the copper wick, I managed to remove the remaining portion of the legs
And quite a bit of the solder… but alas, only managed to get one or two holes
Through… kinda depressing… my solder sucker was not very useful either…
 
What I did find very useful was to remove the majority of the solder with the 
wick,
Then heat up the whole and literally blow through the wholes quick and hard…
I managed to clean up the holes pretty fast that way… then I soldered in my 28 
pin
IC socket, and though awesome… 
 
I hooked up my new eprom burner up to my pc, and burned myself a new copy of 
the rom…
Installed it and it worked…I was thrilled…  I then turned my attention to the 
chip I butchered,
And thought I should give it some life… so I soldered it down onto a 28 pin 
Machined ic socket,
And tested it out, although it looks like Frankenstein’s monster,  it did work…
 
Ok I hope I haven’t lost anyone as the next part is the fun part…
 
The reason for this activity is that I wanted to customize my kernel,
Change the start up colours, remove the cassette area’s and use the
Space for some other purpose…(as laid out in the promos booklet for the CI prom 
burner….)
 
P.S. I got a Megabit ROM for my C128, wich included the pdf manual for the c64 
eprom burner,
Which got me started on this little project…
 
And I was just wondering what kind of experiences folks have had doing this
Sort of thing, and what kind of changes they made… and if will to perhaps 
exchange
Some customizations… (if that’s possible?)
 
I’ve started to edit my ROM, small things so far like change the startup colour,
And change the name at the top… I was just wondering if anyone has messed 
around with this…
 
One other question… if I find a custom .bin file for the kernel, and a custom 
.bin file for the basic,  can they be added 
And then put on a 27128 chip? Or would I have to change the code around?
 
J thanks for you attention… J
Look forward to hearing about your adventures in Rom Replacement….
 
 
 
 

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