The Blog

Geist Force Prototype Reproduction for Sega Dreamcast

Nix McRetro // 2nd August 2012 // Sega, YouTube

It looks like I’ve been lucky enough to pick up a copy from the limited ASSEMbler community reproduction run of the unreleased Geist Force prototype. Geist Force was never commercially released by Sega. The surviving unfinished Dreamcast build was preserved through the ASSEMbler community, with additional work required to make... Continue reading

Sega Saturn Sophia Development Kit: Internal View

Nix McRetro // 1st August 2012 // Devkit, Repairs, Sega

She’s a bit dirty. I’ll give her the best clean I can and make her shine again. The bigger problem is that this particular Sophia arrived without its SH-2 processor boards. The Sophia development hardware uses removable SH-2 processor cards rather than soldering both Saturn CPUs directly onto the mainboard... Continue reading

Amstrad Sega Mega PC 486SXLC CPU Upgrade Failure

Nix McRetro // 26th July 2012 // IBM PC, Repairs, Sega

First up, some test desoldering on a RAM chip from a scrap memory board to see whether this heat-gun idea was even remotely workable. This was very much a learning experiment. A general-purpose heat gun gives far less temperature and airflow control than proper hot-air rework equipment, so I would... Continue reading

Amstrad Sega Mega PC 386SX CPU Replacement Attempt

Nix McRetro // 20th July 2012 // IBM PC, Repairs, Sega

Amstrad Sega Mega PC 386SX CPU Replacement Attempt

The time has come. We wish you a safe journey, AMD 386SX CPU. You have served us well. Armed with a heat gun and flux, work begins on my attempt to create a 50 MHz Amstrad Mega PC. That 50 MHz target needs a little explanation. The original Am386SX does... Continue reading

Sega Mega Drive 2 DC-In Power Socket Repair

Nix McRetro // 18th July 2012 // Repairs, Sega, YouTube

Got a bad feeling about your DC-in power socket on your Mega Drive 2? Disconnect the console from power before opening it and inspect where the DC-in socket connects to the mainboard. In this particular Mega Drive 2 the fault was a cracked solder joint, and resoldering the connection restored... Continue reading