E-mu Emulator Sampler User Forum for the EIII EII EI and EIII XP

Hi!
Just to let you know:
I had problems with my EII recently.
I got the hint to reseat and clean all it's ICs. It took me some time (ca. 15 hours) but it was absolutely worth it.
It functions like new now. I bet this works also with the EIII (mine doesnt cause any problems yet...).

Greetings,
Elm.

Hi Elmbeatz


With what did you clean them?


Got some pics?




Greets

How did you pop the chips out?  Maybe you could share your technique.  I tried pulling one of the chips outta the socket but i was worried it would break.

what was under the chips just dust?
very very interested because my chips are popping out and then my EIII starts to act whackey randomly selecting values etc.

Hi!

I cleaned the chips and their sockets with isopropyl alcohol (desinfectant alcohol, you can buy it at a chemist's shop, 3€ a bottle - don't drink it ;) and with an electric toothbrush, which I pretty often had to charge up again (in the meantime I did it by hand...)

Attention: DO NOT ( NEVER ) try to pull the chips out just with your hands. For 2€ or even less, you can buy a special calliper which is designed just for the purpose of pulling chips out (at an electronics shop like "conrad").
IF YOU TRY to pull the chips out with your hand, you'll DEFINITELY break some pins off, then you can throw them away...

Atention once more: You have to ground yourself from time to time to discharge yourself from electrostatic energy. Just touch a radiator once in a while, and do not wear socks. Electrostatic energy can destroy chips, so be careful. I discharged myself after every chip (I wanted to be sure to do no harm to my "baby" ;)

Greetings,
Elm.

for this calliper is it one size fits all? can you give me a link to a callipe for the eiii please?

Hi!

This is what I used, and it's one size for all (it's flexible):

(http://www.conelek.com/images/elaborbedarf/100085_ICP20_300s.jpg)


http://www.conelek.com/images/elaborbedarf/100085_ICP20_300s.jpg

Greetings,
Elm.

edited your post so i didn't have to use the horizontal scroll bar.  I gotta find a way so that images auto-resize on this forum.... any ideas?

the old forum theme i was using automatically resized images.  this new theme i'm using is SEO friendly.

turns out i have one of those calipers at home. i just gotta find it now.

i was able to pop two of the chips out with the caliper but i didn't see much dust/gunk/grime under there.

Just to be clear on cleaning procedures  I want to run some things by you.

After I pop a chip out I plan on putting rubbing alcohol on a cue tip and cleaning the little metal pins that stick into the sockets. 

I have an anti-static vacume cleaner that i'm gong to use on the sockets where the chips go in.

Is there any other way to clean those sockets?  They are just these black pieces of plastic with holes for the chip's pins. 

I'm guessing you didn't use the rubbing alcohol on those correct?

Any other cleaning details would be greatly appreciated.

Well, indeed, there was no dust or dirt under the chips / between chips and sockets in my EII neither.
But - as I said - all the contacts worked perfectly again after I did it! - The Instrument worked like new afterwards.

I used an electric toothbrush for the pins AND the sockets (it's much more comfortable than qtips or something similar...)

I also used the toothbrush WITH alcohol on the sockets: I put some drops on the brush, turned it on, and rubbed the socket, especially the tiny holes of the socket - I "pushed" the brush in those mini-holes, so to speak.

Hope this helps.

By the way: I'm also thinking about cleaning my EIII, just for the sport of it - and to keep the EIII alive ;)

Greetings, Elm.

I guess i might have to sacrifice the toothbrush head on my sonicare to clean the insides of the sockets that the chips go into.  thanks for the tips.

I got all the chips popped outta their sockets on one of the boards that only has two chips haha.

But once I got to one of the boards that just has socketed chips all over I hit a brick wall.

Some of the socketed chips are fairly long and I don't see a way to get the calipers hook under the chips without unsoldering the sockets of other chips.


for the long chips on the EIII board it seems like you either have to force the calipers hook-arm underneath it or you have to unsolder the smaller socket above it.  Next to the long chips

Has anyone re-seated and cleaned all their chips?  any tips for popping those really long chips out.

Just outta curiosity how durable are these chips.  With those longer ones they seem to be in there pretty tight and I may need to apply some force and i'm worried that they will snap.  Am I just being overly cautious?

Here is link to a pic of the eiii board and the chips i'm talking about. 

http://www.prophet8forum.com/eiii/eiii006.jpg

The longer chips have these other mid-size chips right above them .  I'm guesing that I have to force the caliper in there but I'll wait for a response.

I can see how it took u 15 hours Elmbeatz

You're NOT overly cautious!

The chips should be treaded EXTREMELY cautious. I was told that - other than the EII - the EIII chips are mostly custom chips which hardly can be found today, because they aren't in production anymore. So, if you make a mistake and destroy a chip, the chance for finding a subtitution is quite small.

Maybe here's a solution:

http://www.jumperz.de/bios-chip-einbau-ausbau.htm

Maybe you could pop them out with two jeweller's screwdrivers (one from each side...) ?

Greetings,
Elm.

yea I'm going to boot my EIII up again just to make sure it works  .  I think I might have to get a technician to do this because i don't want to break a chip and i'm really worried that might happen.

I just don't see any easy way to get those bigger chips outta their sockets w/o using a lot of force, on top of having to force the caliper into a very tight spot between two chips.  I think those two things might be putting to much pressure on the chip for my liking.

Just a quick note:
I have a Synergy II+ and had a problem with chips popping out. My tech suggested soldering the chips in. He did and nothing worked since then. He changed the chips, checked traces...nada...
I have no idea if this will be an issue in this case, but take care!

I don't recommend any mechanical cleaning of the sockets, nor the legs, particularly with CMOS chips if you don't have an antistatic work station. Chemical cleaning is all that is needed, ie: buy a little bottle of Deoxit Power Booster (Caig Laboratories) and brush it into the chip legs and into the socket. You don't need much, so don't go crazy blobbing it on, if you brush it across the top of the socket it will track down inside by itself. When you insert the chip the rubbing action will scrape the metal and the Deoxit will coat and protect the shiny surface.

Trying to scrub a chip socket with a toothbrush will cause problems and won't be effective. The wiping action of pushing the chip in with the Deoxit coating will do the job.

The only time I recommend cleaning chip legs is if they are blackened or obviously discoloured from a bad reaction with the socket as happens occasionally with some badly made sockets, then the legs go very obviously black. In that case the way to clean the legs is with a soft, dry pencil eraser, and the sockets need to be replaced. I have never seen an E-mu product with this problem though.

For the large chips, don't try and pull them with the chip puller, it will stress the solder joints too much, and it will pop out at an angle and bend the pins at one end. Get a small flat-bladed screw driver and gently lever each end of the IC between the chip and the socket to slide it out bit by bit. MAKE SURE that you get the blade between the chip and the socket, NOT between the socket and the circuit board accidentally.

i've heard some people complain about deoxit. 

roginator recommended oscillin teslanol t6.  what is the best stuff to clean the chips with?  i don't mind spending a little extra.  also i couldn't find oscillin teslanol t6 for sale in the us. 

does anyone know of good sites to buy these cleaning materials from?  Or is there a local hardware shop that carries this cleaning materials?

i bought alcohol from a pharmacy.
i was told to do so by a technichan.