[HECnet] VS4000/90: Up and running!

[Dave McGuire]

On 02/08/2013 04:00 PM, Dennis Boone wrote:
Now I'm not sure about the state of the (by now) working chip. Buying to
chinese traders via ebay has its risks :). On the other hand, I have
improvised a testbench for the chips using an arduino, and I see the
"damaged" ones _can_ keep the time-of-day, even if them are reporting as
"faulty" (VRT bit in register D reads as zero).

It's a lot easier to grind your way in to the potted battery and replace
it with something accessible in a holder _before_ you put the chip into
the machine. :)

I have one of those blasted chips soldered to the nigh-unreplaceable CPU
board of a Prime 5340.   Dead battery of course.

  I keep reading about people cracking open those chips, and I always
wonder why they bother.   They're neither expensive nor difficult to find
brand-new.   Why would one find it worth the time to spend an afternoon
performing surgery on that chip to replace the battery when you can get
a new one on the way for about eight bucks?

                                -Dave

-- 
Dave McGuire, AK4HZ
New Kensington, PA