Only thing I had to do different is, after installing the chip, I had to go into memory manager and clear the system memory. For whatever reason the saves showed up on system memory in the action replay but not in the system memory manager. After clearing the memory the problem went away and everything is working as intended. Great video. Chip Quik made the job super easy. Glad I didn't have to pull out the heat gun. Was using RetroRGB's write up on this topic but having a VA0.5 Japan import was griping over finding a 5v source. He should reference this video in his write up.
The FRAM mod was giving me a lot of trouble because my board looks nothing like the boards in MOST of these FRAM mod video. ON top of that my chip is epoxied or glued on. So I ended up having to figure out where to find my SRAM chip, how to get the epoxied chip off, where to find the 5V source for pin 28 and where to find GND point for pin 22. So I want to give some advices on those running into the similar issue I've ran into. - On finding the SRAM chip: Sega used many difference sources for their SRAM chips and had many board revision so using a specific SRAM chip model and a specific location isn't the best advice imo. Here's what I did: look on the board for a 28 pin chip (14 on both side) and look for a "IC8" next to this chip. Presumably you have the FRAM chip at this point, compare that chip to your SRAM chip...it should be the similar. - For the first time, I've clipped the legs off to remove a IC chip off a circuit board BECAUSE: 1. I don't want to risk ripping any contact pad off; 2. The SRAM chip is useless to me anyways and even if I fail I wasn't planning to reuse this chip. I'm glad because this is where I quickly realize the chip is glued to the board. I like how every video of FRAM chip mod don't have to deal with this. - When I realized there's epoxy on the SRAM chip. First thing I did is to clear the broken pin off the traces. Since I'm gonna use force to remove the chip, I don't want to risk any chances of ripping traces off. Then I busted out a heat gun. I'm not the best with hot rework station so clipping the SRAM chip pins was a way for me to avoid using heat but funny how that went. If you weren't originally planning to cut the chip off to perserve it (I get it, I also have a habit of trying my best not to destroy components I remove from the board)...my advice at this point is to just cut it off...it's not worth saving and risk damaging the board. - I used kapton tape to cover the area around the SRAM chip. There are bunch of tiny SMD components next to the chips so I just don't want to risk accidentally knocking one of the them off. Again I find it funny how the area around everyone's else SRAM chip is so clear of SMD components...LOL. Again a fact that came into play to the decision for me to cut the chip off. There are just so many small pieces around the chip, I don't want to risk accidentally knocking it off while removing it. If your SRAM chip is relatively clear of component and you really want to keep it...I think it's fine to try to remove it with hot air or chipquik. - I used a heat gun on low heat setting and introduce heat around that area and use a metal spudger tool (it's stronger and doesn't melt under heat) to poke from the bottom of the chip every like 10 second or so and was planning to increase temp if necessary. So it's introduce heat, 10 sec, move heat gun away, poke the bottom with a metal spudger, see if it moves, and repeat. I did not use flux since I know I'm not working with solder here (I removed them earlier). I did add some isopropyl alcohol to see if I can soften the epoxy glue but HEAT is the main source to help me remove the chip. It took me less than a minute or a minute (I didn't time myself) and I was on lower setting of my heat gun the entire time. Be patient, I know you could be a little on the edge at this point but don't do anything risky. I was totally bummed out when I realized I had to remove the epoxy glue so I get it. - To find the 5V and ground source - the easiest way is just reference what other used. I didn't try because everyone's board is different than mine. So my REAL advice is to use a multimeter (it necessary tool for most board work, get one if you don't have it) to probe for your own sources. It's extremely simple, all you need is to know how to use "continuity" mode on your multimeter. This is the one where if two points share the same continuity, it'll beep. - For ground source, finding a ground source is easy. Edge of the board are usually grounded, so you can use those dot scatter across the edges of the board as a reference grounding point. Now probe around the FRAM chip to see which grounding point makes the most sense for you to solder a wire to and connect it to pin 22. I usually like to keep it short so the closest source to me, it was a ground point of an SMD location. - As of the 5V source, this is what I do. The IC8 chip (RAM chip) in this case are usually next to the IC7 (bios chip), one of the corner pin of the bios chip is VCC and that's pulling 5V (See 9:38 of this video OR look at the board for IC7, find the contact point with the arrow, VCC is the corner diagonal to that point.). You can straight up use that point. OR, like me, use a multimeter and probe for a point closer to pin 28 of the FRAM chip using VCC of IC7 as a reference point. I actually did not use the closest point here, I found a point that's a clear spot meant of an SMD component (I think it was for a resistor). It was a totally open location and there wasn't any components around it so it seems safer for me to use this point. These are my advices to anyone else doing the FRAM chip. Hope this save the time of anyone planning, attempting, or having trouble with the FRAM mod.
I gotta wonder if there's a version of this that could be made to just piggyback on the existing chip with a socket. But I'm definitely not an expert on memory chips.
should be able to do it with a switch fairly easily, you would just need need to make it so that neither chip has chip enable or VCC connected directly and use a DBDT switch to select which one is active. Some people have done that with game cartridges to select between an english patched version and the original japanese version of a game.
Very nice explanation. One question. Would that be possible to solder the new chip on top of the previous one? I mean, without having to remove the original one. Im quite afraid of removing these chips with so many "legs". So if i could just solder on top and remove just the 5V and groud or something, would be ugly, but much easier and comfortable for me. hehe
I find the Saturn battery stays alive for quite some time so for me I don’t think I’d bother doing it, but Sega CD on the other hand, that needs this mod badly! My sega cd battery dies within a few weeks if I don’t use it. I know there’s a mod like this for the sega CD, but can’t find any videos doing it. If you have a sega CD, it would be awesome if you made a video of an FRAM mod!
Question. Do you have a pseudo saturn Kai or pro action replay cart? I did the Fram mod and I think it may cause a problem with cheat codes cause they don't seem to work anymore. Can any one else with the mod and cart confirm ?
@@LIRetroGaming Nice music, but its not from there, sadly. 12:07 is ending of the video. Edit: Song name is "Long Island Retro Gaming Expo Theme" by Dan Policar.
I get a “0 Memory Available” issue with my Saturn. I have replaced the battery a couple time. I reset the clock a couple times. I’ve gone to memory manager and it still says 0 available. I try to clear memory and it just quickly says “Not cleared!” Every time. Any ideas? Willing to pay for a fix!
Nice mod, but as far as I got it right, there WAS a +5 volts pad there, already. Why couldn' t you just use some heat shrinkable tube, in order to insulate that pin with the cable and just re-route the pin who needs the +5 volts with another cable, but to that pad you left unused? What' s the point of searching for another supply?
The chip needs to be powered by a +5v source that is not connected to the battery. Pad 28 gives +5v, but because it's tied to the battery you can still have issues with your game saves when the battery loses power
@@LIRetroGaming To be honest, I didn' t get that part. But since you DON' T even need a battery power supply anymore, where is the problem, anyway? Won' t the data stay in that IC, after the console shuts down? Anyway. I am just making some suggestions, here. Since you have it in front of you, I suppose you know it better.
@@AnotherUser1000 @Long Island Retro Gaming nothing wrong with doing it either way, i did this mod some years ago. if you leave it on that pad it wont affect the fram chip at all it will save and hold save data fine with or without a coin cell in , it's more to save battery for the date setting it would seem if anything. that said not personally sure that those 5v lines are isolated from each other at all as they probably have the same source.
@@BigBoss-ik6sv yeah this. The old SRAM chip is connected to the battery and stays on when the console is unplugged (to hold the saves). If you connect the FRAM to pad 28, likewise it stays powered by the battery when the system is unplugged (but it doesn't need to). So by finding an alternative 5v source that doesn't remain powered by the battery when the console is unplugged, you reduce the battery drain significantly (now it only powers the RTC when the console is off) and increase the coin cell life.
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Only thing I had to do different is, after installing the chip, I had to go into memory manager and clear the system memory. For whatever reason the saves showed up on system memory in the action replay but not in the system memory manager. After clearing the memory the problem went away and everything is working as intended.
Great video. Chip Quik made the job super easy. Glad I didn't have to pull out the heat gun.
Was using RetroRGB's write up on this topic but having a VA0.5 Japan import was griping over finding a 5v source. He should reference this video in his write up.
The FRAM mod was giving me a lot of trouble because my board looks nothing like the boards in MOST of these FRAM mod video. ON top of that my chip is epoxied or glued on. So I ended up having to figure out where to find my SRAM chip, how to get the epoxied chip off, where to find the 5V source for pin 28 and where to find GND point for pin 22.
So I want to give some advices on those running into the similar issue I've ran into.
- On finding the SRAM chip: Sega used many difference sources for their SRAM chips and had many board revision so using a specific SRAM chip model and a specific location isn't the best advice imo. Here's what I did: look on the board for a 28 pin chip (14 on both side) and look for a "IC8" next to this chip. Presumably you have the FRAM chip at this point, compare that chip to your SRAM chip...it should be the similar.
- For the first time, I've clipped the legs off to remove a IC chip off a circuit board BECAUSE: 1. I don't want to risk ripping any contact pad off; 2. The SRAM chip is useless to me anyways and even if I fail I wasn't planning to reuse this chip. I'm glad because this is where I quickly realize the chip is glued to the board. I like how every video of FRAM chip mod don't have to deal with this.
- When I realized there's epoxy on the SRAM chip. First thing I did is to clear the broken pin off the traces. Since I'm gonna use force to remove the chip, I don't want to risk any chances of ripping traces off. Then I busted out a heat gun. I'm not the best with hot rework station so clipping the SRAM chip pins was a way for me to avoid using heat but funny how that went. If you weren't originally planning to cut the chip off to perserve it (I get it, I also have a habit of trying my best not to destroy components I remove from the board)...my advice at this point is to just cut it off...it's not worth saving and risk damaging the board.
- I used kapton tape to cover the area around the SRAM chip. There are bunch of tiny SMD components next to the chips so I just don't want to risk accidentally knocking one of the them off. Again I find it funny how the area around everyone's else SRAM chip is so clear of SMD components...LOL. Again a fact that came into play to the decision for me to cut the chip off. There are just so many small pieces around the chip, I don't want to risk accidentally knocking it off while removing it. If your SRAM chip is relatively clear of component and you really want to keep it...I think it's fine to try to remove it with hot air or chipquik.
- I used a heat gun on low heat setting and introduce heat around that area and use a metal spudger tool (it's stronger and doesn't melt under heat) to poke from the bottom of the chip every like 10 second or so and was planning to increase temp if necessary. So it's introduce heat, 10 sec, move heat gun away, poke the bottom with a metal spudger, see if it moves, and repeat. I did not use flux since I know I'm not working with solder here (I removed them earlier). I did add some isopropyl alcohol to see if I can soften the epoxy glue but HEAT is the main source to help me remove the chip. It took me less than a minute or a minute (I didn't time myself) and I was on lower setting of my heat gun the entire time. Be patient, I know you could be a little on the edge at this point but don't do anything risky. I was totally bummed out when I realized I had to remove the epoxy glue so I get it.
- To find the 5V and ground source - the easiest way is just reference what other used. I didn't try because everyone's board is different than mine. So my REAL advice is to use a multimeter (it necessary tool for most board work, get one if you don't have it) to probe for your own sources. It's extremely simple, all you need is to know how to use "continuity" mode on your multimeter. This is the one where if two points share the same continuity, it'll beep.
- For ground source, finding a ground source is easy. Edge of the board are usually grounded, so you can use those dot scatter across the edges of the board as a reference grounding point. Now probe around the FRAM chip to see which grounding point makes the most sense for you to solder a wire to and connect it to pin 22. I usually like to keep it short so the closest source to me, it was a ground point of an SMD location.
- As of the 5V source, this is what I do. The IC8 chip (RAM chip) in this case are usually next to the IC7 (bios chip), one of the corner pin of the bios chip is VCC and that's pulling 5V (See 9:38 of this video OR look at the board for IC7, find the contact point with the arrow, VCC is the corner diagonal to that point.). You can straight up use that point. OR, like me, use a multimeter and probe for a point closer to pin 28 of the FRAM chip using VCC of IC7 as a reference point. I actually did not use the closest point here, I found a point that's a clear spot meant of an SMD component (I think it was for a resistor). It was a totally open location and there wasn't any components around it so it seems safer for me to use this point.
These are my advices to anyone else doing the FRAM chip. Hope this save the time of anyone planning, attempting, or having trouble with the FRAM mod.
You got a sponsor? NICE! Keep it up my man, here's hoping you get many more!
Thanks so much Matt! I really appreciate it and I was already a huge fan of PCBway before the sponsorship
You make it look so easy, great work
Also grats on the sponsor!
Thanks, glad you liked it and I appreciate the feedback!
I don't think I've ever seen someone love Chip Quik as much as you :)
This is a great mod, I did it to my Saturn a few weeks ago.
Chipquik is the way. So much easier and safer than hot air.
Mod worked perfectly, thanks!
Awesome, I’m glad that the video helped!
Fantastic job and super informative as always! Top Dude!
Thanks, I’m glad you enjoyed it!
Have you ever considered doing a FiF on replacing NEC capacitors in a PS3?
Definitely. At some point I’ll do that video!
@@LIRetroGaming awesome! Looking forward to it!
Cleanest chip removal ever. Nice.
I gotta wonder if there's a version of this that could be made to just piggyback on the existing chip with a socket.
But I'm definitely not an expert on memory chips.
should be able to do it with a switch fairly easily, you would just need need to make it so that neither chip has chip enable or VCC connected directly and use a DBDT switch to select which one is active. Some people have done that with game cartridges to select between an english patched version and the original japanese version of a game.
Nice seen a yt video on this before and they piggybacked the fram chip
Very nice explanation.
One question. Would that be possible to solder the new chip on top of the previous one? I mean, without having to remove the original one. Im quite afraid of removing these chips with so many "legs". So if i could just solder on top and remove just the 5V and groud or something, would be ugly, but much easier and comfortable for me. hehe
No, unfortunately it’s not possible to do that
I find the Saturn battery stays alive for quite some time so for me I don’t think I’d bother doing it, but Sega CD on the other hand, that needs this mod badly! My sega cd battery dies within a few weeks if I don’t use it.
I know there’s a mod like this for the sega CD, but can’t find any videos doing it. If you have a sega CD, it would be awesome if you made a video of an FRAM mod!
Muito bem explicado!
Grato!
what happens if the system is completely powered off and removed from power outlet?
It will retain the game saves, even if the system is not powered
I do wish there was a mod to fix the RTC, either to bypass it altogether or to fix the circuit so that it doesn't suck batteries so hard.
Yeah it would be really nice for this to happen
Question. Do you have a pseudo saturn Kai or pro action replay cart? I did the Fram mod and I think it may cause a problem with cheat codes cause they don't seem to work anymore. Can any one else with the mod and cart confirm ?
Whats the name of melody that starts at 12:07 ?
That’s from Blast Wind, a Saturn shmup. I think that track is called the justice ray
@@LIRetroGaming Nice music, but its not from there, sadly. 12:07 is ending of the video.
Edit: Song name is "Long Island Retro Gaming Expo Theme" by Dan Policar.
I get a “0 Memory Available” issue with my Saturn. I have replaced the battery a couple time. I reset the clock a couple times. I’ve gone to memory manager and it still says 0 available. I try to clear memory and it just quickly says “Not cleared!” Every time. Any ideas? Willing to pay for a fix!
That sounds like a bad FRAM chip to me. At that point it makes sense to replace it with the modern equivalent that I described in this video
Cool! Could a bigger memory chip be installed?
No I think you are limited to something that is almost identical to the original. Fortunately the save cartridges can give you a lot more space
I want this mod done. Where are you located?
I’m located in New York. You can contact me at 1uprestorations.com/ I’m on vacation at the moment but I can work on this when I get back
Nice mod, but as far as I got it right, there WAS a +5 volts pad there, already. Why couldn' t you just use some heat shrinkable tube, in order to insulate that pin with the cable and just re-route the pin who needs the +5 volts with another cable, but to that pad you left unused? What' s the point of searching for another supply?
The chip needs to be powered by a +5v source that is not connected to the battery. Pad 28 gives +5v, but because it's tied to the battery you can still have issues with your game saves when the battery loses power
@@LIRetroGaming To be honest, I didn' t get that part. But since you DON' T even need a battery power supply anymore, where is the problem, anyway? Won' t the data stay in that IC, after the console shuts down? Anyway. I am just making some suggestions, here. Since you have it in front of you, I suppose you know it better.
@@AnotherUser1000 @Long Island Retro Gaming nothing wrong with doing it either way, i did this mod some years ago. if you leave it on that pad it wont affect the fram chip at all it will save and hold save data fine with or without a coin cell in , it's more to save battery for the date setting it would seem if anything. that said not personally sure that those 5v lines are isolated from each other at all as they probably have the same source.
@@BigBoss-ik6sv yeah this. The old SRAM chip is connected to the battery and stays on when the console is unplugged (to hold the saves). If you connect the FRAM to pad 28, likewise it stays powered by the battery when the system is unplugged (but it doesn't need to). So by finding an alternative 5v source that doesn't remain powered by the battery when the console is unplugged, you reduce the battery drain significantly (now it only powers the RTC when the console is off) and increase the coin cell life.