R4 & M3 2nd Batch PCB Redesigned

[Opium]

R4 & M3 2nd Batch PCB Redesigned

Switching between R4 & M3 no longer possible

Switching between the R4 DS and M3 Simply with a little bit of solder will no longer possible if you buy the redesigned second batch of the cards.



A member from the SCDev.org forums outlines the changes between the two batches:

so what's the differences:



new style carrying case for cards with out chain


new microsd card reader, more reliable


new designed PCB, so no more M3 simply and R4 conversion, but it does retain the language conversion.

Thanks to skfields01 for the tip!

Source

 

[BoneMonkey]

i got a 1st batch R4ds with 2nd batch goodies lol kinda glad keychain looks kinda ugly lol

i got a cool blue strap !

 

[Katalyst]

i got a 1st batch R4ds with 2nd batch goodies lol kinda glad keychain looks kinda ugly lol

i got a cool blue strap !

lol, I like the keychain

I don't even have any games to put in the holder and I still put it on my keyring ;p

 

[MaHe]

i got a 1st batch R4ds with 2nd batch goodies lol kinda glad keychain looks kinda ugly lol

i got a cool blue strap !

So did I this morning.

 

[edmundt]

Here's a pic:

 

[Hairy]

Dang, if only theyd replace our 1st Gen MicroSD readers for free

 

[OSW]

man, this R4 is looking pretty good! its tempting me to buy a slot 1 card...

 

[adgloride]

The only reason to redesign them would have been the M3s profit margins.

 

[H8TR]

So happy I got first batch. I'm pretty sure I got the first of Divineo China's first batch.

 

[iamwhoiam]

The only reason to redesign them would have been the M3s profit margins.

Definitely. Also R4 seem to be using the same cheaper crystal too that the M3s were made with. Can someone post a reverse side view of the PCB please?

 

[T-hug]

I'm glad the card reader has been replaced, the one I got with m3 simply is a piece of crap and is already in bits.

 

[111111111]

i got a 1st batch R4ds with 2nd batch goodies lol kinda glad keychain looks kinda ugly lol

Seems you got a mixture - the sd reader is old batch, as is the r4 but the strap is from the new batch.

 

[5uck3rpunch]

I ordered mine a week & a day ago from GamerSection.ca. Do you think I will get the new version?

 

[wuka]

It sounds like if you're desperate though, you can lift the black blob thing (is that possible?) and solder directly on the chip's feet.

 

[iamwhoiam]

that "black blob" fully surrounds the IC. There's no way you can lift it off lol!
basically it's cheaper to make a housing in the shade of ermm "black blob" than it is for a standard chip. you have them in pocket calculators that cost 99pence etc. and the connectors that connect them to the PCB are extremely thin (think hair thin)

 

[cory1492]

that "black blob" fully surrounds the IC. There's no way you can lift it off lol!
basically it's cheaper to make a housing in the shade of ermm "black blob" than it is for a standard chip. you have them in pocket calculators that cost 99pence etc. and the connectors that connect them to the PCB are extremely thin (think hair thin)

100% right, to a degree... the connectors on the chip under that goop (some type of epoxy) have to be connected at manufacture before the goop is applied, and generally all points of the chip are connected to a trace (with smaller than hair wires) stencil that looks like the footprint of a normal chip (even if the connected trace doesn't extend beyond the goop). With a bit of heat (well, quite a bit actually) and a sharp knife it should be possible to remove a bit of that resin to expose that trace stencil (without cutting into the wire, I'd hope).

Wish I had a better camera, I'd have the perfect image to show what I mean.

edit:/ just thought I'd point out exactly how funny I find it that M3 would hack the DS to bits to do whatever the customer wants, then region lock their cards and take wrather serious offense and make further effort to try and keep their devices from doing whatever the customers want it to do. It seems mainly to squeeze an extra $5 out of english speaking people and not give any real value in return for paying more but not speaking Chinese...

 

[jhoff80]

Maybe its because I'm using Vista, but Windows doesn't find drivers for the new card reader for me.

 

[DrKupo]

They can go take their flashcart and shove it the fuck up their ass!

 

[openchip]

that "black blob" fully surrounds the IC. There's no way you can lift it off lol!
basically it's cheaper to make a housing in the shade of ermm "black blob" than it is for a standard chip. you have them in pocket calculators that cost 99pence etc. and the connectors that connect them to the PCB are extremely thin (think hair thin)

100% right, to a degree... the connectors on the chip under that goop (some type of epoxy) have to be connected at manufacture before the goop is applied, and generally all points of the chip are connected to a trace (with smaller than hair wires) stencil that looks like the footprint of a normal chip (even if the connected trace doesn't extend beyond the goop). With a bit of heat (well, quite a bit actually) and a sharp knife it should be possible to remove a bit of that resin to expose that trace stencil (without cutting into the wire, I'd hope).

Wish I had a better camera, I'd have the perfect image to show what I mean.

edit:/ just thought I'd point out exactly how funny I find it that M3 would hack the DS to bits to do whatever the customer wants, then region lock their cards and take wrather serious offense and make further effort to try and keep their devices from doing whatever the customers want it to do. It seems mainly to squeeze an extra $5 out of english speaking people and not give any real value in return for paying more but not speaking Chinese...

M3/R4 first PCB batch had packaged ASIC IC',s second and 3rd batch are using "die-bonding", eg the silicon is connected to PCB with 'bond wires' and covered up with epoxy. It saves the silicon packaging costs.

The epoxy coating can not be removed by mechanical means, but there are chemical's that can take it off, some hazardous things used for chip "fibbing" where part of plastic package is etched off and the die is post patched to fix silicon errors.

not much things todo at home

 

[cory1492]

Die-bonding... I looked for about 10 minutes and couldn't come up with a name for it (closest I got was "flip-chip").

I was thinking more along the lines of a 250-300 degree iron and a good little knife to remove the outer edge of the epoxy to get at the very edge of the template... to provide the trace they removed. If one knew what that chip was (custom jobbie?) it might be much simpler to replace it with one that is in a package via a heat gun and a good knife.