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Posted: Mon Aug 15, 2005 2:32 pm
by cdifan
The battery is non-rechargable and integrated in the chip. Others seem to have successfully replaced the entire chip, though...

Posted: Mon Aug 15, 2005 3:25 pm
by Szczepaniak
I had a look at it. Isn't it quite specialised? Where in the world would I get another one from? If its possible online, could I have the full product name/number? I'm strapped for cash, but will try and purchase one to sort this mess out before picking up a copy of ZA.

Then again, I could just wait until September. ;)

Solution......Bad NVRAM

Posted: Sat Feb 25, 2006 4:42 am
by TerraTron
Hey guys,


I wrote a HowTo: Repair your Timekeeper Ram


Take a look at it here


TerraTron

Posted: Tue May 09, 2006 6:50 pm
by SolCutter
I tried to register there but I get:
Ran into problems sending Mail. Response: 503 5.0.0 Need RCPT (recipient)

DEBUG MODE
Line : 367
File : smtp.php

Is there anyone who could help me. I recently bought a second-hand cd-i and I seem to have the same problem. really frustrating seeing how I had progressed a lot in Laser Lords and now it's all gone. :(

Posted: Tue May 09, 2006 7:03 pm
by Bas
I'm sorry the whole Le Monde du CD-i site seems in-active for a long time. Now I remember I got a mail a few weeks back from someone who couldn't register either. It's a shame, let's hope some of them pay a visit to the forum again and notice the problem.

Let me help you out by posting the text, I'll remove it after Terratron or Omegalfa get their site accessible again:

Does this sound familiar to you?
You want to play you favourite CD-i game and want to start were you've ended the last game, but when you look at the saved games IT'S EMPTY!!! All those days playing and banging your head against the Television-set 'FOR NOTHING!! IT'S GONE!!!

Yep, a typical case of a dead Timekeeper Battery!!!
In this case you can do 2 things Buying a new M48T08 Timekeeper Ram (Price 25 Euro) or repairing the Timekeeper Ram by replacing it's battery (2,50 Euro but a tricky job!!)

Step 1: Opening up the CD-i unit and disconnecting the PCB

First open up the case, then remove the video cartridge and the video cartridge compound, remove the cd-drive and disconnect all connectors from the main PCB. Remove the screws holding the PCB and its connectors (at the back of the player SCART, Controller port etc…).
Now you can remove the Main PCB.
Behind the SCART connector (in the CDI 210) you can find the Timekeeper Ram M48T08-150PCI. Where the Timekeeper is located on other players I don't know but just look for a chip called M48T08 - 150PCI.
This 8 kb memory chip has a Lithium battery onboard and this battery holds the memory. If this battery is getting a little old like a year or 10 then the problems begin, losing your high scores and even failing to play some disks or locking up the system (I had a problem with Earth Command not starting and other titles not playing well!). Also a well know failure caused by the Timekeeper is when you start your CD-i player it's starting up in the storage screen saying that the NVRAM is full....

Step 2: Disconnecting the old battery.

Second step is opening-up the Timekeeper and disconnecting the old battery. This is a very tricky job!!! So be warned, you do this at your own risk! And if you don't have experience with electronics DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT DOING IT YOURSELF!
In the cap of the Timekeeper Ram is the xtal and the battery and they are connected with wires to the M48T08.
We can not open the cap so we must drill a hole into the Timekeeper to get to the battery wires. I used a 4mm drill to make the wires visible.
Do this very slowly till u see the 2 wires.
You can't see it good but here I have the wires exposed. The right wire is the plus and the left is the minus. U can measure the voltage from the old battery between the two wires.
So we have to disconnect the plus wire from the battery. I used a 0.5mm drill to do this. Just drill trough the right (+) wire and if it's disconnected right u measure no voltage between the two wires.

Step 3: Connecting the new battery

As a new battery I used a 3 Volt Lithium cell used on pc-motherboards and I also use a holder to place the battery in. If the battery fails in the future you can replace it easily with a new one.
Solder some wires to the battery holder and just connect the +3v to the right (cut) wire and connect the -0v to the left wire. You can put some (hot) glue into the drilled hole so the wires can't get lose easily. The battery and it's holder can easily be placed on top of the Timekeeper with some glue. Now put the cell in and your Timekeeper Ram is as NEW!!!!
Now you can put the main PCB back into the CD-i, connect all wires and test your CD-i player.
If you did it right, your CD-i player works again and stores all high scores and keeps it's time and date accurate.



I didn't find the pictures particularly usefull and I reckon you can do without.

Again, this will be deleted when people can sign up again, as this is Terratron's property.

Solcutter, if you want to go down this route, we can always help, Just post questions and if possible, pictures.

Posted: Tue May 09, 2006 7:14 pm
by SolCutter
Okay,t hanks, I decided to buy a new RAM seeing how I don't know electronics and don't know anyone who does. I found a site that sells them, but apparently there are two kinds of M48T08 Timekeeper Ram's, one with 100 PC1, and one with 150 PC1? what does this mean, which one do I need?

http://www.st.com/stonline/products/lit ... m48t18.htm#

Posted: Tue May 09, 2006 7:39 pm
by Bas
I don't have the time to read it all for you, but perhaps the specifications of the chip can help you out. Otherwise, I don't know.

Posted: Tue Mar 17, 2009 12:46 am
by nrg78
http://www.st.com/stonline/products/lit ... s/2411.pdf

Check out page 22. In "just" 8 to 10 years it was know to everybody that this would start happening. so... with havent they thought on placing a external batt like CPU's have on their motherboards?!?...

Scrappin and drilling and soldering on a chip's body: I simply don't like the sound of all that...

Did you know that you can frie a chip just my touching it with the soldering iron tip, if it happens to be charged with static?....

Daniel