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Mystic_Merlin · Joined: 15 Oct 2007 Posts: 533 Location: Bangkok

I spent the whole week reading all the threads on this forum...and guess what happened? I went for a bit of shopping this Sunday Smile

...

I felt like I needed to extend my copiers collection and I remembered an area near my place (Bangkok) where I spotted some strange clones of SNES backups. I finally got hold of 2 copiers for 15$. One seems like a clone of a Super pro fighter (actually there's a CCL sticker on one screw) and the other is a Special partner...most likely a Supercom partner clone.

Because of the weather in this country, rust appears quickly on electronics if they're not taken care of, so I was kind of expecting to see a lot of it when I opened the cases...

doesn't seem too bad so far...

Aaaarrgh...leaked battery, blown up capacitor (c3) and zener (?) diode near c14...

damn it's dirty...time for some serious WD40 cleaning...the case in the sink with some toothbrush and soap Laughing

Wow this one looks worth, the battery leaked on both side of the pcb and both cartidges slots are ermmm Rolling Eyes

nasty as bird crap...

You can see more pictures including the dsp for the Special partner HERE

Ok so now you might wonder if I tested those machines.
The Supercom NO, since I found it on a pile of junk...and my Super Famicom is back home in Paris.
The Special Partner was tested by the seller on a more dirty US SNES than the copier is (yes...yes trust me these guys love oldies, you can tell...). It was able to display a nice menu similar to the original Supercom Partner but with a gfx logo and the 32MB and DSP displayed at the top of the screen.

I guess these 2 machines will need some extend repairing before I get them to work properly. For the Supercom Partner I'm mostly worried by the damages made by the leaked battery and the cartridges slot. It seems also that the voltage regulator has been injured...but I guess I'll only know once I load a floppy.
Any idea what the little square with 18 soldering points at the bottom of the PCB is for?

Regarding the Supercom Pro 5 I'll also need to run some continuity tests because of the leaked battery but my main problem is the blown up capacitor (some guy put a wrong power supply?) as I'm unable to read on it what are its specs...any idea?
Also the diode near c14 needs to be replaced or just soldering back the leg shall do the trick?

Otherwise I found very little if no info on the Supercom Partner...Why does that device has 2 cartridge ports? Some docs/weblinks would be appreciated.

Thanks Wink

CrackLtd · Joined: 05 Feb 2007 Posts: 239

Awesome stuff, lol. But who the hell treats copiers the way like this. Damn. Due to the leaked batteries i don't think this will be an esay task to repair those units. Good luck anyways!

Mystic_Merlin · Joined: 15 Oct 2007 Posts: 533 Location: Bangkok

Mystic_Merlin · Joined: 15 Oct 2007 Posts: 533 Location: Bangkok

just found some info on assembler...I'll keep digging...

http://assemblergames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16281

Mystic_Merlin · Joined: 15 Oct 2007 Posts: 533 Location: Bangkok

Just a little update regarding those machines. The Supercom is now in Kaz's hands Smile

and apparently it was indeed a clone of the profighter. Same logo, same everthing.

I finally fixed the Special Partner and got a SNES to test it. Only the floppy was defective (the SRAM need to be changed too) and although those drives are dirt cheap, rather than simply change it, I fixed it with a coin... Laughing

Actually I found out the floppy drive's top head was not in contact with the floppy so the coin trick worked only for a while as the weight was not balanced, hence the head were not aligned and some games stopped loading at 80%.
I finally took off the head's spring to bend it as much as I could and now it's keeping the head down properly on the floppy.

The fun story is that I was once more hanging around in my favorite junk market when I spotted a US SNES with another Supercom Partner (apparently an official one this time). The old woman got rid of both for less than 5$...damn I was happy. They looked really dirty but actually only the SNES was not working. The Supercom was crystal cean inside and worked once I fixed its floppy drive. Here are some pics, you'll notice it's the same board as the Special Partner, only a few mods more/less.

As for the functions they have both the same which includes Chinese, Japanese and English menu, Save to memory as long as you keep the psu plugged, ability to play most formats...