[HECnet] VS4000/90: Up and running!

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