headphone jack keeps losing one side on Falcon 030

[STcomp]

I have had a strange and annoying problem with my Falcon. About 3 years ago, I suddenly lost the left stereo output on the headphone jack. It really sucked to watch the Lost Blubb demo in mono. So I spent $200 plus $25 shipping to have a dealer fix it. They even sent me back the tiny stereo amp chip that apparently blew out. Well, it worked fine until...about a year ago the right side of the headphone jack went out. I don't know if it is worth $225 every 2 years to keep the thing running in stereo. I talked to another dealer who claims he can fix it and make it so that it will never go out again, for about $200. Does anyone here have any idea what is going on here? Is this a common Falcon glitch? Just wondering, thanks.

[unseenmenace]

Well its never happened to my Falcon. What have you been plugging into the stereo jack? I wonder if something like a faulty amplifier or a short circuit may be causing it to blow?

[030falcon030]

its happened to 2 of my stereo radios you making my worry abt my falcon

[030falcon030]

The same thing seems to have happened to my falcon, which is extremely annoying as it renders the machine useless for playing mp3s or many games. Does anyone know how I can fix it?

[samf]

I have had a strange and annoying problem with my Falcon. About 3 years ago, I suddenly lost the left stereo output on the headphone jack. It really sucked to watch the Lost Blubb demo in mono. So I spent $200 plus $25 shipping to have a dealer fix it. They even sent me back the tiny stereo amp chip that apparently blew out. Well, it worked fine until...about a year ago the right side of the headphone jack went out. I don't know if it is worth $225 every 2 years to keep the thing running in stereo. I talked to another dealer who claims he can fix it and make it so that it will never go out again, for about $200. Does anyone here have any idea what is going on here? Is this a common Falcon glitch? Just wondering, thanks.

Wow!! I thought I was the only one with that problem!! I forget which of my channels is shot, but it is extremely annoying.

I contacted Wizztronics about the problem and they said they'd fix it for about $250.00!! I'm still mulling over whether to go ahead with the fix or not. For that $250.00 I can pay for the CTPCI and have some left over!

[simbo]

hello

here is the atari falcon audio section schematic

you need maybe a new socket more likely the amplifier LM386n has a dead channel {quite common as it gets warm in use}
you need to take the falcon to bits remove the floppy unit
use an ampliifer phono input turn the volume down to 1 or 2
i marked on the image below a few places to check
youll need to be able to power the machine and run a game or something
if its just the left hand channel you can ignore the right channel
play some audio on the falcon
and test at the two points i marked with circles
with a cable connected to the amp your using
so using the amp as a signal tracer
most often its the socket is mangled up inside it
if this is the case youll get a signal at L38
{behind the socket is three ferrite beads }
you can carefully desolder the existing socket
and replace it with a new gold plated one
youll need to hunt for the exact one in the uk maplins sell this pcb mount socket in gold plate
if you get no signal at the ferrite beed
more likely that chip in the left hand channel u23
is dead and needs replaced
its a surface mount ic and quite an easy one to change
once your sure its this chip simply cut the old one off
with sharp cutters {dont try to desolder it } clean the old pins off and resolder a new one
you can get this chip from RS or Radio shack circuit catalogue etc...
its a standard chip but remember this is a ssop shrik small outline package or sop shrink outline package

again you can confirm this by downloading the datasheet for this ic
most often you can also get the chip free by
asking the makers for a sample
if your stuck i have a few

....

[simbo]

its happened to 2 of my stereo radios you making my worry abt my falcon

check your cables to the amp your using perhaps its the cable
if its a common fault to several items

[030falcon030]

Thanks for your help i will give that a go as soon as i can
When I said about the stereo radios i only meant 2 cheap old pocket radios not like a stereo system or something

[simbo]

as an after thought

you can find the same ic in lots of walkmans and cheeper old tape players {every one ive ever opened uses it}
that use surface mount
an old minidisk or mp3 player
will have both the socket and a chip
to desolder a surface ic like this
you need to buy an antex 17W iron and use a blade tip
total cost of the iron is about £20 or less
also for people with a 25W iron they like and want less power from it
you can place a 1n5407 diode inline with the live supply cable
this halfs the voltage and can also save the tip

http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?Tab ... &U=Strat15

ok but not gp i dont think however looks nicer made

The chip type is LM386M-1 and its an SO M package
http://de.farnell.com/jsp/endecaSearch/ ... 410172&N=0

[stimpy]

The 3.5mm sockets on the Falcon are pretty cheap and nasty! It could well be just that, as Simbo said. What I've done in the past is done the audio modification (remove bass boost/line input level) and used RCA sockets (aka phono sockets) wired directly to the motherboard.