NOW FIXED Lindbergh Yellow low sound level

[Brettster]

I've just picked up a Lindbergh Yellow with VF5 its running ok but the sound is very low, I need to turn up my vewlix amp almost to full to hear anything
I have the lead to the amp connected to the white and red RCA connectors on the sound card. is there some internal sound levels that can be altered? dip settings etc?

* Here's how I Fixed it*

I swapped the op amps over (3 x 8 pin surface mount JRC 4556 A519 IC's), IC5 to IC7
these could be replaced but I didn't have any spare new ones and its unlikely I'll be using this in surround sound mode so I swapped the two tiny chips over as per the arrows in the pic

They are very small and fiddly so dont try this if its your first time soldering

[Brettster]

Is there a PC sound card equivalent that works ok in the Lindy? looks like a basic PC creative labs card!!

[grantspain]

i imagine you have adjusted the volume in test

[Brettster]

i imagine you have adjusted the volume in test

It would make sense that would be the issue but I cannot see any sound levels in test mode
There is a sound test option for the 5 channels but not volume level
Other than the output being very quiet it's working perfectly

[tinchen3112]

As far as i know this is a custom Soundcard which creative build for sega.
i´ve tried already half of a dozen other common creative soundcards, even the Audigy 4 which has the same soundchip like the lindy one, but sadly no one of these work.

[Brettster]

Thanks Frank
I have an audigy 2 in the loft and I was going to venture up there to give it a test, but you saved me the trouble now

[purplec]

Andy is selling these soundcards for a reasonable enough price

[leonardoliveira]

As far as i know this is a custom Soundcard which creative build for sega.
i´ve tried already half of a dozen other common creative soundcards, even the Audigy 4 which has the same soundchip like the lindy one, but sadly no one of these work.

VID(Vendor ID)/PID(Product ID) must be different (EEPROM)... Or at least the PID surely is different. So no brainer a standard retail card will never work there.

[andygeezer]

As far as i know this is a custom Soundcard which creative build for sega.
i´ve tried already half of a dozen other common creative soundcards, even the Audigy 4 which has the same soundchip like the lindy one, but sadly no one of these work.

VID(Vendor ID)/PID(Product ID) must be different (EEPROM)... Or at least the PID surely is different. So no brainer a standard retail card will never work there.

Actually the monta vista kernel supports most EAX PCI Creative sound cards, but Sega are using a custom EEprom firmware, if you take the Audigy 4 value, and reflash the eeprom with the Sega one, it works.

[Brettster]

What's involved with flashing the eeprom on the audigy 4 card? Command line from Windows or desoldering the chip?

[andygeezer]

What's involved with flashing the eeprom on the audigy 4 card? Command line from Windows or desoldering the chip?

Removing and flashing

[tinchen3112]

@ Andy
thx for the Tip!

[leonardoliveira]

Basically, the driver binary used on the SEGA stuff here is programmed to require a very specific PID/VID since it's part of the protection. There's no firmware on the EEPROM, just the information the driver uses to know the capabilities of the card.

Basically it tells the sound card driver the card model so the driver knows what physical connectors the card have installed and will adjust it's behavior based on it.
Similar to how nvidia video cards present themselves to the driver with different sub model IDs which locks or unlocks features on the video driver.

On this case, since it's a embedded system with a very specific use, the driver is programmed to run on a "all or nothing" basis... So, wrong PID/VID? No dice...

[Brettster]

Just a quick update to this issue, I managed to fix my Sega Lindbergh sound card by swapping out the Op Amps
Basically there are 3 x 8 pin surface mount JRC 4556 A519 IC's
as I'll not be using the sound with a sub/centre speaker I swapped the one at the top with the one at the bottom
Now have lovely loud stereo sound
it's a fiddly job with only a soldering iron but as long as you have a steady hand and some basic skills you can do it

Just need to bake my graphics card now as that's showing odd artefacts, or random missing 3D graphics

[Pete]

Impressive fix