Hi,

Yes, I agree that if there is major damage cleaning won't help. But I
wouldn't assume the chip is bad until the board is thoroughly cleaned,
dried, and properly reassembled.

I have no particular knowledge of the "Emotion Engine", but I have
designed several ASICS. From this and test experience, I found that
all integrated circuits, VLSI included, are far more forgiving of
output abuse than I had ever expected. In a low voltage chip with many
IOB's you will find that there isn't a whole lot of power available at
the pins, so you may survive a short without a problem.

It's not like we're going to sell this to a customer or send it to
Mars. It's a just a toy that went through an unscheduled urine test.
Shouldn't we at least read the results properly?


Regards,
Jim

(LASERandDVDfan) wrote in message ...
I'm no expert, but I guess I would look into ultrasonic cleaning
methods.

But no amount of ultrasonic or chemical cleaning will help you if critical,
non-replaceable components are destroyed. Particularly if the Emotion Engine
VLSI was zapped by a short caused by the cat ****.

It may be difficult, if not impossible, to dismount the VLSI from the board as
it is most likely wave-soldered with the mountings concealed. Even if you
could remove it and reinstall a new chip, Sony may not supply a replacement
VLSI to anyone.

If the VLSI core is shot, you have to replace the entire mainboard, which may
end up costing more to do than simply replacing the entire console for a new
one. This is assuming you have a resource for a replacement mainboard of the
type required, depending on the model number. - Reinhart