flashing zeta blue cam with joker 0.79

[TwinTown]

Originally Posted by jarvis

Just a bit of info for everyone. The latest zeta blues marked CAXX-0101 available from several suppliers have 2 tracks on the circuitboard cut to prevent reprogramming via a cas interface. As others say in this thread, they can be updated using a funcard to v2C272X firmware and accept a BK, but the picture kept freezing with that version of firmware for me. I have however successfully opened up the the Zetablue, soldered wires over the cut tracks, and reprogrammed with joker 0.79 using a cas.

interesting....could u post a tut or a couple of photos

[MortUK]

I'd second that.... Pic's or tut would be really useful..

[80sman]

A picture would be great, if not just a rough description of where the traces are cut, I've got an unflashable zeta blue at home that's I'll dismantle to try.

I'll take pics when I modify it.

Only down side is that I can't get home for a couple of weeks otherwise I'd look at it today.

[jarvis]

Hi Guys, sorry not been around over the weekend. Luckily I snapped some pics when I did the mod so here is a brief description:

Carefully prise open the spot weld on one side of the cam with a small screwdriver. This can be a little difficult, but if you do bend the metal a little you can always straighten it later with a smal pair of pliers. Once open on one side you can slide out the circuit board from within the metal casing. Take note of how it fits in, as you'll have to re-assemble later. Of course if you want you can break the weld on both sides, but i found it wasn't necessary.

Looking at the j-tag end of the circuit board, you should see two tracks cut in the corner next to the atmel chip. These are 2 of the connections going to the j-tag connector. You will need to reconnect these, and there are several ways you can achieve this. I chose to use some fine insulated wire and connect from the legs of the atmel chip to the via holes on the circuit board where the track goes from one side to the other. Don't under estimate how trick this can be, as the legs of the chip are very close together. You'll need a very fine tipped soldering iron. Alternatively you can try to bridge the gap with some fine wire. due to how close the tracks were i decided for the first method.

Re-assemble the cam taking care to get the board correctly located in the cam housing. A small amount of super glue, or a little spot of solder can be used to hold the casing back together where you broke the spot weld. My cam then erased and reprogrammed first time using a cas programmer.

Hope this is useful to people. It worked for me and I now have twin floppy dtv cards with zeta blues, running windows vista mce to an extender in the lounge...
I just have to add my thanks to twintown who helped me out in the early days when i was first investigating hard cams. I'm happy now that I'm able to give back to the group. If anyone would like me to mod their card, let me know.

[80sman]

I wonder if an even quicker way of doing it would be to just use some conductive paint? I've successfully repaired circuit boards with it before.

[jarvis]

Yes I would think that should work, bigest problem would be that the two tracks are very close together and there would be a risk of shorting the two together. You'll notice in the last photo that i've scraped off the green resist from the two tracks as i was originally going to bridge the gap with little bits of wire. In the end i went for the long wires approach, as the ends of the wires are physically located further from adjacent connections, hence less risk of me shorting them out. What ever method of repairing the tracks you use, make sure you inspect for potential shorts before you plug the cam in!!

[SCOOBY_666UK]

Did you use Kynar wire? Or is there any finer wire?

[Cafe.Rcaer]

This is cool - I don't know if any of the "older" members remember, but I had a Blue Zeta that would NOT flash. I ended up buying another pre-flashed.

I've just pulled the unflashable CAM, and lo and behold, the tracks appear cut...

Is the cut the straight line to the South of the chip, or the fuzzy line that's at 45', and sort of South East of the chip?

[Indy]

Originally Posted by jarvis

Hi Guys, sorry not been around over the weekend. Luckily I snapped some pics when I did the mod so here is a brief description:

Carefully prise open the spot weld on one side of the cam with a small screwdriver. This can be a little difficult, but if you do bend the metal a little you can always straighten it later with a smal pair of pliers. Once open on one side you can slide out the circuit board from within the metal casing. Take note of how it fits in, as you'll have to re-assemble later. Of course if you want you can break the weld on both sides, but i found it wasn't necessary.

Looking at the j-tag end of the circuit board, you should see two tracks cut in the corner next to the atmel chip. These are 2 of the connections going to the j-tag connector. You will need to reconnect these, and there are several ways you can achieve this. I chose to use some fine insulated wire and connect from the legs of the atmel chip to the via holes on the circuit board where the track goes from one side to the other. Don't under estimate how trick this can be, as the legs of the chip are very close together. You'll need a very fine tipped soldering iron. Alternatively you can try to bridge the gap with some fine wire. due to how close the tracks were i decided for the first method.

Re-assemble the cam taking care to get the board correctly located in the cam housing. A small amount of super glue, or a little spot of solder can be used to hold the casing back together where you broke the spot weld. My cam then erased and reprogrammed first time using a cas programmer.

Hope this is useful to people. It worked for me and I now have twin floppy dtv cards with zeta blues, running windows vista mce to an extender in the lounge...
I just have to add my thanks to twintown who helped me out in the early days when i was first investigating hard cams. I'm happy now that I'm able to give back to the group. If anyone would like me to mod their card, let me know.

Jarvis,

I've just bought 2 blue zeta and was wondering if your offer to mod them is still available? Is there anyone else who would be willing to mod the card for me? I've never used solder and don't have a cas prog, otherwise I'd give it a go.

Cheers

Indy

[jarvis]

Cafe, On mine the cuts were on the 45degree track, but i'm guessing it could be anywhere on the two tracks that go to the jtag.

PRINCEGRINCH, I just used some thin insulated wire i had laying around, but Kynar would probably do ok.