Diagnosing bad socket job?

[jonnyb]

I cooked my smec yesterday (stupid non-color coded aftermarket battery wires) so last night I socketed my only spare smec, but it doesn't work :bang head

I put it in the car and tested it before I socketed it, and it worked, so I know it was good before I removed the stock chip and added the socket. I don't see any cut or scraped traces and the chip seemed to come out clean and really easy.

Does anyone know how to diagnose where I may have screwed up? I checked for continuity from the bottom of the board to the top of the pins in the socket and each pin seemed fine. Other than that, I don't know what else to check.

I really need a SMEC for SDAC so any help would be greatly appreciated (including offers to bring a known good socketed smec to sdac so that I can buy or borrow it).

Thanks,

Jon

[Tony Hanna]

Really stupid question I know, but have you got the chip in the right way around?

[jonnyb]

Not a stupid question at all, but unfortunately, that's not the problem. I actually second guessed myself and rotated the chip around just to try it and it didn't work. Then I pulled apart the smec that got cooked and looked at the way the chip was in that and it was the same way as I originally had the chip in the newly socketed smec. So I switched it back around to the way I originally had it. If that all makes sense :lol:

Jon

[Tony Hanna]

Ok, just thought it might be worth mention. Sometimes simple stuff like that is easy to overlook.

[mw6886]

You didnt happen to cover up your solder job with anything, did you? Like RTV, or hot glue, or something of that nature?

[jonnyb]

No - I always wait until I know it works before I seal it up with silicon. Why?

[mw6886]

I've seen someone use RTV that was the stuff with the metal in it... yeah, that didn't work out too well. :)

Just checking. ;)

[Directconnection]

Wouldn't you have tripped a fuse or fuseable link when you shorted the cables? Might not be the computer.

[jonnyb]

Wouldn't you have tripped a fuse or fuseable link when you shorted the cables? Might not be the computer.

It doesn't seem like anything else popped because as I said in my first post - I put the spare smec in the car to make sure it worked before I tried to socket it - and the car started up just fine.

[jonnyb]

I've seen someone use RTV that was the stuff with the metal in it... yeah, that didn't work out too well. :)

Just checking. ;)

HA - HA - yeah, I wouldn't think that would work too well :lol:

[87glhs232]

What chip are you using? A factory chip or a burned chip? If its a progammed chip does the cal start at the correct address? Inspect your solder job and look for pins shorted together. You could also pull the socket back out and put it back in to make sure its not shorted under the socket. Look at the small components around the socketed area to see if you knocked one loose. Good luck!

[Directconnection]

It doesn't seem like anything else popped because as I said in my first post - I put the spare smec in the car to make sure it worked before I tried to socket it - and the car started up just fine.

Hehehe... I read your initial post wrong. I thought you said the spare smec you had wasn't working as well. My bad.

[karlak]

Will be happy to check/repair your socket. No cost other than shipping.