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Magnavox cd-i player 450 save problem

Posted: Fri Oct 20, 2006 10:36 pm
by Trev
My player's save files were erased, and now I am unable to save any games. The link on this board to fix the problem is no longer working. Are there any players that have a removable battery, or some type of memory card? Help!

Posted: Sat Oct 21, 2006 2:12 pm
by Devin
Some portable players do including the SONY IVO-V11 and Philips/Goldstar 370 also a few desktop players like the LG and DVS.

Re: Magnavox cd-i player 450 save problem

Posted: Sat Oct 21, 2006 3:21 pm
by yokohama
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Re: Magnavox cd-i player 450 save problem

Posted: Sat Oct 21, 2006 4:49 pm
by Bas
Oh yes, clever, a link you have to sign up first and such. Moreover, Le Monde du CD-i is also transferring servers after their 2-year contract. So a LOT of material isn't available for the coming weeks. No, let me.

This is easier, although I warn you the 'guide' is not very friendly and easy to perform. But ofcourse, we will help wherever we can...

Step 1: Opening up the CD-i unit and disconnecting the PCB

First open up the case, then remove the video cartridge and the video cartridge compound, remove the cd-drive and disconnect all connectors from the main PCB. Remove the screws holding the PCB and its connectors (at the back of the player SCART, Controller port etc…).
Now you can remove the Main PCB.
Behind the SCART connector (in the CDI 210) you can find the Timekeeper Ram M48T08-150PCI. Where the Timekeeper is located on other players I don't know but just look for a chip called M48T08 - 150PCI.
This 8 kb memory chip has a Lithium battery onboard and this battery holds the memory. If this battery is getting a little old like a year or 10 then the problems begin, losing your high scores and even failing to play some disks or locking up the system (I had a problem with Earth Command not starting and other titles not playing well!). Also a well know failure caused by the Timekeeper is when you start your CD-i player it's starting up in the storage screen saying that the NVRAM is full....

Step 2: Disconnecting the old battery.

Second step is opening-up the Timekeeper and disconnecting the old battery. This is a very tricky job!!! So be warned, you do this at your own risk! And if you don't have experience with electronics DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT DOING IT YOURSELF!
In the cap of the Timekeeper Ram is the xtal and the battery and they are connected with wires to the M48T08.
We can not open the cap so we must drill a hole into the Timekeeper to get to the battery wires. I used a 4mm drill to make the wires visible.
Do this very slowly till u see the 2 wires.
You can't see it good but here I have the wires exposed. The right wire is the plus and the left is the minus. U can measure the voltage from the old battery between the two wires.
So we have to disconnect the plus wire from the battery. I used a 0.5mm drill to do this. Just drill trough the right (+) wire and if it's disconnected right u measure no voltage between the two wires.

Step 3: Connecting the new battery

As a new battery I used a 3 Volt Lithium cell used on pc-motherboards and I also use a holder to place the battery in. If the battery fails in the future you can replace it easily with a new one.
Solder some wires to the battery holder and just connect the +3v to the right (cut) wire and connect the -0v to the left wire. You can put some (hot) glue into the drilled hole so the wires can't get lose easily. The battery and it's holder can easily be placed on top of the Timekeeper with some glue. Now put the cell in and your Timekeeper Ram is as NEW!!!!
Now you can put the main PCB back into the CD-i, connect all wires and test your CD-i player.
If you did it right, your CD-i player works again and stores all high scores and keeps it's time and date accurate.


I didn't include the pictures because I find them useless. Mainly because every player type is different, and this text is based on the 210 only. If you have a different player, it's easy to loose touch once you're in it.

Posted: Sat Oct 21, 2006 4:50 pm
by Bas
So it's already the end of the new CD-i Archive.... dear god.