420 that says "please insert your access card" with card in receiver

[skinerd]

Check the solder connections the the card slot, particularily the switch on the back side, but all connections should be suspect. I have seen a couple receivers that someone soldered something to the card slots and the solder job was poor at best.

[bangbus]

Check the cardslot. Also some poorly designed emu interfaces will overload the smartcard interface chip (tda8004T) located under the cardslot.

[TheSlider]

I've had a bad run of 420's off fleabay with bad cardslots... Skinerd told me the switch routine a long time ago and the way I fix these is if the contacts for the slot switch are bad, broken, etc... try soldering a piece of kynar wire to the ground pin/broken lead (pin that is parallel to the row of slotpins, innermost underneath the slotpiece itself) and solder the other end to the ground pad next to the JTAG connection's ground...

After that you'll never have a problem again!

TS

[bangbus]

The TDA8004T does not require programming. It is a 28 pin small outline IC located right under the cardslot. The cardslot has to be removed to remove the IC. First check that you have continuity between the cardslot and the IC. You have to remove the top half plastic cover of the cardslot to measure. Check the switch contacts on the cardslot as well as cleaning the cardslot springs to determine first if it is the cardslot. You should check to see if you get +5Vdc (clean, non fluctuating) at cardslot 1 spring (pin 17 of TDA8004T) with the IRD powered on. If you don't then the chip is shot. That is about as far as you can get with a digital meter. The other lines need to be scoped to determine if there are any problems with the chip.

[bangbus]

You can order this chip through your local RCA dealer. I just got mine today (2 weeks). Part # is RCA 243446 and cost me $12.50 cdn