Holy Grail Reverb Dead EEPROM

Problem:    EEPROM is dead and won't boot
Solution:   No fix
Brand:
Cost new:   110
Cost of fix:0
Age:
Success?:   No

This was both an annoying but also a fun one to solve! Footpedal that came in that wouldn’t generate any reverb like it used to, but all the life seemed to be working in it. Looking at the board, the ASIC that implements the fancy reverb audio processing code gets the right power it needs, it outputs and responds to signals. It receives audio signals from the ADCs and would output something to the DACs but no actual reverb was being applied! Probing around the circuit I find an EEPROM chip that seems fine but I am suspicious. I crack out my Saleae kit and monitor the I2C lines from the ASIC to the EEPROM and see that it’s nothing but sending a RESET signal to the EEPROM.

I figure the EEPROM has given up the ghost and either no longer contains any instructions or code set, or has failed in some other was as it’s still getting power but isn’t getting excessively warm. This unfortunately isn’t fixable, but it’s fun to see my exact theory being displayed in digital logic saying that it’s being constantly reset and can’t operate!