This second part continues the documentation of the Philips CDI 310 EMC/EMI Testing Unit with a detailed examination of the mainboard and the system ROM. It focuses on the electrical differences compared with the CDI 350, including removed components, altered circuits, and other modifications. If you have not read the teardown yet, you can find it in Part 1.
Originally being a CDI 350 mainboard, several components are not required in a CDI 310 — particularly those associated with the missing display and speakers. In addition to parts that were removed or replaced, many solder joints have been manually reworked, including most connectors and ground points.
The Philips CDI 310 EMC/EMI Testing Unit is a transportable CD-i player with an integrated floppy disk drive, showing multiple signs of being a pre-production unit built for EMC/EMI compliance-testing. It appears to have been custom-built out of a CDI 350 rather than manufactured as a standard retail model.
Advertised as the Philips Transportable CD-i System with floppy disk drive, the Philips CDI 310 likely never reached the market in significant numbers. According to Philips’ product introduction sheet, the model was positioned as a professional multimedia platform combining a CD‑i player, floppy disk drive, and pointing device for institutional or professional use. The floppy drive was intended for storage and updating purposes, making the system suitable for training, presentations, and POI/POS installations. Only a handful of 310 units have surfaced so far, which makes the one documented here particularly special.
There are two main types of NVRAM+RTC solutions for Philips CD-i players to store user data and settings: 8 KB and 32 KB. They have a built-in battery that powers the non-volatile memory and the real-time clock. These two types are not compatible and thus cannot be replaced with each other (at least, not without hardware and/or ROM modifications). There are other types, also 8 KB and 32 KB, but they concern only very few and rare devices. I point them out when necessary.
In this article, you’ll find information about the different NVRAM types and their alternatives. You’ll also find tips for repair and upgrades. If this looks familiar to you then you have probably read parts of it in my Modifications for Philips CD-i Players article before. Since the NVRAM section grew so large, I’ve completely rewritten it and will continue to update it in its own article.
This is an attempt to collect all known and available modifications for Philips CD-i players in a single article. Consider it a work in progress – I will add new information from time to time. Please give feedback if you find an error or want to add something to this article.
Due to the plethora of different models, versions and revisions of CD-i players that have been sold under the Philips / Magnavox or entirely different brands (OEM), it is virtually impossible to create one big list that contains every player. I chose a different approach with several lists to cover most of the hardware combinations: Available modifications, mainboards, and video encoders.
