Broken Neo Geo AES

Cisco · Apr 29, 2005

Hello! This is my first message here, as I have registered now

I'm Spanish, so I will try to write as good as I can...

I arrived here via google but haven't found a possible solution or something to my problems.
I adquired a non-working Neo Geo yesterday, and after testing and opening it, I have no clue why it doesn't work. I knew that it does not work when I adquired it, in fact someone gave it to me, so no problems with that.

When I put the game cart (I only have one, Fatal Fury Special) I see garbage on screen, based on 8x8 (I think) tiles on a random color. It's really similar to what I get for a sec when I startup my Neo Geo MVS... only that on the AES it remains there, and I can't do nothing more.

By reading some of the posts here, I have seen that someone had the same problems when he tried to change his bios for another one. In my system, the bios haven't been tried to change. Also, there are no signs that someone tried to open it before, and I see no signs of physic damage on the board...

Does someone have any idea of can tell me things I can check or try? Does it seem worthless to try to change the bios?

Any help will be apreciated :glee:

ttooddddyy · Apr 29, 2005

Welcome Cisco
Have you cleaned the neo socket and cart connections ?

Cisco · Apr 29, 2005

The cart is new.

I did clean all on the board, included of course the slot connections... but no luck

metallizer · Apr 29, 2005

insert the cart, pull it a few millimeters and see if works.

Cisco · Apr 29, 2005

I tried that too... no luck here :oh_no:

Superfamifreak · Apr 29, 2005

Could be a bios problem. I had the same thing happen to me, but just sold it off as spares as I couldn't be bothered trying to repair it.

metallizer · Apr 29, 2005

Are you using the original powersupply that came with the system?

What happens when you turn the system on without a cartridge?

Razoola · Apr 29, 2005

Sounds like a Bios related problem to me also. Basically with no game in at power on you should see a blue screen.

Raz

Cisco · Apr 29, 2005

Yes, I'm using the original adaptor. As I'm in europe (spain), I bought a 220 to 110 converter to be able to plug in the 110V adaptor, because it's a JAP AES. Related to that, many people here in spain that use JAP AES told me I can use the power adaptor from Mega Drive (european genesis), which is 10V and 1.2A, while the Neo Geo one is 5V 3A. I haven't done it for safety, as if the system isn't working well now, I will not try to damage it more :crying:

. But if someone can confirm me it will no damage my AES, I suppose I can use it on the future, if I repair it

When I turn it on without cartdrige, I get a kinda blue screen with some glitches (lines) that difuminate into an all blue screen in about a sec. For what I have read around here before posting, I also thought (and wished

) it's something bios related.

Isn't any way to test for sure if it's a bios problem?

In case it's the bios, I've seen some tutorials around here about how to change it with the universe bios. I have to desolder the original one, solder a eeprom slot and then put there the new eeprom with the new bios.
It's expensive to buy the eeprom programer? It's possible to do it in stores where they program PC bioses?

Also, thanks to all for so many answers in few time. Poeple here rocks! :buttrock:

C.A.R25 · Apr 29, 2005

Cisco said:
Hello! This is my first message here, as I have registered now
I'm Spanish, so I will try to write as good as I can...

I arrived here via google but haven't found a possible solution or something to my problems.
I adquired a non-working Neo Geo yesterday, and after testing and opening it, I have no clue why it doesn't work. I knew that it does not work when I adquired it, in fact someone gave it to me, so no problems with that.

When I put the game cart (I only have one, Fatal Fury Special) I see garbage on screen, based on 8x8 (I think) tiles on a random color. It's really similar to what I get for a sec when I startup my Neo Geo MVS... only that on the AES it remains there, and I can't do nothing more.

By reading some of the posts here, I have seen that someone had the same problems when he tried to change his bios for another one. In my system, the bios haven't been tried to change. Also, there are no signs that someone tried to open it before, and I see no signs of physic damage on the board...

Does someone have any idea of can tell me things I can check or try? Does it seem worthless to try to change the bios?

Any help will be apreciated

I bet your the guy that got it on ebay for $16 something right? I wanted that unit for a shell.

Razoola · Apr 29, 2005

Can you confirm this.....

If you turn it on with no cart in you get a sort of blue in the background but with garbage... If you turn it on with a game in you just get garbage with _no_ blue background.

Its the above statment correct?

If so then I think the problem is not with the Bios because its actually working to get the blue color in the screen. Its possible the Bios is still faulty but it could also be related to dead video RAM.

Raz

Cisco · Apr 29, 2005

I have not bought it on ebay, i get it on a spanish forum C.A.R25

Razoola, I get blue garbage with some lines that fastly disapear so all is blue if I turn it on without cart.

With cart, I get garbage, generaly blue, but they seem tiles...

Do you think that if I do some shots with the capture card you can tell something preciser?

Dead Video RAM sounds VERY BAD and hardly repairable, isn't it? :annoyed:

metallizer · Apr 29, 2005

do you get any game sound or the game doesnt boot at all?

metallizer · Apr 29, 2005

btw, the megadrive powersupply is not compatible with your system do not use it.

Razoola · Apr 29, 2005

It may be worth trying a different power supply first. From the sounds of it it does seem to be operating correctly when no cart is in which would at least rule out the bios. Sounds like there may not be enough power when a game is in.

Also what kind of blue color is it? Is it a sort of sky blue or a royal / dark blue? some screen shots with and without cart could be nice.

Raz

Cisco · Apr 29, 2005

It doesn't boot at all, it only shows stand still garbage. No sounds at all.

I'm at work, I can't do screenshots now, but to describe what I see precisely, when I turn on the console without cart I see a blue screen with vertical darker blue lines that on less than a sec difuminate and dissapear, so I only see the blue (kinda purple but blue) background.

If I insert the cart, when I turn on I get a messed screen with tiles. There is no movement, the tiles stand there. The only color I see is blue. Tiles with forms like japanese signs, etc, all done with diferent blue tones. (I telling this for what I remember, I tried this last night, and there are 18:54 now here).

Also, reset button does nothing, and if I turn off and on, I get another set of randomly generated tiles. All in blue.

Wish the explanation helps...

Razoola · Apr 29, 2005

Cisco said:
It doesn't boot at all, it only shows stand still garbage. No sounds at all.

I'm at work, I can't do screenshots now, but to describe what I see precisely, when I turn on the console without cart I see a blue screen with vertical darker blue lines that on less than a sec difuminate and dissapear, so I only see the blue (kinda purple but blue) background.

If I insert the cart, when I turn on I get a messed screen with tiles. There is no movement, the tiles stand there. The only color I see is blue. Tiles with forms like japanese signs, etc, all done with diferent blue tones. (I telling this for what I remember, I tried this last night, and there are 18:54 now here).

Also, reset button does nothing, and if I turn off and on, I get another set of randomly generated tiles. All in blue.

Wish the explanation helps...

Is the kinda purple but blue you see like this smiley :mad_2:

or more like this smiley :eek_2:

.

Raz

Cisco · Apr 29, 2005

Hahahaha, I think that like the second one! :P

That's why I said 'kinda purple'.

The only other power supply I can use is the mega drive one. The person who gives me this AES used a Mega Drive supply to play while the console worked. I know about other people using that supply and using the AES without problems, but I thought it's better to use the original one...

metallizer · Apr 29, 2005

Does your NG board looks like this:

or this:

you dont even need to open the system, just look at the green variation and some of the chip placement around the cart slot area.

Razoola · Apr 29, 2005

Ok I have just done some checking through the AES bios and have got the following info (this all may in an AES manual but if not some may find intresting). Basically with the normal AES bios, if you power on the system with no game it the system does a self check and the result is shown as a colored screen.

Here are the color codes....

Code:

Blue    = All tests passed (does not test z80).
Red     = WorkRAM error (0x100000 region).
Green   = PaletteRAM error (0x400000 region).
Yellow  = VideoRAM error (programmed through custom port).
Pink    = Bios selfcheck error (0xC00000 region).
Cyan    = Memory card error (only tested if card in unit and blank).

So basically if your getting the blue color screen with no cart in then all is ok with whats tested. If your still seeing the blue color with tiles over the top with a cart in then it means the bios isn't seeing that the cart is inserted and is still doing the test. The reason you see the tiles is because the system now has some graphics data it can display. all of this does mean that you can rule out a Bios problem I think.

From all of this I would say presently the most likley fault is either with the cart socket, maybe either dirty pins, bent out pins or bad solder poin on the socket / broken pin. If not their, maybe there is a problem with the cart you are trying. It's also possible that sound may be failing but I think this is an outside possibility at present.

Raz

Cisco · Apr 29, 2005

I have the second one. It's the model 6, according to the board and to the fact that the serial number is more than 200.000. I opened it yesterday, so it's a little late to not open it :P. Now I'm not in front of it cause I'm at work, but I read yesterday somewhere that on 6 + boards, the bios is located at the right of the slot. That's how I focused it when I tried to see if it seems physically damaged or something, and it's like the 2nd photo you put. I examined the board and physically all seems correct, included the manufecturing soldering of the bios.

EDIT: I have seen the post of Razoola now. I only have that cartdrige, but it is new, and the Neo Geo have been given to me as not working, so well, I assume that the cart is not the problem... I will post screenshots anyway when I can made them (tomorrow I suppose), so you can confirm your theories. If it could be the slot, what do you suggest me to doo?

Razoola · Apr 29, 2005

Cisco said:
I have the second one. It's the model 6, according to the board and to the fact that the serial number is more than 200.000. I opened it yesterday, so it's a little late to not open it :P. Now I'm not in front of it cause I'm at work, but I read yesterday somewhere that on 6 + boards, the bios is located at the right of the slot. That's how I focused it when I tried to see if it seems physically damaged or something, and it's like the 2nd photo you put. I examined the board and physically all seems correct, included the manufecturing soldering of the bios.

EDIT: I have seen the post of Razoola now. I only have that cartdrige, but it is new, and the Neo Geo have been given to me as not working, so well, I assume that the cart is not the problem... I will post screenshots anyway when I can made them (tomorrow I suppose), so you can confirm your theories. If it could be the slot, what do you suggest me to doo?

Well your going to have to have a good look over the PCB (part side and solderside) to see if you can see any damaged traces etc. An idea is to scan both sides of it (if you have a scanner) as it can make some brokem traces easier to see.

Raz

Cisco · Apr 29, 2005

OK, I will try to. Now that you menction it, I havent unscrewed the board from the bottom plastic part, so I haven't had a look below :kekeke:

I will look for it this weekend and If I have no clue I will post here some scans.

At this point, thanks for all!

metallizer · Apr 29, 2005

does you neo have any kind of sub board or is it just the main board?

if not, looks like you were gifted with the wrong yet original power supply :buttrock:

the 5V 3A is used on the first version of the board and their revisions (1st pic in last post) the second version of the board runned with 9V to 11V and 1.2A to 0.7A depending on the revision (2nd pic).

For now you should use the megadrive powersupply as it is closer to the real PSU specs of your system.

you should also re-do all the cartridge testing and the no cart system test with the MD power supply.

Cisco · Apr 29, 2005

I don't think so, I mean, my Neo Geo itself have written below that I have to use the PRO-POW with 5V and 3A... and it's written on the same part the serial number is written. Its more than 200.000, and it means it's a version 6... I will try the Mega Drive adaptor, but I except same results...

Broken Neo Geo AES

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