6 slot video ram error

Furrikain

Furrikain

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I'll cut right to the chase: i can buy a 6 slot board cheap but... it gives the following error:

error.JPG


EDIT (figured i'd actually type the error so this thread doesn't become completely useless after my pic vanishes):

VIDEO RAM ERROR
ADDRESS WRITE READ
000003FE 5555 5554

Can this be easily fixed or shouldn't I even bother?

I don't have the ability to test it myself so I was wondering if this is probably a common problem or more likely an obscure, hard/impossible to fix problem.

In case it means a chip is fried, how easy would it be to solder on another chip and how would i be able to figure out which one is faulty, i have a few 2-slots around which i'd be willing to sacrifice.
 
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Furrikain

Furrikain

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ttooddddyy said:
Here is a tip from Nightmare Tony

http://www.neo-geo.com/forums/showthread.php?t=21047
Click to expand...


And a very good tip too, thanks for the link :glee:

They were talking about "the 8000 ram error" though as if it is a specific error, since this board is spitting out 000003FE as address, should i draw another conclusion somewhere or will one of the two ram chips be fried just like in the 8000 error and i can go ahead and do the pin-shorting test on the chips?

If that's the case, are those ram chips something you can order at a reasonable price in an electronics store (i checked my regular store's site but they didn't list ram chips)

Thanks for that tip though, i just might have to pick up that 6 slot :D
 
Furrikain

Furrikain

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I just had an AIM convo with Nightmare Tony about the problem since i was a little pressed for time and i figured i'd type what he said here too, it might help someone else in the future:

The problem lies in a bad bit in the text-ram, the lower 43256, this is a flatpack chip and it isn't exactly simple to replace.

Well, that's what the man said, and based on that info i think i'm gonna pass on the board.

Oh, he signed off before i got a chance to thank him and in case i don't catch him on AIM anymore and he reads this: thanks for the help man! Saved me some not-so-hard-earned-but-still-nice-to-keep cash :D

On a sidenote: let's convince Tony along with a few others who really know the neo internals to script a webbased database where you can just type in your errorcode and have the thing spit out the answer, i'd buy that for a dollar! :drool_2: ;)
 
MKL

MKL

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I think I could fix it for you if you cover shipping to Italy and back and a small fee.
 
Furrikain

Furrikain

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MKL said:
I think I could fix it for you if you cover shipping to Italy and back and a small fee.
Click to expand...

That's a tempting offer MKL, but something tells me the cost of shipping a 6-slot will be insane. But since you mentioned it, i'm gonna have to check shipping prices though ;) Happen to have an idea what the weight of a 6slot without the metal cover would be, perhaps that would be doable, but if the costs are gonna run up to the point where i might've just bought a working 6slot on ebay, i'm gonna pass :)

Thanks for the offer though, if it turns out the cost is doable i'll shoot you a PM!

Oh by the way, would you be able to get your hands on that text ram flatpack chip? Something tells me it won't be as easy to find as the video ram chips.
 
MKL

MKL

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A 6-slot is indeed a huge beast and shipping is likely to be quite a lot. I know that shipping a 2-slot (3kg parcel) from Italy to other European countries (doesn't matter which) was about 25 euros.

I do have the right video ram chips (62256 SMD type).
 
Furrikain

Furrikain

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MKL said:
A 6-slot is indeed a huge beast and shipping is likely to be quite a lot. I know that shipping a 2-slot (3kg parcel) from Italy to other European countries (doesn't matter which) was about 25 euros.

I do have the right video ram chips (62256 SMD type).
Click to expand...


I'll check into it tonight. If i'd manage to ship it without the cover for about 25€ that might be a possiblity, but otherwise i'm gonna pass. I wasn't really looking for a 6 slot in the first place, just hoped that it might be a bargain, but at this rate i'm just gonna end up paying the average rate for it :)

I'll let you know my decision in this thread tomorrow or something, thanks again.
 
N

Nightmare Tony

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No prob there this morning, Furr, sorry for rushing off, had to get to work (new full time job works out nicely :)

as a general rule, if an error starts out 00000 or 8000 or such bboundary, its a line or chip total. If its in the middle of the chip like the 3Fe, it is most certainly a bad bit within the chip.
 
Furrikain

Furrikain

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MKL said:
A 6-slot is indeed a huge beast and shipping is likely to be quite a lot. I know that shipping a 2-slot (3kg parcel) from Italy to other European countries (doesn't matter which) was about 25 euros.

I do have the right video ram chips (62256 SMD type).
Click to expand...

Sorry for taking a few days, i waited until i had a 2 slot i could throw on a scale and it'd be indeed 3 to 4kg when packaged well, this leads me to believe there's no way a 6 slot would be only a 5kg package (which costs 26€ to ship economy).

I might be able to ask a friend to check the weight of his 6slot with the cover off, but it'll probably still be at least 5kg which would cost me 39€ to send to italy and about the same to ship back i guess, not really a steal anymore. :mad_2:

I don't even know if the board is still available by now, if for some reason the guy doesn't find a buyer and i get around to weighing a 6 slot which turns out to be under 5kg without cover, i'll shoot you a PM, until then it looks like i won't be going for it.
 
U

UncaJJ

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Nightmare Tony said:
as a general rule, if an error starts out 00000 or 8000 or such bboundary, its a line or chip total. If its in the middle of the chip like the 3Fe, it is most certainly a bad bit within the chip.
Click to expand...

First post here, sorry to bring up a month old+ post, but I just acquired a MV-4F that was getting:

Video Ram Error
Address . . .Write . . Read
0000061B . 5555 . . 1555

So from what Nightmare Tony was saying, it should be internal to the chip, not a cut trace and would probably be a surface mount chip??

Is there an easier way to figure out which one is bad than shorting pins? Or am I going to have to short - power on - power off - short next - etc.?

Anyway, thanks in advance! Love the forums so far!

;) :p :D

-Jason
 
L

lill-c

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Best thing to do is to replace the two video rams with sockets and new chips. Its not a hard thing to do if you know how to solder. Removing the chips is the hard part. But that is not that hard. I do have a few extra chips so if you need some I can sell 2 to you. I don't have any of the sockets.
 
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lill-c

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NT is the man! :buttrock: He has helped me out a few times with the old NEo boards.
 
U

UncaJJ

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lill-c said:
Best thing to do is to replace the two video rams with sockets and new chips.
Click to expand...

I thought from what I had read here that that would only work if it was an 00008000 address error?? I made sure I searched around before posting to try and cause as little trouble as possible :)

Someone burned me a UniBIOS so that I will be able to see if there are any other problems, but I won't have a chance to even touch it again until after I get back from my honeymoon 8-14... But if I need those chips too, I'll let you know.
 
U

UncaJJ

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Really? No other help? *sigh*

Well, I guess I'll start working on it a bit and see what I can come up with... :) :loco:
 
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