Please help newb with NGH/cart problem

Hi all,

First time poster here and I am hoping that you can sort this out for me. Just recieved my Jap NGH system and New Jap copy of Samurai Showdown 5 today, and the cart doesn't work properly. ( I also got my Jap Metal Slug MVS conversion today, and it is doing exactly the same thing).

When it boots up on the first SNK screen there can be glitching and problems, but then it fades to the neo-geo screen and it all goes away and the sound is fine. The export warning screen is also perfect, but when the games loads to the start screen only the foreground sprites are visible, all the background and main sprites are not and the screen is black. Eg, on Samurai Showdown 5, only the Life bars, timer, and Credits text is visible, with all sound perfect. There are a few horizontal static like scratches on a black background, but thats it. I can see blood when theres a hit, and the screen can flash red or white, but that is it.

I have tried cleaning both the carts and the cartridge slots with Isopropyl alcohol, as well as moving the carts around in the slot, this has all made no effect one way or the other.

When I first contacted the ebay seller in Japan, he said he thought it was a dirty cartridge, and recommended I search here to check how to clean it, after some searching I thought he was right. BUt now that none of that has helped, I can only assume that its something else, so any ideas?

I have tried the 10 volt pow3 neo-geo ac adapter that it came with and says to use on the base of the system (via a stepdown transformer), as well and a genuine Megadrve av adapter that has the same outputs, but they both made no difference. Tried wriggling the AV lead (original neo-geo), made no difference, as well as multiple tv's.

I suspect it may be the av lead/output, and don't want to send this back unless I have too, so should I try opening it up and checking the av out or something? Is this something that I could get easily fixed here, or do myself, (I was thinking of doing the s-video mod down the track, but won't do it if it won't definently fix the problem)?

Any ideas would be very appreciated.....

Sorry about the long first post

No need to apologise for a long post.

Usually new games require lots of cleaning. I mean a lot. There's cosmoline or some other protectant on the contacts of the cart when they're made. I know you've cleaned the games, but try just once more and be somewhat aggressive.

Every new game that I've purchased has been quite stubborn. In addition have you tried inserting the cart, then pulling it away from the connector 1-2MM?

I don't know what the standard electrical codes are in Australia. I know I can use a JPN power supply here in the States just fine.

It sounds to me that either both games are filthy (quite common) or there may be a problem in the video connectors e.g. loose connection (common as well).

There may be a problem on board the neo itself, but that isn't all that common.

Hope this helps

From your post I think the problem is somewhere on your neo gpu, all the graphics you can see are done by the z80 cpu but you cant see any graphics done by the gpu.

Could be a power supply problem also,not setting up the correct power to the system.

Power on your neo without a cart and tell me what color the screen goes:

Razoola said:

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).

Raz

Click to expand...

Also I need to know what board you have so I can point the correct power supply to the system

Does it look like this:



or this:

The missing sprites in both games would seem to point to a palette ram error. This can be caused by dirty carts (missing sprites, not palette ram error).

If you boot w/o a cart and get blue screen (all good!). Try cleaning the cart contacts with a tooth brush and some acetone (paint thinner aisle at wal-mart). Don't get too vigorous, but do get it all clean.

If you do get a palette ram error screen, it can be fixed. Too bad you don't have a universe bios so you could boot past errors and tell us if there was more than one error. Probable causes of the palette ram error are cut traces and bad bits in the ram packs. It is actually fairly common now for rams to start failing, you gotta remember that these systems are 8-15 years old now.

Let us know.

cheers,
-DT

dogtoy said:

Try cleaning the cart contacts with a tooth brush and some acetone

Click to expand...

Be extreamly carefull using acetone, depending on the assay it can melt plastics. And if you spill it on covers etc it fucks up the finish real bad- Id stick with isopropyl alchohol to be on the safe side.

Acetone?

I wouldn't even try it... >_<

Thanks for all the reply's guys, well here's what I have so far:

Magnaflux: Thanks for the idea, it was the only one I saw before I went to bed last night, tried cleaning the Metal Slug again using "contact cleaner" from an electronics store, and while it (maybe?) helped a little, really that wasn't it, thanks though.

Metallizer: I have tried booting with no cart in and at the moment it looks Yellow, (but last night I thought it might have looked green?). Overall I would say yellow is the colour.

Also I opened up the NGH to compare it to the pictures that you posted, and mine is the second picture, so is the Neo-Pow3 the correct power supply?

Thanks to everyone else who has posted as well. So is this something I should continue to look at fixing locally, or should it go back to Japan? The seller has read over this thread, (as I posted the link to him last night so that he had a better understanding of the problem rather than a short description). He said there is no problem getting this replaced, but I don't mind spending a little money if that means I can fix it quicker than sending it back for a replacement.

you have the right power supply for your system.

Just to be sure about the screen color test, the screen you´re looking for appears after a colored screen with some titles, it´s an all one colored screen that stays.

Yup, be sure your reading that screen color correctly. If it is Yellow for sure then there is an error with one on the AES PCB. Its still possible it could be caused by a faulty psu though. Going from what you explain you see on screen with the game that also ties in with the sort of propblem a video RAM problem would give.

I know this will sould like a silly question but are you using a step down converter with the Power supply?

Raz

I forgot to ask, does your system has any kind of sub board or it is just the main board?

Thanks guys,

Tried it again with no cart in (and this time the blue/black "feature" of my multisystem tv turned off, means my background is now black instead of blue, can't remember why I was using that atm...) and this is what I see:

1: Black background with horizontal "fuzz"? listing down the screen like I should be seeing writing but don't.

2: Turns/flashs white for a second.

3: Then turns and stays yellow.

Razoola, this happens using both the japanese power supply in a step-down transformer, as well as using my original sega megadrive supply, it states:

input: 240v ~ 50hz 19W
output: 10V 1.2A
Centre pin negative

Neo-Pow3 states:

input: 100V 50-60Hz 19VA
output: 10V 1000mA
Centre pin negative This is used in a step-down transformer.

Hope this helps. If its the video ram then I'll just have to send it back to Japan then, or is it still able to be fixed locally without going to great expense?

If its going to be overly expensive, or delicate, then I guess I'll have to send it back for an exchange More waiting to play these great games, still not much worse than having them here and not being able to play them....

No I didn't see any sub board, (but I just opened it and looked at the top to check it against your pics)

You either have bad video ram chip(s) or busted trace(s) in your system.

It can be fixed but I dont know anybody who does it in your area.

I second what metallizer says, there is a fault with the AES for sure, either broken trace or faulty RAM chip. I expect both games are good though. Maybe you should look over the PCB for broken traces around the RAM maybe it can be fixed easily. It could be as simple as a lifted RAM pin also.

Raz

Thanks for your help in getting this sorted out Razoola and Metallizer, (and everyone else who replied). I have gone over the unit again and given it a clean up, but it wasn't a lifted ram pin, (and I don't think it was a trace, so bloody small) so at this stage I have to agree that it is a faulty ram chip.

I will quickly check my local area later this morning, but I don't think there is anyone who can service/repair it here for me, so it looks like I'll have to ship it back to Japan. I have emailed the seller, and will let you all know when the unit is replaced/repaired.

Only problem now is that the games are there taunting me to play them and I'll have to wait at least another week before I can play them

Skullmonkey said:

I will quickly check my local area later this morning, but I don't think there is anyone who can service/repair it here for me, so it looks like I'll have to ship it back to Japan. I have emailed the seller, and will let you all know when the unit is replaced/repaired.

Click to expand...

Ah...a fellow Australian member. Seems to be quite a few Australians joining up of late. Okay, there are some people that may be able to fix it for you here in Au. Try contacting Filtek over in Perth: http://www.arcadegames.net/

I sent a broken AES to them a few years ago and they were able to fix it for me. Saves you having to ship it back to Japan. Hope that helps, welcome to the site.

ive got a NeoGeo JP system and its the second board pic.
i used a SNES 240v AC to 9v AC on my Neo...and i got funny black colours then white and then a plain blue screen.

is my system ok? or is it dead?
also if i got a generic PSU with
INPUT: 240V AC
OUTPUT: 9V DC 1200mA
and a negative tip

would this fix the problem?

i bought this system from JGN.

lachlan said:

ive got a NeoGeo JP system and its the second board pic.
i used a SNES 240v AC to 9v AC on my Neo...and i got funny black colours then white and then a plain blue screen.

is my system ok? or is it dead?
also if i got a generic PSU with
INPUT: 240V AC
OUTPUT: 9V DC 1200mA
and a negative tip

would this fix the problem?

i bought this system from JGN.

Click to expand...

A blue screen is what you should end up with if no game is in the unit. That means all the selftests passed at least.

Raz

i went out and bought a 100v - 260v power adapter that can handle up to 1.5amps with a selection of 3V to 12V DC and also came with custom plughs and polarity changer.

i set the polarity to negative and set the voltage to 9V DC and my NeoGeo powered up and i got to play my FIRST game on NeoGeo... KOF96!
worked and played like a dream

the adapter cost me 40 AUD T_T ...well worth it thoguh

Hey guys,

Just thought I'd update you all and let you know that I got my exchanged Neo Geo unit back from Japan yesterday, and it works a dream . The seller was extremely helpful, and returned it via 3 day EMS, (the same way I sent it to him), which is what resulted in such a quick turn around. He was also most apologetic, which is just great.

The amazing thing is, I'm hard pressed now days getting service anything like this from ANY local traders in Australia, be they large companies or smaller business's; yet I got this marvellous service from an Ebay store located in another country! This is what happens when you deal with people who share your passions, and are active in the same hobby/activity as you. I've worked in retail now for over ten years, so I now how truely rare this sort of after sales service really is.

I would also like to take this chance to thank Razoola and metallizer for taking the time out to really help out a newb in trouble.

Skullmonkey said:

Hey guys,

Just thought I'd update you all and let you know that I got my exchanged Neo Geo unit back from Japan yesterday, and it works a dream . The seller was extremely helpful, and returned it via 3 day EMS, (the same way I sent it to him), which is what resulted in such a quick turn around. He was also most apologetic, which is just great.

The amazing thing is, I'm hard pressed now days getting service anything like this from ANY local traders in Australia, be they large companies or smaller business's; yet I got this marvellous service from an Ebay store located in another country! This is what happens when you deal with people who share your passions, and are active in the same hobby/activity as you. I've worked in retail now for over ten years, so I now how truely rare this sort of after sales service really is.

I would also like to take this chance to thank Razoola and metallizer for taking the time out to really help out a newb in trouble.

Click to expand...

We're glad you got a working Neo! Enjoy it!

It'll bring you many more years of enjoyment!