help! bad sound on mvs cart

hello, i just bought a mvs cart localy,used, and theres some "bad spots" where the sound gliches and occasional static buzzes...my question would be is this the cart or my board?is this type of "wear" typical of older used carts?should i over look this "flaw" or should i take it back?

HEy there,
This is probably your call on should you take it back or not... I personally can't stand a bad cart. Two things to look at though. One, what game is this? There are a few that have some patches of bad sound (MS3 for one) that is normal. Also, how are the contacts? Do they look croded, scratched, dirty. Try cleaning the cart with an art-gum and some compressed air. Open the neo geo cart, and rub the art-gum on the metal contacts. This will remove any corrosion and dirt... don't worry the art-gum is very gentle and is used frequently to clean electronics. Blow the dust away with the compressed air, do not touch the contacts or wipe them... it is best not to make contact with them since oils on your hands will coroude them again, and towels could scratch or score them (ok that is harder, but it could happen). When you have the cart open you may want to verify that everything is SNK official and you do not have any flash ROM chips in there... see, the number one sign of a bootleg game is bad sound Just FYI.

-Nick

If you are only having problems with that one cart and it is always in the same sound spot I would think you might have a Bootleg. take out the 4 screws on the mvs carts and open it up. if you see EEPROM chips (chips with a little glass window) then it is a bootleg and probable is degrading. If not you can try cleaning the connectors, but if the sound gliches are always in the same spot then it is going to be a MVS cart problem more then likely.

If you have a multi carts system try to change the place of your cart to see if there is not a problem with this slot.If you have only one slot try to hear if the bad sounds don't come at same time.If they come all the time,perhaps it's a board problem.

Yeah take the screws off and look to see if you have a bootleg game. Hopefully you won't and it will be just a cleaning problem. take a look at this link to see the whole problem with bootlegs. It is brought to you by Ryogeo.


its a good article and woth reading.

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Look me bouncy!!!

thanks everyone....the cart is baseball stars 2, and im looking into the bootleg possibility rite now...something i thought was wierd with the cart was the serial number on the side,,,since i have only seen them on top.but i hope its not a bootleg,if it is im taking it back..

oh,another odd thing was the tittle sticker was placed over another,so it looks.And from looking through the vents,from what i can see it looks official..but im timid of opening the cart because it will damage one label if not both?..I havent opened any carts before.

You can unscrew the four screws and gently lift apart the case just enought to pull the two boards out without so much as damaging that sticker on the front. The seoncd label is nothing new, a lot of the carts I have have new labels on them (video connections does this a lot) I am guess it is because the original label was either cut up (serials removed) or was just in bad shape. It does not mean this cart is a bootleg however, you will have to open the thing up to know for sure... but it is your call. If you are not happy with the game and you do not want to open it, I would just take it back... Just my thoughts on it,

-Nick