Just got a big red, but it's silent

I just got a big red home from Craigslist. It had a dead 2 slot board in it, I replaced it with my working 4 slot board. The system is booting fine now, and I can play games. The monitor is a little blurry and slightly off center, but there is no burn in or anything. I imagine that part will be fixed with a cap kit.

The bigger problem I am having is, there is no sound. I'm new to the hardware of the actual machine itself (I got a supergun up and running this summer), and I kind of don't know where to begin with getting sound going.

Check the obvious (volume control, speaker, wiring to speaker). Also since that's a conversion, make sure it's wired correctly per Neo-Geo specifications since it's not a perfect JAMMA. If the wiring inside is JAMMA, this will affect your sound.

Chck the sliders on the mobo. Slide them to the right or until satisfied. If still no sound, check the speaker connections. Also play a game to make sure, if you are only watching the attract sometimes the sound is set to "off".

Got it working. Thanks for the "check the obvious" tips, I must have just had the sound way way down, and only turned it up a little bit the first time I tried.

The speaker kind of sucks, so I'm sure I'll want to "upgrade" at some point.

OK, something is definitely wrong. It sounded like half of the sound effects were playing, and then there was a burning smell after a minute or so.

I turned the machine off, and the smell was still going. It turns out it is coming from my laptop, so that's an entirely unrelated issue, apparently. Still, I was really worried about the cabinet.

The sound is all weird, though. I don't know how to describe it, it's like it is playing static for half of the sound effects.

The static for half the sounds only happens in World Heroes 2 Jet. In all the other games, it's like for every sound effect, the volume is the opposite. So what is normally loud is quiet, and vice versa. So I'm getting really loud back beats of music, while most sound effects are really quiet.

I uploaded a video to youtube (well, I'm trying to, hopefully it will be up soon) :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWnLqQQLA0w
Another video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URXIuQVEbRE

kernow helped me out in chat. it sounds like I need a JAMMA to MVS converter board, whoever converted this cabinet did not finish the wiring or something.

I think I need to order this? http://www.jammaboards.com/store/neogeo-mvs-to-jamma-adapter/prod_198.html

Also, I think the burning smell is just the fireplace. I live in an apartment, so maybe the guy above me is using his?

I put in my 1-slot board to test, and the sound is perfect. I'm going to order that converter

Offhand, I'd say the half-sound problem is due to the cabinet having only one speaker when a Neo 4-slot requires 2 speakers for stereo. I know the singles had a switch to switch from stereo to mono but the 4-slots don't have that option.

Thats why I suggested the adaptor, as soon as I saw the video I knew it was a four slot running in a mono or plain jamma cab.

Connect the speakers like this

I'm having similar issues. My sound test works perfectly, but my sound is "inverted" like the OP's in games. I have a full Romstar converted single slot (NEO-MVH MV1) cab with all my test and service credit buttons working. The board itself is in really good shape and there seems to be nothing wrong with any of its components.

The cab itself is wired for stereo already and the two speakers are in working order.

Anyone have an idea of what the issue is? I have an MV1 audio cap kit if that's the case, but I'd like to think of that as the last resort.

Sorry to threadjack - just having similar issues.

I can provide pictures and/or video if anyone thinks it is necessary.

When you say "inverted" are you meaning that the sounds are there, but there is no bass to it?

If that's the case then reverse the wires on one of the speakers. If they are out of phase you'll get no bass.

Well the music is playing, but the sound effects are louder and really jumbled - almost electric sounding. If a video would help - let me know and I'll record one.

The sounds are really high pitched at times and crackly.

EDIT:

I'm pretty sure the issue is the same as in your other post: http://www.neo-geo.com/forums/showthread.php?t=183419&highlight=garbled+sound

Before doing a cap kit on the monitor, check some of the potentiometers. You said it was blurry and off center? There are pots for H-POS, H-SIZE, V-POS, and V-SIZE. That will likely fix the centering problem. On the chassis is a big black part that hooks directly into the tube with a suction cup, that's the flyback. There are usually two dials on it, one is focus and the other is usually contrast. Play with the focus knob and it should sharpen right up. A cap kit would fix issues where the picture collapsed into a single line, or if you get "jailbars", or a significantly curved picture.

Scott

Yeah, I've gradually found more of those little knobs in the cabinet over the past couple days, and now I've got my picture looking pretty awesome.

I couldn't find a knob for horizontal stretch, just vertical stretch, so the picture is slightly wider than I would like, but no big deal.

Google horizontal width coil to find out how to adjust the horizontal size.

Not hard to do, you just need to know what you are looking for.

Just BE AWARE...

You need to use the appropriate plastic tools to adjust the width coil. If you try them and the slug won't turn then LEAVE IT ALONE.

Those slugs get stuck after years of heat cycling. If you break the slug then you'll need to replace the coil. It's FAR easier to live with the picture the way it is than to have to replace the coil.

Also, DO NOT USE METAL TOOLS to adjust the coil. If you do you are sure to break the slug. That slug is made of ferrite - powdered iron and glue pressed & formed into shape. It's brittle and easy to break if you use metal tools.