Atomiswave Dissection Photos and Other Minor Info

quoth09

War Room Troll
Joined
Jan 6, 2008
Posts
156
Since nothing like this seems to be on here, and I took mine apart today to remove the battery, I felt like posting this. Why remove the battery you ask? I hate batteries; I don't care to come across my board 2 years from now and find out it is dead due to a stupid battery that has exploded everywhere, not to mention the clean up, just so I can save high scores or settings that can easily be changed back.


Either way, If you have anything to add to this, please do so by posting. I will add to it / correct as necessary. There isn't a whole lot on this forum about the Atomiswave, but this first post pretty much covers it all, and a few other things.

It's worth noting that after you remove the battery, aside from killing all the settings saved and the book keeping, the time gets reset to February 16th, 1952 at around 5:20 PM.

Little known fact: The metal base of the system has a double purpose: Aside from the fact it has mounting holes to be secured in a cabinet, it is also a GIANT heat sink for the 2 processors, which you will see on one of the later photos, as the sink pads are placed just right on the metal casing to be where the custom Sega CPU and SH-4 is at on the bottom of the main board (you can see the heat sink pads in my images below).

Aside from using the 2nd DIP to enter test mode, you can also use the standard switch you may already have in place. You can also use the start button on your setup to go through the test menus, instead of using TEST and SERVICE; tap start to change your selection and hold start to select.

Video quality on these using a JROK encoder tends to make the games look like they are running through an emulator in hardware interpolation, even in component video. VGA looks 100 times better. I have no experience with it on a cabinet, but I have pretty much heard and seen the same otherwise.


The system is broken down as the following ports/pin outs:

Top:
Connector closest to the JAMMA area is for the Expansion I/O Cartridge, which is for the Gun connector, 3p and 4p out, and analog connection (steering wheel).
Connector to the far right is for the Communications Cartridge, to link boards/cabinets.
Main center area (square) is the cartridge area/connector.


Front:
Left side, JAMMA+ connector (STANDARD JAMMA; full 5 button setup, pin 25 is button 4, pin 26 is button 5) - not all games on the system use 5 buttons.

Right side:
SW:
DIP SWITCH 1 - OFF (UP) FOR STANDARD JAMMA 15khz
ON (DOWN) FOR VGA OUT 31khz​

DIP SWITCH 2 - OFF (UP) FOR GAME MODE
ON (DOWN) FOR TEST/SERVICE MODE​

SOUND: Volume Dial (rotate to the left for quieter, to the right for louder)

CN3: Stereo and Expansion Serial Terminal Connector (JST 10 pin PHD Connector). Stereo out is amplified for use in powering cabinet speakers.
Pin 1, bottom right, Pin 2 top right, Pin 9 bottom left, Pin 10 top left. Pattern moves from right to left, odd numbered pins on the bottom, like this:

10-8-6-4-2
9 -7-5-3-1

1 - SPEAKER L (+) OUT
2 - TXD OUT
3 - SPEALER L (-) OUT
4 - RXD IN
5 - SPEAKER R (+) OUT
6 - GROUND
7 - SPEAKER R (-) OUT
8 - +5V OUT
9 - NOT CONNECTED
10 - NOT CONNECTED

SRL: ??? (For external modem? Serial Port? Anyone know details on this?) (Male DE-9)

VDO: Standard VGA port (Female DB15 VGA) - 31khz / 640x480 @ 60Hz - turned on using DIP 2
Atomiswave compatible VGA monitor list


Back:
40mm SYSTEM FAN - 3 PIN: 12V DC .06A





CART:




SYSTEM:





You have to remove the serial port (SRL) from the casing to be able to get the metal shield top off. Note the red wire on the cable that connects it to the board - it should always connect to the left side of the connector on the board and the serial port.



The 2 heat sink pads I mentioned earlier for the custom Sega CPU and the SH-4 are shown in the last photo above.


All of the screws and pieces you should have (aside from the outer red shell and the inner metal shield) after you have taken it apart - order from top to bottom, as taken apart:





Pin Out Diagram for CN3 (Amplified Stereo):





You can supposedly tap unamplified Stereo on 2 pins next to the serial port connector, if you are thinking about consolizing the system or to add audio jacks, found here:
L is on the left (also goes to JAMMA pin 11) and R on the right. Both are +. Use ground for -.





Removing or replacing the battery:

The battery is located on the bottom side of the PCB, above the audio sink on the opposite side of the board from the SH-4 and Sega CPUs. Basically if you flip the board over, with the VGA port on the other side and the JAMMA area pointing towards you, the battery is in the upper left corner.

The battery is a standard ML2020, 3V coin type.

Simply snip the posts, or unsolder on the other side of the board to remove the battery.




After you remove or change out the battery, all settings will be reset to factory default, including the time, which gets set back to February 16th, 1952 at around 5:20 PM, as previously mentioned. Unless you replace it, the settings will go back to default every time you start up the system.

 
Last edited:

Xian Xi

JammaNationX,
15 Year Member
Joined
Dec 1, 2005
Posts
27,762
Great thread. I can finally see inside the red box.
 

channelmaniac

Mr Neo Fix-it
15 Year Member
Joined
Nov 29, 2005
Posts
4,316
If you need to replace chips on the Atomiswave main board, grab a scrap Dreamcast for parts. They share many of the same chips, down to the exact part numbers.

RJ
 

K'1981

Kabuki Klasher
Joined
Jan 19, 2003
Posts
128
Nice thread. I have one of these coming in the next few days. Anyone got pics on how it looks on a 15khz monitor? I will be plugging this into a Neo 29 and kinda want to get a feel on what to expect.
 
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