Bad battery cause work ram error?

Will a bad battery cause a work ram error on a 1-slot PCB? It was in the early stages of starting to leak but I see no damage. Gives me a work ram error on boot.

It's possible. Clear the backup ram and then if it still exists do a work ram test by flipping all the dips on and then power the board.

No luck. No matter what I do it boots straight to the work ram failure. Is a battery required to power the work ram?

No.

Battery is required to power up the Backup RAM.

What's the error message? Depending on the error message it could just be a bad RAM chip.

RJ

It says:

Work Ram Error
Address Write Read
00100000 5555 FE7E

Ewww... that's an ugly error.

If you have a logic probe, I'd suggest checking the control lines on the Work RAM chips to make sure they are working properly. If they are, then replace the 2 chips.

Oh, and before you do that, you should check continuity of the CPU Address and Data Bus pins with the address and data bus pins on the Work RAM Chips.

RJ

Specifically which chips are the work ram? Which pins on the CPU would I use to check continuity. Also do I want or not want continuity?

There are 3 sets of the surface mount RAM on most Neo Geo boards (The smaller 1 slots like the B/C are different)...

Video RAM address and data lines are connected to the LSPC chip.

The Backup RAM and the Work RAM address and data lines connect to the CPU.

The Work RAM connects to the +5v where the Backup RAM connects to the battery backup circuit. Measure the voltage on pin 28 to see which chips have power when the board isn't hooked up. (Providing the battery isn't dead on the board) This will tell you which is the Backup RAM.

Go to http://www.datasheetarchive.com and download the data sheets for the CPU and the SRAM chips. This will tell you which are the address, data, control, and power lines. The address/data lines for the CPU, BIOS ROM, Backup RAM, and Work RAM are connected. BUT... not the Video RAM.

RJ