Magical Drop 3 gone belly up

Ichiban Rei · Dec 29, 2009

Hi guys, I have a japanese magical drop 3 cart that suddenly quit working. I had since removed it from my cab and gave it a good cleaning but it still fails to work. It had given me issues in the past, like loading up with horizontal lines in the screen but usually re-seating it did the trick. Now it's just dead and the no matter what slot I place it in, it's not read. If its the only cart on the MVS, it only loads the test screen.
Any tips would be appreciated, and thanks for looking.

Xian Xi · Dec 29, 2009

I'm almost sure it's your mobo. Make sure you clean the slots on the mobo.

Ichiban Rei · Dec 29, 2009

Thanks! Yea, that's what I had tried first, sorry for not mentioning it. I have 2 4 slots, one with Uni and one stock that I was planning to sell soon. Both react the same way any slot i put it in. Additionally, all my other carts work fine.

Xian Xi · Dec 29, 2009

Hmm weird. A cart shouldn't die like that unless in 1 other case that I have seen happen is that the P1 chip fried. The P1 had a brown square on top of the chip. You might want to open it up and see if there is any obvious damage in the cart.

awbacon · Dec 29, 2009

Did you try a deep cleaning? I've had to take super fine grit sand paper to terminals before to get crap and oxidization off.

Ichiban Rei · Dec 29, 2009

Thanks guys, it's good to know that these things just don't stop working. I'm gonna try cleaning real good. I had tried alcohol before. As far as I can tell, none of the chips are fried. Not visibly anyway and all the solder points seem in tact, no cold spots.

awbacon · Dec 31, 2009

I go from ispropl alcohol (highest concentration you can find...evaps extremely fast) and test. No work = go to the pink eraser. The eraser usually does the job. Once, on an AES cart I bought on here, there was so much crud / oxidation on the connectors, I used extremely fine grit sand paper to remove the grime, and it worked like a charm

Good luck. Tell us how it goes

Nightmare Tony · Jan 9, 2010

If the program eproms died, those can cause issues. I have seen those before. The Neo Geo is looking for an internal ROM text string to ID that it is a cartridge in the slot.

Your problem will be only on the top rom board in the P1 or P2 roms or the edge connector.

Ichiban Rei · Jan 13, 2010

Over the weekend I gave it a good try. I probably spent about 2 hours with alcohol and later an eraser, Thanks Bacon! No luck. It appears something deeper is occuring. The connectors are about as shiny and clean as can be. The cart is just not being read. I was going to take pictures of the board to post but figured there's no real reason to.
I guess I'm gonna have to look out for a good deal on another cart. Its a real downer, as that was probably the "go-to" game in my 4 slot. Always a blast to play.
Thanks guys!

channelmaniac · Jan 14, 2010

If you want to get rid of it, let me know.

Ichiban Rei · Jan 14, 2010

Hey Channelmaniac, you were beaten to the punch, sorry. I had an offer sent to me when I first started this thread.

Magical Drop 3 gone belly up

Ichiban Rei

n00b

Xian Xi

JammaNationX,

Ichiban Rei

n00b

Xian Xi

JammaNationX,

awbacon

Samurai Shodown Swordsmith

Ichiban Rei

n00b

awbacon

Samurai Shodown Swordsmith

Nightmare Tony

*Account control passed, on to Tony's family.Ex Ro

Ichiban Rei

n00b

channelmaniac

Mr Neo Fix-it

Ichiban Rei

n00b