Help! I think my AES is fu*ked...

I finally found an AES PSU @5v 3A in Sweden's largest electronics wholesale dealer. Now, they have two versions, one where the pin in the power-jack acts as the negative and the outer shell as the positive pole. The other one is reverse. So I ask the guy at the help desk (over the phone) which one I need? He says he can't say but if you bring the machine in they can check that out. I say that i'd be hestinant to bring my AES in but he said that if you chose the wrong one it'd fuck your unit up immediately. Well, I say ok, I'll bring it in, reserve one PSU of each version.
I'm at work and I get off my "shift" at 9pm and that place closes at 6pm so I get my dad to go home and take the AES in so that they can test it.
Apparently, the asshole at the desk said: "WELL LET'S TEST IT THEN"
So he picks one of the PSU's at random and plugs it in and starts looking for the power on LED which the neo of course lacks. He obviously fails to spot it and tries the other PSU version. Nothing there either so my dad buys both to see which one is right. When I get back home to try the AES I find out about the above mentioned and my heart skips a couple of beats. So I say what the heck, he's already tried both of them so I can't fuck it up more. I plug in crossed swords, then I try the PSU version with the positive pole as the pin and negative as the outer casing and I get a garbled screen. Power off. Plug in Samurai Showdown II. Garbled Screen. Power off. Plug in KoF 2000. White screen. Power off. Try other PSU.
No response with that one what so ever. Try the other on again and I get that garbled crap.

Now, what the fuck has happened to my AES? I got it to work with a 6V for a minute or two so I know it's the 5V version.

Can it be totally screwed?

Thanx for taking your time...

// Bhm

i've got the Snk pal plug you can have for as small fee <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0">

woops, that isnt what you need is it. sorry

The official 5V 3A SNK power supply I have is center negative, which means the pin on the inside is negative, and the outside of the plug is positive. That's the one you should be using.

If you're getting nothing but garbage with the proper power supply, well, I'm no technician, but I'd be worried <IMG SRC="smilies/frown.gif" border="0">

The fine folks at !arcade! were able to raise two of my AES systems from the dead. I bet they could do the same for you.

Originally posted by Tiptonium:
<STRONG>The fine folks at !arcade! were able to raise two of my AES systems from the dead. I bet they could do the same for you.</STRONG>

Click to expand...

i believe that Tiptonium is right, that may be ur best bet. if i were u i would try to send it to 'em i know i wouldnt want to loose my precious investment. good luck to ya <IMG SRC="smilies/crying.gif" border="0">

If you know a bit abt electronic, try changing the ecap. They can get blown up if the polarity is reversed. If this is the reason, your neo won't be exactly dead as you can still turn it on, this is because of the bridge rectifier in the circuit.

A fautuation in the power supply can cause funny problem like this.

It all luck, 3 amp is emough to blow out a couple of chips but if you are lucky, it will just be the capacitor. Try it, it cost only a few cents.

Ah great! Winston, if you could get me a parts list and a description of how to do it I am willing to pay you for your troubles. Mail me or PM me if interested <IMG SRC="smilies/smile.gif" border="0">

Thanx a bunch guys... I think I'll try with !ardcade! later.

// Bhm

See ya PM. Any problem,,, email me direct. I working on a 5V set now so maybe we can fix both problem on the way.

Same problem like yours. Ok until used wrong power supply.

The symptom are :-
Power on ok.
Put in carts,you either get a white screen or grabled screen.

I checked my set. Some ecap are out of spec. Use a ESR meter to test...else just change all..

Well, hereby I revive an ancient thread.

It seems as I have made the same mistake as the original poster; by a terrible mistake used the wrong polarity.
I have switched the polarity to negative now, and this is how the AES responds:
It gives sound in the headphones when I turn it on and off.
If turned on with a game inserted, the screen is black with some unmoving grey squares.
If turned on without a game, the screen is black with some moving grey squares.

I would suspect that it is impossible to repair, but someone here might know a way to bring it back to life? As you see it is not completely dead. If someone could describe the process Winton mentioned more detailed it might be worth a try.

Anyway, will the AES take more damage if I turn it on again, just to see how it acts?

All help is appreciated!

Power up your AES without any cartridges inserted and then relay the results.
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I did as you suggested, turned on my AES without any game. Result: A grey screen with some black and darker grey squares moving around on the upper half of the screen for a few seconds. Then it turns all grey.

This means I might have been wrong earlier describing it as black with grey squares. Gotta forgive me for that, the situation is quite traumatic.

I also took a picture of the screen - low quality, but I can mail it to you if it is to any use.

Thanks for helping me!

Edit: The picture:

It looks like the chips labeled CXK5814p-35L (video ram) have been damaged .
You already stated that you receive sound through the headphones so there's no damage to those particular components.
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Thanks, BIG BEAR!
What do you say, is it possible to repair or replace those chips? If so, how much skill is necessary and how much time will it require?
Winston Goh suggested that it might be chip LS271 that was damaged and that it likely is repairable, what do you think of that?

I should also say that it isn´t the typical Neo sound coming out of the headhones, more some buzz.

Video ram issues show up as a yellow screen when no cart is in the system. So this doesn't seem to be the case here. LS271? There's no such TTL chip in an AES, closest thing would be the two LS273 in the final stage of the video circuitry but I don't think this is the problem either the more so since the sound woudn't be affected by that at all. Since you used the wrong polarity you might as well be using the wrong power supply. Can you post a pic of the motherboard and the PSU (the label)?

As I have used the same PSU before without any problems, I would bet on that it is the polarity that has caused the problem.
I´ll try to open it and post a picture of it here.

Thanks.

Okay, here´s the pictures. The one of the PSU isn´t the best I have shot.
(It says 3/4,5/5V - 2,5A. I had it set to 5V.)
Just tell me if you need any close-ups.

That's the wrong power supply for that system. You need a 9v or 12v one. It's impossible to get this system to work with 5v as the voltage regulator needs at least 7v to work properly. I tried myself feeding it 5v and all I got was garbage on screen. So I can't believe that you were using this psu succesfully before the reverse polarity incident.
And the mobo/shell were swapped as the label says pro-pow (= 5v psu) but this ain't the case.

I seem to read that psu also has 7.5v and 9v outputs so that's probably what you were using before. I recommend setting it to 9v.

I´ll be damned!
I think I even had it going on 4,5V once...

I tried with 9V as you suggested. First the screen turns light grey with some yellowish strokes for a second, then all white for a second. And then blank, as if the Neo wasn´t turned on or connected to the TV.

So, what do you say? Have the chances of repairing it decreased?

you should measure the dc voltage on some chip and see if it's getting 5v.

That revision appears to be NEO 3-3. I am using a factory 5v 3a supply.
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MKL: I´ll ask a friend to help me with the voltage meter tomorrow.

Big Bear: Do you suggest that it really is a 5V machine after all? Who is right then, you or MKL?

Thanks to both of you!

BIG BEAR said:

That revision appears to be NEO 3-3. I am using a factory 5v 3a supply.
BB

Click to expand...

the 3-3 revision normally has a 9-12v power input circuit, unlike revisions 3-4 and 3-5 that can be either 5v or 9-12v. If a 3-3 works with 5v it must have some abnormal modification in it, like the 5v daughterboard seen here:

http://www.neo-geo.com/forums/showthread.php?t=170139

Anders' system is a normal 3-3 board.

I defer to MKL but it's just that
I own both versions(normal and daughterboard) and they both operate using 5v 3a.
Here is a photo of the 3-3 I just snapped. The joy ports have plastic broken off and just need to be replaced for cosmetic purposes.
AES revision 3-3 photo

EDIT
Have you tried a different power supply altogether with the 5v 3a (-) polarity specs? Maybe the supply just went bad.
BB