Blazing Star with graphical glitching during intro

Hey all,

Friend of mine asked me to see what you thought the likelihood of fixing a B-star that has graphical glitching only during the intro on certain frames during the opening attract slide show.

Obviously, it's not a big money cart, but the intro is definitely one of the nice features of the game. I've tried to clean the contacts multiple times, I've opened it up had a look and I didn't see any rust or rot on any boards/chips.

Thoughts?

Post a pic of the glitch.

How did you clean the cart?

Try the cart in another slot.

And try the cart on another NEO board.

Post some nude pictures of the boards.

shadowkn55 said:

Post some nude pictures of the boards.

Click to expand...

bout time Athena's Pimp! showed up.

I've cleaned the cart several times with q-tips ( approximately 12 q-tips) and windex, then isopropyl alcohol, then clear amonia.

Here are some pics of the naked boards:








Here are some test videos I made of the intro glitching
First test using AI CMVS via RGB into Framemeister

Next test using AI CMVS via composite straight into led tv

Test using Neo Candy with 2-slot mobo slot 2

Lastly I ran the test in Slot 1 and got a seemingly random clean run that I could not duplicate after removing the cartridge and re-inserting into slot 1 and got glitching again :/

Are there any places you'd consider reflowing on the boards? Any dry or cracked points where the ROM chips are soldered in place?

ballzdeepx said:

Are there any places you'd consider reflowing on the boards? Any dry or cracked points where the ROM chips are soldered in place?

Click to expand...

I could try that, but I'm sending this out tomorrow as part of a larger sale. I'm kind of looking for diagnosis here. My buddy is getting into MVS carts so I sold him all my dupes for super cheaps. This is the one cart that was giving me problems. It seems very intermittent the game itself appears to play fine, just the opening sequence and sometimes the ship select when played with a framemeister. I'm not charging him for this cart, but I'd like to give him some information on what could be wrong and potential course of repair.

Get a Pink or White eraser and clean the edge connector on the cart boards.

Then retry the cart.

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Also, if the cart still glitches, and you have a second BS cart handy, then mix and match the prog and cha boards. Try and isolate the glitch to a specific board.

Do a CRC check of the program rom with the Unibios. Those glitches are rather odd.

I used the pink eraser and got a clean run, then I took the cart out and put it back in same issue.

I mixed the boards with another Blazing Star and it would seem that the problem is coming from the second board with the roms.

I also did the CRC test and all checked out ok.

You'll have to check for cracked/cold solder joints on the CHA board. If there are none, you'll have to desolder the roms and verify them one at a time with an eprom programmer.

Get an old tooth brush and some rubbing alcohol or some unscented dish soap and clean the problem board (CHA board).

Focus on the chip legs. Make sure these are clean. Both front and back.

And MAKE SURE the board is COMPLETELY DRY before re-testing.

Blow some air around the chip legs to make sure there is no water hiding under the chip.

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If that doesn't work, then start re-flowing the chips.

Use a soldering iron to re-melt the solder around the chip legs.

Just touch the chip leg with the hot iron for a few seconds, the solder will melt and go liquid, then remove the iron, and the solder will go cool and get hard again.

The Big Black Roms, with the legs running though the board, will be the easy ones to re-flow, first.

(The hard ones will be the surface mounted chips, so save those for last.)

And make sure you do NOT create any solder bridges while reflowing.

And make sure you do NOT cut any traces while reflowing.


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Also, keep your desoldering braid, de-soldering pump, liquid flux, fresh solder, and chisel tip handy.

You just may need it if you come across a nasty looking solder joint or if you decide you're brave enough to take on those little surface mounted chips.

Thanks very much everyone for all tips and advice!

I've sent this off today to my friend along with the 12 other games, and have shared the link for this thread with him. This should be a big help to him getting B-star ironed out.

Thanks again everybody, I appreciate the help!