Another problem (work ram error)

[Dji]

When I turn my cab on, the following appears:

WORK RAM ERROR

ADDRESS WRITE READ
00101818 5555 5575

What the hell is that? I'm getting f'n pissed off at all those problems, and this may be the worst one yet.

Um... yeah. So is there anything I can do? I don't know the first thing about this. Thanks in advance.

 

[Razoola]

Looks like one of the ram chips on the neogeo has failed. Do you get the same error every time you power on or do the numbers change each time?

Raz

 

[Dji]

It's always the same number. The cab worked quite well just a few days ago... it's the first time this happened to me, and now it won't go away.

 

[Dji]

Anyone? What can I do? I'm stuck with a useless cab and useless carts as it is...

 

[Dji]

I'm sure one of you guys can help me out...

 

[mainman]

Don't panic. If your not use to electronic troubleshooting I would suggest just changing the work ram chips. These chips are highly vulerable to electrical surges so they tend to go more often then any other part on the board. And I am willing to bet these chips or one of these chips is your problem and not likely is it a related chip or broken trace.. Can you remove surface mount components, if so I could sell you the ram chips you need if you can not atain them in Canada. How many slots is your cab? If you have uni-bios in your cab why not try bypassing this problem.

 

[dogtoy]

If you don't have a uni-bios in it, put one in immediately. Now that I have a unibios I would never replace a ram chip without booting past the error first (via unibios). THis is invaluable! I once bought a board to repair, only got pallete ram 1 error w/ a us bios. Put in the uni bios and pallette ram 1, pallette ram 2, problem with clock, z80 communication error. I think that was it. I decided not to try to fix the board and sold it for parts.

Without the universe bios I would have fixed the pallette ram, then the other pallette ram, and after that I would have been like "uh where is the clock chip?"

Bottom line, being able to boot past errors for testing rocks!

-DT

 

[omnedon]

I decided not to try to fix the board and sold it for parts.

Note to self, do not buy busted Neo boards from dogtoy.

 

[Dji]

Thanks for the replies, guys. I was getting worried. Now at least I know it's not a desperate case!

Don't panic. If your not use to electronic troubleshooting I would suggest just changing the work ram chips. These chips are highly vulerable to electrical surges so they tend to go more often then any other part on the board. And I am willing to bet these chips or one of these chips is your problem and not likely is it a related chip or broken trace.. Can you remove surface mount components, if so I could sell you the ram chips you need if you can not atain them in Canada. How many slots is your cab? If you have uni-bios in your cab why not try bypassing this problem.

I'm crap at electronics, but I have a few friends who could do pretty much anything such as soldering, etc. if necessary. Of course if there's an easier way, then all the better! So how would I go about changing those chips? I don't even know how to remove the board from the cabinet (although I haven't tried this yet, and I figure this should be pretty easy, right?). How much would that cost me? Anyway, I have heard many good things about the uni-bios, but I didn't know it could do such a thing. What's the deal? Oh yeah, and my cab is a four-slot.

If you don't have a uni-bios in it, put one in immediately.

This might be a good idea... but will it work, or will I need to change the chips anyway?

Thanks guys.

 

[Decepticreep]

if you arent comfortable with electronics, i suggest you dont put the unibios in yourself at all. you have to seperate the 2 boards and the bios chip is on the bottom board, you also run the risk of scrathing the board if you dont remove the chip properlly. whatever you do though, be very carefull and never work on your machine when you are tired or really pissed off. check with razoola about the rom chip error. he is a genius.

 

[dogtoy]

if you arent comfortable with electronics, i suggest you dont put the unibios in yourself at all. you have to seperate the 2 boards and the bios chip is on the bottom board, you also run the risk of scrathing the board if you dont remove the chip properlly. whatever you do though, be very carefull and never work on your machine when you are tired or really pissed off. check with razoola about the rom chip error. he is a genius.

Working when you are tired is not so bad, just not when you are really really tired, becuase then mistakes happen. Also don't try working on any boards if you are tired and have taken any stimulants (includes lots of caffeine) because you will be shakey and you WILL make mistakes soldering. It's hard to solder when your hand is vibrating.

cheers,
-DT

 

[Nightmare Tony]

From teh higher number, its an internal RAM error rather than a broken trace. Its the lowere battery RAM, its on lines d0-d7, if that helkps.

 

[Dji]

As it turns out, none of my friends can solder such precise stuff. One of them suggested that I bring the necessary parts to a random modchipper... what do you guys think of that? As I understand, soldering will be necessary... right? Or is there some other way?

Dji

P.S. I've cleaned the board, but it hasn't helped.

 

[dogtoy]

Anyone who is capable of installing modchips should be able to do this. It would be better if it was someone you knew or who a friend could vouch for. I wouldn't send my neo off to some random modchip.biz place and hope to get it back intact.

cheers,
-DT

 

[Dji]

I'm back! I've been pretty idle on the matter, so I can't bring good news yet... I wonder if anyone knows someone who could help me with this in the Montreal area. It would be much appreciated. Also, I would gladly buy the necessary stuff (chips, etc.) needed to resurrect the cab. The problem is, I don't know exactly what I need. Thanks again, guys.

Dji

 

[El Capitan]

My personal thought - when the hardware is so cheap, how much of your time is this worth?

I have had 2 six slots with problems and a 4 slot with problems. The 4 slot I tried for ages to fix, in the end I just thought sod it, and bought a one-slot.