Bad CRC in FF Special - Cheaper to fix or to replace? (Boston)

[FalcomAdol]

I've got a Fatal Fury special with one EPROM in the EP1 slot. The cart is calculating an NG CRC in the ROM Region in Universe 2.3, retested in different slots on my MVS.

I presume this could be because of corruption in the EPROM, the EPROM has the normal paper sticker over the window, but these things happen.

Everything looks factory, no indication it's a boot, no funny wires or bad soldering jobs, also the game seems to work, so it may be only minor corruption, it's not a "Fatal" problem.

How much would it cost to investigate/repair? It's a super common cart, but if someone local was willing to do it for less than replacement cost, that would be kind of awesome.

Thanks,

Jeremy

 

[Xian Xi]

Is there a problem with the game itself? Just because it fails the CRC doesn't mean anything if there is more than one version of the rom and the version you have hasn't been dumped yet. But if yours is the common version and it fails CRC then that would affect the game in a way. It could affect a lot of things in the game.

As for a fix, it would just require a newly burned eprom with the correct data and it would be a drop in replacement. The EP1 is a 27C4002, you can purchase a new programmed one for ~$10.

 

[bustedstr8]

For the time, price of gas and the eprom you might as well just buy another cart.

I can be pursuaded with iced coffee if you really want to repair that cart.

I have a few 27C4096 on hand which I think is the same pinout.

 

[FalcomAdol]

Ok, I'll go forward with the rose-glasses assumption that this is actually a big-fix minor-release version (thus EPROM)

Thanks,

Jeremy

 

[NEO-GEO man]

Pull that EP1 out and it should work fine without it. Id do that before you do ANYTHING else.

You may need to change some jumpers too, youll have J1, J5, J7, J10, J12 on now, you will want to have only J5, J7, J10, and J13 on. Try just removing the chip first, then go from there.

Look here: http://www.mvs-scans.com/index.php/File:Fatal_fury_special_set1_b1_front.jpg

And then here: http://www.mvs-scans.com/index.php/File:Fatal_fury_special_set2_b1_front.jpg

 

[malignantpoodle]

A $20 cart give or take. Why bother repairing... unless of course it's something you just want to do. If you enjoy messing with it, then repair. If you just want a working cart, just find another.

 

[Xian Xi]

Pull that EP1 out and it should work fine without it. Id do that before you do ANYTHING else.

You may need to change some jumpers too, youll have J1, J5, J7, J10, J12 on now, you will want to have only J5, J7, J10, and J13 on. Try just removing the chip first, then go from there.

Look here: http://www.mvs-scans.com/index.php/File:Fatal_fury_special_set1_b1_front.jpg

And then here: http://www.mvs-scans.com/index.php/File:Fatal_fury_special_set2_b1_front.jpg

Just an FYI, that EP1 is a patch to the program rom. I don't know what the changes are but a patch usually indicates a fix.

 

[BIG BEAR]

I had a soound rom go bad on a Fatal Fury Special I have long ago. I'll see if I still have the PCB'S.
BB

 

[NEO-GEO man]

Just an FYI, that EP1 is a patch to the program rom. I don't know what the changes are but a patch usually indicates a fix.

Yeah i know, but i had one here that didnt have that EP1, and i couldnt see a difference. I looked yesterday at the MAME ROMs for that one, and all you get with set 2 is that EP1, which to me means that P1 and P2 will be the same, so i still reckon its worth a shot.

I had an AOF 2 AES cart that went bad and it had an eprom EP1 in it too, removed it and swapped a couple jumpers and the cart is perfectly good again

 

[FalcomAdol]

Just an FYI, that EP1 is a patch to the program rom. I don't know what the changes are but a patch usually indicates a fix.

My assumption has been that the EPROMs indicate a rework. One or more chips were bad in the factory for whatever reason, and they drop in an EPROM in one of those two slots then jumper it to repair it and make it shippable.

However, I figured that a "factory second" cart should have the same CRC as a "first quality" cart.

Alternate possibility is that they bugfixed it during the run or in a secondary run.

I don't know anyone who worked on the line so who really knows for sure.

 

[NEO-GEO man]

Your assumption in this case is only partially correct. In this case, the EP1 is what makes the game "Set 2" and not "Set 1" Its not to replace a bad chip, the game still needs P1 and P2 or it wont work.

 

[Xian Xi]

It's up to you, if you are having any problems in game you can remove the EP1 assuming that's the bad chip. Just don't forget to set your jumpers like mentioned before.

I wish the patch was documented as to what exactly it fixes.

 

[NEO-GEO man]

Would be interesting to know, cause i did have 3 different FFS carts for MVS at one point, 2 had that, and 1 didnt. I have it on AES, but i dont feel like opening it up to see if its got that or not. I couldnt ever see anything different between the with and withouts on the MVS though, so who knows!!