memory card write protected

[Victor Von Doom]

AES3-5
Unibios 2.3

Friends AES I ended up with long story. said to potentially have a bad memory slot. Got a nos memory card off ebay. If its in system at startup all i get is a unibios failed hardware test for the memory card with no info listed but i can force it to game. Figured hey its old and changed the battery. Same failed hardware test. Booted the memory manager without card put card in and it gives memory card write protected on attempted format or any other option.

all pins look good and reheated memory connection in case of cold joints still same error.

Any ideas to check? if this ends up being mine I will prob send it off for a repair for now its a wait and see.

 

[aha2940]

If you have the chance, try the memory card on another AES/MVS system. Or try the AES you already have with another memory card. Right now, it's hard to know where the problem lies. I had the exact same issue, but reflowing the solder on the AES memory card pins fixed it. You can also try and take a look at traces in the AES, maybe one is broken or something.

Regards.

 

[GadgetUK]

Are you sure the memory card is SRAM? There are tonnes of those PCMCIA / PCCard memory cards which use flash RAM instead of SRAM. There is a switch on many cards on the side to write protect it. It's normal to get the unibios error until the card has been formatted. The best way I found do to that is ignore the error in unibios and load a game, when it then gives you the option to save accept. That's what I've done and it normally gets around that error. With regards to the write protect error, its either its not SRAM, the switch is damaged / in the wrong position, or the socket on the AES / card connection.

 

[pulstar]

If you can't format it then it could be a problem with the memory card slot or the memory card. As said above, try with a different system or a different card on the current system.

Aren't all official Neo Geo memory cards SRAM?

 

[GadgetUK]

Ah, NOS = new old stock, presumably actual SNK card?

 

[Victor Von Doom]

aha2940 read about your issue thats why i reflowed those joints still no luck. Any pins on the bios specific to the memory slot? Haven't spotted a break in trace yet. No access to another Neo as of yet console swap issue with a friend so its awol for about a week or so. Gadget yup new old stock I wish it was a neosavemasta learned about those after buying this, saw your video about the 161 in 1 cart and your fixes awesome stuff there i enjoy this community and all the stuff it does almost more than the consoles themselves. If i get the opportunity I will test the card in another unit. I'll put it in my wallet in case i run into a MVS when I'am out.

 

[Razoola]

I poorly installed universe bios can also cause this error.

This info is taken from NEO-AES3-6 and NEO-AES3-4 revision boards
and should be valid for all boards that have the bios to the right
of the cart slot. The older board NEO-AES which has the bios
above the cart slot is partly different.

* The 43256 (work RAM) closest to P1 joystick port

1----5V
2----GND
3----68000-12 (54), LSPC2 (21), NEO G0 (50)
4----68000-12 (55), LSPC2 (20), NEO G0 (49)
5----68000-12 (56), LSPC2 (19), NEO G0 (48)
6----68000-12 (57), LSPC2 (18), NEO G0 (47)
7----68000-12 (58), LSPC2 (16), NEO G0 (34)
8----68000-12 (59), LSPC2 (15), NEO G0 (33)
9----68000-12 (60), LSPC2 (14), NEO G0 (32)
10---68000-12 (61), LSPC2 (13), NEO G0 (31)
11---GND
12---68000-12 (62), LSPC2 (10), NEO G0 (18), 43256* (19)
13---68000-12 (63), LSPC2 (09), NEO G0 (17), 43256* (18)
14---68000-12 (64), LSPC2 (08), NEO D0 (03), 43256* (17)
15---68000-12 (01), LSPC2 (07), NEO D0 (02), 43256* (16)
16---68000-12 (02), LSPC2 (05), NEO D0 (01), 43256* (15)
17---68000-12 (03), LSPC2 (04), NEO D0 (64), 43256* (13)
18---68000-12 (04), LSPC2 (03), NEO D0 (63), 43256* (12)
19---68000-12 (05), LSPC2 (02), NEO D0 (62), 43256* (11)
20---NEO E0 (59)
21---68000-12 (29), NEO E0 (64), 43256 (10), HC259 (01)
22---68000-12 (30), NEO E0 (01), 43256 (09), HC259 (02)
23---68000-12 (31), NEO E0 (02), 43256 (08), HC259 (03)
24---68000-12 (32), NEO E0 (03), 43256 (07), HC259 (13)
25---68000-12 (33), NEO E0 (04), 43256 (06)
26---68000-12 (34), NEO E0 (15), 43256 (05)
27---68000-12 (35), NEO E0 (16), 43256 (04)
28---68000-12 (36), NEO E0 (17), 43256 (03)
29---68000-12 (37), NEO E0 (18), 43256 (25)
30---GND
31---68000-12 (38), NEO E0 (19), 43256 (24)
32---68000-12 (39), NEO E0 (20), 43256 (21)
33---68000-12 (40), NEO E0 (21), 43256 (23)
34---68000-12 (41), NEO E0 (31)
35---68000-12 (42), NEO E0 (32)
36---68000-12 (43), NEO E0 (33)
37---68000-12 (44), NEO E0 (34)
38---5V (N.C. on NEO-AES3-4)
39---5V
40---5V

Fault checking.


If for some reason the system no longer works then obiously some traces
have broken, check everything.

If the Bios is working but you get a memory card error on power up if a
memory card is inserted and a card protected error while trying to format
a memory card then one or more of the socket to NEO E0 traces have
broken (pin 20 to 37).

 

[Victor Von Doom]

Finally had some time to do more checking on this problem. Ended up being a connection problem between Bios (22), NEO E0 (01). Memory card formats and works just fine now.

Thanks for the help guys

 

[kuze]

I just transplanted the memory card reader from a dead board to my MV-2F today and I'm having a similar issue. My memory card is recognized appropriately and I can see all of the saves without issue via the memory card manager, but I receive a 'card is full' message when I try to save (I think the card actually is full) and if I try to format the memory card (Unibios 3.2) then I receive a 'card is write protected' error, even though it is a SNK memory card.

I tried reflowing my solder points, but it has made no difference. My two slot board has never had a working memory card reader since I received it, so it is possible that there is a trace issue somewhere I cannot see.

Does anyone have a pin-out of the memory card socket found on the MV2/MV2F/MV-IC boards? It would be very helpful in troubleshooting this issue.

Edit: I found the pin-out for the MV-IC, so now I've got what I need to proceed with troubleshooting. Will update this thread if I get it resolved.

 

[kuze]

I was able to resolve the 'write protected' issue in my case by running a jumper wire from pin 15 of the memory card (write enable) to pin 6 of HC32 on my MV-2F motherboard. The root of the issue was a broken trace, as the soldering point from the card reader socket to motherboard was fine.

These were excellent resources, in case anyone has a similar issue:

MV-IC/MV-2/MV-2F Pinout

Memory card "goes to" listing

 

[unofficialitguy]

I just started getting this error using a Neo Save Masta and UniBios 3.0. One of the banks saves and works find but flipping the switch to my main save bank gets this error. Thoughts?

 

[NeoTurfMasta]

I just started getting this error using a Neo Save Masta and UniBios 3.0. One of the banks saves and works find but flipping the switch to my main save bank gets this error. Thoughts?

Its possible the smd resistor that controls the bank switch may not be making good contact. Are you able to see the contents of the bank or does it just error out when you are on that bank? If you want me to check it out, send it back and I can look at it.

 

[unofficialitguy]

Just saw your reply. I PMd you about it. If it's something that I could re-solder, I could look into that before sending it in.