NEOSD MVS Support thread !
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aha2940
AH, A, COLUMBIAN!,
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I do not think I mentioned having trouble with the tool, Raz. In fact, I am not a user of it, my question was more from a technology stand point, to know if it was considered to open source the tool or if it will be kept closed source, that's all.
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I know where you were coming from, that is why I mentioned rot, in the grand scheme of things it makes no difference the platform you have access to. If it was open source you would expect the source to be available yes? The lack of it kind of answers your own question for the moment. Maybe they make it open source, maybe not. Its a simple tool so it makes not difference really either way.
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@fensiko... just come into chat pal... or send me a PM...
xROTx
PS... Give me 24 hours... I will have it done... I am sorta busy
Rot, buddy, take it easy. I'll shoot you a pm sometime after Christmas. I'm very patient about these things.
I'm mostly annoyed with myself for being unable to get the program up and running when everyone else seemed to have almost no problem.
Rot
Calvin & Hobbes, ,
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manic23
n00b
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So I finally got my NeoSD for Christmas, but being the mild retard that I am I put it in the wrong way round in my Omega MVS (MV1C). There is no arrow on the board or the case so was confused as to what way to put it in.
I soon realised and corrected it. I managed to load a game and everything seems OK, but do you think I am likely to have done any as yet un noticed damage to either the MVS or NeoSD?
What a total dumb noob I am
I soon realised and corrected it. I managed to load a game and everything seems OK, but do you think I am likely to have done any as yet un noticed damage to either the MVS or NeoSD?
What a total dumb noob I am
GadgetUK
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If it's working I wouldn't worry about it! Obviously its better if you put it in the right way around lol, but my understanding of the pinout on MVS carts is the ground is on the outer edges of the boards with +5v bang in the middle. So if you accidentally put the cart in the wrong way, most of the time it's not an issue. Obviously that means that the other pins (data, address, clocks etc) ultimately get connected to the wrong places, but typically that doesn't do any damage for a short period of time.
neodev
Neosd Tech
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Yes, you are right. The power pins are symmetrical so you can plug them backwards and there will not be current flowing backwards through the cart. Also, on startup, the buffers are set to input, with OE disabled, and the flashes should have OE disabled too, so it shouldn't be a big issue, and as the clock pins will probably not be mapped to something that changes, the FPGAs won't exit their reset state to enable them, but that's not risk free.
So, in short, it shouldn't break if plugged backwards but it's not something I'd recommend trying. It can not only damage your cart, but also your MVS board, imagine the MVS board driving a pin to 5V and the cart driving it to 0V, that's not good for any of the 2 sides. The same can happen with an original cart.
Also, the cart should have a white arrow (a white triangle actually) on the back of the NEOSD-MVS-CHA board. On horizontal 1 slot boards, the arrow should go underneath, and the chips and led should be visible. For vertical 1slot (MV1C and consolized 1Cs), the arrow should be in the same side than the jamma/controls connector. For multislot, it must match the arrow printed on the MVS PCB.
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GadgetUK
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Thanks for clarifying =D Yes, a bad idea to put it in the wrong way - consider yourself lucky if it survives OK and don't do it again
manic23
n00b
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Thanks for the reply guys, and for reassuring me! It all seems to work OK game wise, the only small thing is that if I go into test mode, I get a message saying "hardware test failed on Calendar" or words of a similar nature. I have unibios 3.3 is that normal?
GadgetUK
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If you are getting a hardware failure test on calendar (check was Raz is saying - it sounds like you have the unibios set to enable hardware test - and thats actually a good thing to have enabled imo), the calendar error could indicate a fault with your MVS. Try flipping all the DIP switches off (or is it on, I forget) and boot that way - it should display 'WORK RAM TEST' on the screen (that test will clear the BRAM). Leave that on for a few seconds, then power off, put your DIP switches back as they were and boot the system up again. You might want to re-enable the hardware test in unbios again just to allow it to test the calendar again, to see if the error has gone. If it hasn't gone you might have a problem with the clock chip, crystal or connectivity around the battery backup area.
EDIT: Note - I seriously doubt that would be related to you putting the cart in the wrong way around btw, it will be coincidence.
EDIT2: Also note, that if the clearing of BRAM fixes your error (or if anyone else has a BRAM related problem in future when using a Neo SD) - Note that if you've got the cart set to auto load and save BRAM, then you could keep getting the same error after loading a game where the BRAM was corrupted and it auto saved it - if that makes sense? You could go around in circles thinking you've got a HW fault related to BRAM but what's happening is the corrupted BRAM would keep getting restored from file. Strictly speaking I wouldnt expect a corrupt BRAM to give you a calendar error, but I have seen wierd calendar problems related to corrupt BRAM in the past - things like the date going totally nuts (like FF/01/1996 or 40/01/1996 as the date).
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poodude
B. Jenet's Firstmate
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Hey guys,
I am having a heck of a time trying to get the NeoSD to load up consistently on my motherboards. I can eventually get it to work as bare pcbs if I keep inserting and reinserting it. I've checked that all the pins line up, I'm running right at 5.0v, and have tried 4 different psus, 2 motherboards, and 2 different memory cards. I get the same result on each setup.
Cabs:Astro City, Egret II, Egret 29, home built supergun all running at 5.0v
Motherboards: MV-1FZS (unibios 3.0 & VMU), MV-1FS (stock JPN bios)
I am running out of ideas as all of my mvs games and other motherboards have no issue. I thought at first maybe the NeoSD pcb is thinner, so I bent in the pins on my motherboard for a tighter fit. This doesn't appear to have had much effect.
I've taken a few videos to show you what I'm experiencing:
MV1-FZS
MV1-FS
Sorry for the dark crappy picture quality. I have put the NeoSD in a chinese multicart shell. Is this anything a firmware update can fix? Please let me know if there is anything I can try.
Edit: I also wanted to mention I have tried separating the boards and reconnected them again. This has had no effect. It feels like somehow its not getting a good connection as my other boards work fine, and I can get it to work as a bare pcb if I keep reinserting it multiple times.
I am having a heck of a time trying to get the NeoSD to load up consistently on my motherboards. I can eventually get it to work as bare pcbs if I keep inserting and reinserting it. I've checked that all the pins line up, I'm running right at 5.0v, and have tried 4 different psus, 2 motherboards, and 2 different memory cards. I get the same result on each setup.
Cabs:Astro City, Egret II, Egret 29, home built supergun all running at 5.0v
Motherboards: MV-1FZS (unibios 3.0 & VMU), MV-1FS (stock JPN bios)
I am running out of ideas as all of my mvs games and other motherboards have no issue. I thought at first maybe the NeoSD pcb is thinner, so I bent in the pins on my motherboard for a tighter fit. This doesn't appear to have had much effect.
I've taken a few videos to show you what I'm experiencing:
MV1-FZS
MV1-FS
Sorry for the dark crappy picture quality. I have put the NeoSD in a chinese multicart shell. Is this anything a firmware update can fix? Please let me know if there is anything I can try.
Edit: I also wanted to mention I have tried separating the boards and reconnected them again. This has had no effect. It feels like somehow its not getting a good connection as my other boards work fine, and I can get it to work as a bare pcb if I keep reinserting it multiple times.
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GadgetUK
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It does sound like a dirty slot or bad connection on the slots! Also note (and I don't think this is relevant - but worth checking anyway) - check that the uSD hasn't come out of the slot or is making a bad connection with the cart.
On my 1FZS I had to solder the ground strap onto the crystal (on some boards its glue on and not making a connection between strap and crystal), but that didn't relate to getting a cross hatch - I just had bad CRCs all the time before I applied that fix. Your voltage looks OK, but is it a clean 5v supply (I am clutching at straws here, I am sure its probably clean).
EDIT: Might also be worth carefully separating and re-connecting the two cart boards from / to each other. Just check they are aligned properly before re-testing and be careful - take your time doing it.
EDIT2: I just read you tried different PSUs, and you've reconnected both boards. Is the white arrow facing the inside of the MVS slot properly (arrow to arrow)? Have you tried the boards outside of the shell, just to make sure the shell isn't interfering with the uSD slot or the boards interconnect in someway? Worth doing that to rule it out.
On my 1FZS I had to solder the ground strap onto the crystal (on some boards its glue on and not making a connection between strap and crystal), but that didn't relate to getting a cross hatch - I just had bad CRCs all the time before I applied that fix. Your voltage looks OK, but is it a clean 5v supply (I am clutching at straws here, I am sure its probably clean).
EDIT: Might also be worth carefully separating and re-connecting the two cart boards from / to each other. Just check they are aligned properly before re-testing and be careful - take your time doing it.
EDIT2: I just read you tried different PSUs, and you've reconnected both boards. Is the white arrow facing the inside of the MVS slot properly (arrow to arrow)? Have you tried the boards outside of the shell, just to make sure the shell isn't interfering with the uSD slot or the boards interconnect in someway? Worth doing that to rule it out.
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poodude
B. Jenet's Firstmate
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Yes, I made sure the arrow was matching up and I've visually looked to see the pins lining up with the cart connector. It just seems weird its so finicky to get it to run when I can casually pop in a regular mvs cart and have it boot immediately as the video shows. I was hoping the shell would align the boards better and make it boot easier when in fact the opposite is true.
Taking the board out of the shell gives me more tolerance to move it around in the slot and I can eventually get it to work. It's just a frustrating experience I was hoping not to have to deal with. The power should be just fine with all the different psu's I've tried. I even tried them with and without a Japanese step-down converter. We run at 120v in the US, where as the step-down drops it to 100v.
I haven't had any crc issues, and when I get it to run as a bare pcb it appears to run perfectly. No lines or glitches.
Taking the board out of the shell gives me more tolerance to move it around in the slot and I can eventually get it to work. It's just a frustrating experience I was hoping not to have to deal with. The power should be just fine with all the different psu's I've tried. I even tried them with and without a Japanese step-down converter. We run at 120v in the US, where as the step-down drops it to 100v.
I haven't had any crc issues, and when I get it to run as a bare pcb it appears to run perfectly. No lines or glitches.
neosd
Neosd Developer
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Hello,
You may be inserting neosd into the shell bad, let me explain myself :
The plastic piece that separes both pcbs can be inserted into two different ways, but only one is correct.
Also, watching how you insert the cart on your seccond video, its not working for sure. From my experience you have to insert the cart firmly in one movement or it will not work, this applies to most of my original mvs carts aswel, if you insert the cart a bit and you start moving it, it will not work for sure. Take in mind that neosd connector is brand new and original carts have a lot of use, so the connectors on original carts insert more easy.
Thanks
You may be inserting neosd into the shell bad, let me explain myself :
The plastic piece that separes both pcbs can be inserted into two different ways, but only one is correct.
Also, watching how you insert the cart on your seccond video, its not working for sure. From my experience you have to insert the cart firmly in one movement or it will not work, this applies to most of my original mvs carts aswel, if you insert the cart a bit and you start moving it, it will not work for sure. Take in mind that neosd connector is brand new and original carts have a lot of use, so the connectors on original carts insert more easy.
Thanks
GadgetUK
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Following on from neosd comment above (I've had that same problem when I first got an MVS, if the spacer was the wrong way around it forces one board to make a good connection and the other board makes a loose connection). If you've previously bent pins in your sockets that's not a good thing either - you should never have to do that unless your sockets are completely shot.
As neosd suggested - make sure the PCB spacer (the one in MVS cart shell at the bottom of the PCBs) is the right way up, the spacer has a larger gap on one side and a shorter gap on the other. You could compare to an original cart if you have one to hand.
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