- Joined
- Mar 8, 2002
- Posts
- 3,686
For me I would more guess the weak link in CPS3 is while connecting the cart to the mobo, we all know how MVS / AES games can be in this area so can't a improperly inserted CPS3 cart kill it and be a reason instead?
Not sure what you mean with improperly insterted.
The edge connector on CPS3 is keyed so you can't insert carts the wrong way as you can do with MVS carts (which however are designed so that power and ground pins will match anyhow).
Cart pins not aligned exactly with mobo pins and shorting next pins? (unlikely IMO)
Cart pins not making good contact with mobo pins (due to dirty contacts or cart wiggling)? This is actually a very common thing with cart-based systems but it would only be a possible problem with the "battery swap while game is on" method. That's indeed quite risky and I would never do it without the help of an additional power connection between mobo and cart (wires *soldered* from 5v/gnd on mobo to 5v/gnd on cart). But I don't see how this could cause problems to a cart where the battery has already been replaced successfully.
Sometimes people say that a cart has died but the battery is still good. I wonder if they also check whether or not the relevant power pin on the CPU is getting power. I mean, the diode in between the positive lead of the battery and the CPU could get faulty...