Carrier Air Wing CPS 1 weird red garbage problem

Hi everyone and anyone. Well, I have a Carrier air Wing pcb here with a weird issue. As it can be seen (s* camera, sorry)



some gfx are corrupted. (this case, some parts of the big black plane are like burning, but there are a lot other gfx which are affected as well)
The odd thing is, sometimes the problem is gone, but after almost a year now, I just don't know what I do to make it look normal. All I know is, once the board gets stored for weeks, the problem comes back. Sometimes I play a little bit... then I stop. Then I come back, the issue gets weaker. Sometimes, I dont know, trying to make it work, it can work OK again. The board is in ubber clean condition. I just can't see any broke track or cold soldering. List of what I already did:
Remove/reseat all the game roms (including the big black chips and everything else socketed) and tested on the go if I could detect the part responsible for it. Nothing, the problem is always there.
Cleaned the board a dozen of times
Swapped the A/B board with a working Magic Sword board I have.
The only thing I didn't was swapping the C board. I mean, I tried, but I didnt know that C boards were not interchangeble (Magic Sword has the exact, same C board than CAW. Dont know why it didnt work)
The thing is... I'm almost searching for
another board, as much it pisses me off buying
the same stuff. It's not that easy for me spending that much of money again, my country's currency sux (1 to $2) as well the shipping. The board is not so easy to find as well.
So please...All relies on the C board, but I just can't make it work with the other one I have. Anyone got the same problem? Aaaw I don't wanna buy another board save money for new games.

Benthrottle said:

(Magic Sword has the exact, same C board than CAW. Dont know why it didnt work)

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I wish I could give you some advice to help. The C-boards have a different graphics chip on them. If you look at the underside the large chip has a CPS-B-16 on CAW, and Magic Sword has a CPS-B-13, unfortunately both are unique to those respective games. Does it help to run the board upside down? Maybe the C-board chip has a weak connection.

jepjepjep said:

I wish I could give you some advice to help. The C-boards have a different graphics chip on them. If you look at the underside the large chip has a CPS-B-16 on CAW, and Magic Sword has a CPS-B-13, unfortunately both are unique to those respective games. Does it help to run the board upside down? Maybe the C-board chip has a weak connection.

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Thanks for the input.I'm afraid that it wouldnt help :/, Tried here and, nothing more than already is. Here is another pic I just took



See, the problem is weaker (only on the tail). What I did? Absolutely Nothing! Just left there inside the cab. Now the problem is almost gone! Really weird. I would'nt mind but, sometimes took almost an hour to play the game properly. I almost don't play it anymore because of that.

Oh, didn't know about the C boards :/

Try tapping the center of the C board while the game is running.
If their are lifted pins on the quad chip you may get it to show this way.
You can also try to find lifted pins on the C with a toothpick and loupe.

bustedstr8 said:

Try tapping the center of the C board while the game is running.
If their are lifted pins on the quad chip you may get it to show this way.
You can also try to find lifted pins on the C with a toothpick and loupe.

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Thanks for the input man. Well, tried here, no changes. BUT, yes, it looks like it's the C board since I managed to screw the thing even more when I lifted the Cb a little bit before trying what you said, so it was like the problem X10000. It's the C board, unfortunately. I quick-checked here but, honestly, I dont have the best eye for seeing things like this. Dont know if a pic would help since it looks so damm clean... it's almost as new, joints, everything. On the other hand, my magic sword is all banged up, but works flawlessly, f* these things :/. Perhaps something could be damaged inside, or, dont know. Guess I have to live with that maybe, until I find another one at a good opportunity :/

anyway, thanks!

You might see if there is a repair shop nearby that can reflow the big chip on the C-board. I wouldn't try it yourself unless you have the right equipment. Good luck.

jepjepjep said:

You might see if there is a repair shop nearby that can reflow the big chip on the C-board. I wouldn't try it yourself unless you have the right equipment. Good luck.

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Maybe that would work unfortunately I dont have the equipment... as well I'm 99% sure at least in my town no one does that. It's another reality things here so... Well... guess it's time to grown some balls and buy serious repairing stuff probably. Keeping this hobby alone, without repairing service nearby, only holding a crappy soldering Iron... it's difficult even to ask for tips :s
anyway, my Super 2 X arrives tomorrow hopefully, at least I can be happy with that

You said you reseated things...but didn't say specifically if you clean and reseated the C board connections.

You can try putting the C board in at an angle or 2/3 the way in. Sometimes this will clear up C board issues.

Benthrottle said:

Thanks for the input man. Well, tried here, no changes. BUT, yes, it looks like it's the C board since I managed to screw the thing even more when I lifted the Cb a little bit before trying what you said, so it was like the problem X10000. It's the C board, unfortunately. I quick-checked here but, honestly, I dont have the best eye for seeing things like this. Dont know if a pic would help since it looks so damm clean... it's almost as new, joints, everything. On the other hand, my magic sword is all banged up, but works flawlessly, f* these things :/. Perhaps something could be damaged inside, or, dont know. Guess I have to live with that maybe, until I find another one at a good opportunity :/

anyway, thanks!

Click to expand...

Yes, reseat the C board as said above. It's a common problem.

Xian Xi said:

Yes, reseat the C board as said above. It's a common problem.

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Thanks guys. Well, I already did the reseating a lot of times but, of course, it's always good to try again. So I spent at least two hours, since today I have some free time (god I'm hungry) reseating, trying to find some spots and everything. So, the first time I booted the game, the problem was still in the same "degree" as yesterday night. So I reseated, again, again, again... different ways, the "original way" which means Gamma Crush the damn board inside the B... and... well, just like past experiences, the problem is almost gone (taking the example of the big black plane again, now it's almost a red pixel on the tail), and that would be fine, that would be 99% perfect... but, I'm almost certain the problem will be back. I played for some minutes (I GOT KILLED! I used to 1cc so easy this game :/ ) ... and, for my surprise, the problem got a little bit worse (the red pixel was a little bit larger now, for example). So... I reseated again... and again... and got back to what it was (red dot). Maybe it was a "cold joint" or something, but hell, I played the game, the board got hotter, and it got worse, so I don't know if that's the case anymore. I'm almost sure the problem will get back after some time, and that's what confuses me, it's like it has some "internal clock" or, the "data is stored for a limited time" RAM kind of thing. BUT, anyway I'll keep the tips in mind, I'll remove and put it back everytime I play. If, "magically speaking", something happens, If I discover a way to minimize the issue, like dancing naked in circles before playing it, I'll bump this thread just for the sake of trying to help someone else. But hey, great tips everyone, much much thanks again

OH, and yeah, I cleaned the C board as well. I mean, it's really really clean. I even tried to redone the some soldering spots/pins on the top, but... no help. But... well, at least now I know it's common issue, and... I can't blame me that much, I treat these things like babies you know, haha, It's really really hard to get one board like these here, so... I try to keep well stored, and everything, but... I dont know when it started, or how... it just, simply. started, and I remember when I got the board by the end of 2011, it was working, yes, but... now I don't know, I used to play so much that time, maybe the problem was already there, and... with this thing of "getting to work well for some time then get bad again", I could not figured until it happened some time later when I tried to play. Never know, maybe it's a question of buying another one, I even bought Magic Sword, it's a game that I really like, but, also, I though I could swap all the boards and maybe figure out the problem, so, I even bought another board ALSO because of that.. and, the problem still there. Funny stuff.

I'm bumping this to add that, after more than 2 years... I've discovered something. When you flip the test switch (last switch) while in game, while also flipping the first dip on the third bank of switches... it "overclocks" the game (at least it doesnt limit the fps anymore). Interestingly enough, flipping the second dip makes the plane invincible. It also shows hitboxes and other data, something like a debug mode. Anyway, whenever I turned on the game after a long period, some sprites appeared with red flickering, sometimes disappearing after a long time running the board, sometimes don't. Turning the voltage to exactly 5V and doing the overclocking thing, the problem vanishes almost instantly. The problem IS the C-board indeed (found a bootleg GnG which luckily uses the exact C-board). Can't say I solved the issue, but at least now apparently is just a matter of flipping some switches whenever I want to play the game. Thanks again to all the people who tried to help back then.