PCM Sound & Stability Fixes Multicarts - 120 in 1, 138 in 1, 161 in 1 and others.

GadgetUK

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Yes, you need to add the 100nF caps where they are missing, and add the 2 x 47pF caps to positions C5 and C6.
 

amx30

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Yes, you need to add the 100nF caps where they are missing, and add the 2 x 47pF caps to positions C5 and C6.

Thank you for quick answer.
fixed pcb´s, i feel a bit louder and also a bass enhanced:
http://subefotos.com/ver/?facfb216bf788a237937429bdef9a025o.jpg#codigos
http://subefotos.com/ver/?e3b1c3a87c2999360dfc841b33017c3do.jpg#codigos
http://subefotos.com/ver/?fe0c17c89b3e1b9d1f40b2beca21207ao.jpg#codigos
http://subefotos.com/ver/?b63219b5a5edb39634ea971282e545e5o.jpg#codigos

Thank you for your research. regards
 
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Did adding a cap to C3 fix anything specific also? Whenever I see people ad caps to their multicarts, they never place one on that spot by the 8 pin harness that connects the pcbs. That always seems to be the one that people leave alone.
 

GadgetUK

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Great it seems to be working, but bass won't be affected at all - the caps are related to digital signals, and in fact there are no audio analogue signals on there at all.
 

GadgetUK

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Did adding a cap to C3 fix anything specific also? Whenever I see people ad caps to their multicarts, they never place one on that spot by the 8 pin harness that connects the pcbs. That always seems to be the one that people leave alone.

Yeah, that one is just optional - not really required, but probably won't do any harm to add it.
 

amx30

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shintoturbomode, thanks for the C3 comment, i only follow GadgetUK instructions(i only know how to solder components:))
yesterday i was talking that the sound was louder and bass too...but i was not right(i feel the difference but noticed something wrong).
Taking Pulstar for reference:
At the Demo, when the explosions of enemies ships i can hear a near distorted sound of that explosion sound...the soundtrack are overall ok but a bit like a "metallic".

After GadgetUK advise that C3 is not really required, i removed C3 and make a test with Pulstar again...and Yes!!!, The Demo soundtrack sounds really clear now(not metallic) and the explosions sounds are now like should to be i think (loud sound but not near distorted).

Removing C3 makes the difference between before and now. So for that 161 in 1 revision in my humble opinion, fill all missed caps expect C3 are the best like both are suspecting. For me sounds Great now!!

Thank you both, regards
 
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Is there anyone here on the forums that can reliably do these fixes? I have both the 120 and 161 in 1 carts and really would like to find a reliable modder that I can pay to do the fixes for me. if anyone knows of someone who can do these repairs, please let me know! Thanks :)
 

ovalfastlx

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In summary, the SDRMPX and SDPMPX bypass caps (47pF) make the biggest difference to PCM sound on all these carts, but its worth doing all of the mods imo.

This has fixed sound problems in many games across all the carts below. The 161 in 1 in general suffers less from the PCM issues, but it IS affected. Pulstar is now fixed on my 161 in 1, as well as Puzzle Bobble, and a few other games which had random sound issues.

138 in 1, and 120 in 1
https://www.dropbox.com/s/nx0fhk0eimacrpi/multicartfix.zip?dl=0

This also fixes Pulstar on the 161 in 1 for me as well =D The 161 in 1 needs traces scratching (like the 138 in 1 does). The 120 in 1 seems to have 2 pads for the caps already.
161 in 1 (150 in 1 also?)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/kdf1bd2fqow6xkv/161 in 1.jpg?dl=0

Here's the link to the thread that lead me to the fixes. http://www.neo-geo.com/forums/showt...mp-Board-Slot-Compatibility-regards-PCM-sound I've posted this seperate thread due to the title hopefully being more useful. People might never look into the original thread. Hope someone finds this useful!
I have a 138 in 1 cart and plan to do this mod. Can you please provide a list of parts needed. I see the pictures but I would like to know the amount caps to order. Thanks man, I appreciate it and your work on this gave me incentive to register to this great forum.

Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk
 

pzlate

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I was still getting some intermittent sound issues on my 138-in-1 even after filling in all the missing 100nf caps. The CHA board only has 8 bypass capacitors for 18 flash proms, so I figured that was the problem. I put 100nf caps on every prom not directly inline with a capacitor and so far haven't had any random volume spikes since.
 
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Cyberosis

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Hey, picked up a new 161 in 1 and did the 100nf caps and 47pf on the c5 and c6 but I'm missing anything on c1 and c2. Any idea what would work there?IMG_4112.JPG
 

GadgetUK

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You would need to trace which pins on the cart edge they are going to. My guess is they could be on clock lines - that being the case, I probably wouldn't put caps on there unless you are getting stability issues. I vaguely remember looking at some boards where they had 470pF or 200pF caps on a couple of the clocks.
 

Cyberosis

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I traced the pins and they go to A17 and A18 on the PROG bottom. Can't find anymore info on the pins though :( . Early on to populate them with 100nf caps but it gave me a calendar error. All the boards I've seen that are close to mine have something there, but I can't quite make it out. I'm at a lose, maybe i'll leave it. Would love to figure it out though if you have any sources.
 

GadgetUK

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I traced the pins and they go to A17 and A18 on the PROG bottom. Can't find anymore info on the pins though :( . Early on to populate them with 100nf caps but it gave me a calendar error. All the boards I've seen that are close to mine have something there, but I can't quite make it out. I'm at a lose, maybe i'll leave it. Would love to figure it out though if you have any sources.

Ah yes, I have seen caps on the upper 2 prog lines. You could try 470pF. To be honest, the only time to consider putting those on there is if you get crashes.
 

ovalfastlx

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Just got done doing the mod on my 138 in 1, now I have the problem where I don't get all sounds. Like for example the music for games like baseball stars 2 or king of the fighters 94, doesn't work, the voices or sound fx and such do work. Any ideas? Thanks
 
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GadgetUK

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Just got done doing the mod on my 138 in 1, now I have the problem where I don't get all sounds. Like for example the music for games like baseball stars 2 or king of the fighters 94, doesn't work, the voices or sound fx and such do work. Any ideas? Thanks
Could you upload some photos of the mods you've done?
 

ovalfastlx

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I also have the dipswitch mod, which only works with 5v wired up. After switching thru different I found that Strikers 1945 plus gets most of the sound and music. None of the Metal Slug games get audio, KOF gets sound fx only. Good thing, I though the 1f board was going bad.
e179e95738f387fadac4328466c61244.jpg
04f586a434bcea279750b89b5da53e4a.jpg
a0404713262aa7fe15997ac6aba7b5a0.jpg
 

GadgetUK

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I cannot see anything specifically wrong there so either the board interconnect cable has a bad connection (sometimes one wire breaks on them), or you've got a bad solder point somewhere or something like that. These boards are so bad quality its easy to make a working set stop working just by taking them appart. I had to reflow the solder all around one of the large CPLDs after taking one of my 138 in 1's to bits. That fixed the problem on mine. It's a case of inspecting as closely as possible to see where the problem might be.
 

ovalfastlx

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I cannot see anything specifically wrong there so either the board interconnect cable has a bad connection (sometimes one wire breaks on them), or you've got a bad solder point somewhere or something like that. These boards are so bad quality its easy to make a working set stop working just by taking them appart. I had to reflow the solder all around one of the large CPLDs after taking one of my 138 in 1's to bits. That fixed the problem on mine. It's a case of inspecting as closely as possible to see where the problem might be.
I'll check the cable, as I noticed the hot glue joint that was there fell off and now the cables dangle. I'll for check continuity, this happened after I took the cart apart. Did this sound happened to you as well?

Thanks
 

bovined

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Is there anyone here on the forums that can reliably do these fixes? I have both the 120 and 161 in 1 carts and really would like to find a reliable modder that I can pay to do the fixes for me. if anyone knows of someone who can do these repairs, please let me know! Thanks :)

I would also be interested!
 

GadgetUK

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I'll check the cable, as I noticed the hot glue joint that was there fell off and now the cables dangle. I'll for check continuity, this happened after I took the cart apart. Did this sound happened to you as well?

Thanks

Had had almost the same sound fault occur due to the bad solder points around the large square CPLD chip on the board with the VROMs. I had to reflow the chip entirely and then cleaned up the flux and it then finally came back to normal. That happened on one of my 138 in 1s.
 

ovalfastlx

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Had had almost the same sound fault occur due to the bad solder points around the large square CPLD chip on the board with the VROMs. I had to reflow the chip entirely and then cleaned up the flux and it then finally came back to normal. That happened on one of my 138 in 1s.

What's a good method to reflow solder? I think I'm doing it the wrong way. GadgetUK, I appreciate it. Thanks
 

GadgetUK

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Watch my "Super Mario RPG Conversion" video on YouTube - the point where I solder the SMD chip on there, and use chipquik flux. Basically get some good flux (that same brand if you can), put flux all around the chip and drag the iron over the pins. Make sure you dont get any shorts and remove excess solder with solder braid. Inspect closely before testing.
 

Geolindien

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Dec 11, 2017
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Thx GadgetUK for your work it's great !!! I have a 100 in 1 cartidge and i have the same trouble with the other pcb. Can i fix it like the other ?

do you want some pics from them ?

Kings regards

Geo
 

enoofu

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Having some serious issues with my 1-161
Viewpoint Crashes after MVS Boot screen
Samuari Shodown III-V/ Eightman/Chaos Have controls not responding and stability issues

Try setting voltage to 5.04- 5.12 on a 15 amp Suzo linear power supply and it didn't help, Using a MVS-C with a Supergun with Jap bios
 

Razoola

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Another interesting discovery is that someone mentioned they didn't get sound on Blues Journey - I can support that by saying I've noticed that on the 161 in 1 (possibly other carts too) if you boot the cart from cold and go straight into Blues Journey there's no sound - this is some kind of intialization bug. If you boot the 161 in 1 from cold and go into any other game, then hold reset to go back to the menu, and then go into Blues Journey - the sound works fine on that game.

I have been battling with this today and was going to ask about this very issue in my 161in1 thread before a search I found your comment. I'm guessing something is causing the z80 to crash as from my probing with pc-2-neo the z80 becomes unresponsive. Apart from booting and playing another game first (which I can also confirm fixes the issue), I just don't know of any other fix. From the testing I have done I can only conclude the M ROM on the 161in1 for this game must be corrupted and loading a differemt game first causes the blues journey M ROM to skip the corrupted part.
 
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