Pandora Box 3 Multi-Game 520-1 PCB

aha2940

aha2940

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Jonathan32 said:
I ordered mine back in March and still have not received the adapter either. Im starting to get pissed off. I also have emailed them and called the phone number multiple times in the past and haven't gotten any response. Out of all the things Ive bought off the internet for my gaming hobby, this is the only time ive been ripped off. Health issues or not if they cant ship these out to people who order them, they should of never put on their website that they are in stock because obviously there not in stock
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I also asked for a replacement for a dud power supply I bought from them like 2-3 months ago. First time, the guy replied an e-mail telling me he had some health issues, but everything would be OK. That was it. I still have the broken PS used as a paperweight here.

Regards.
 
Zerrminator

Zerrminator

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Shinobi ZX said:
Hi everyone, nice to meet you.

I have a problem with my PB3. I own a Bartop which had a Pandora Box 2, and it worked more or less fine. I say "more or less" because it was the first version, and it didn't only lack many games like TMNT or SF3, but it had many slowdowns and tearing on most games. So when I saw Pandora Box 3 with Sunset Riders, TMNT, Golden Axe... :drool: I decided to buy it even if I had no previous experience on this kind of hardware (I didn't assemble my Bartop, just bought it). I just checked the pinout and I thought I should have no trouble: PB2 and PB3 have exactly the same pinout, so it should be easy to exchange, "like a Megadrive cartridge" I thought.

But when I plugged the PB3, it showed the intro video and the menu, but resetted randomly. Sometimes it restarted during the video, cutting it, and sometimes it got to menu and it standed for half a minute or so, then it resetted. If you were fast and chose a game, it won't reset. I mean: after a game has been loaded, it doesn't reset, you could be playing for half hour without trouble. Very odd. However, trying "KOF" Neo Geo games, the joystick "down" and button "D" for player 1 only worked 1 of 20 times, randomly, (what the?... :scratch: ) while the 2p controls worked flawless. Very odd. I cleaned the contacts of the jamma with a soft duster and alcohol, but no luck.

So I decided to open the PB3 to check it. I put out the glue and extracted the MicroSD card, trying to check it on my PC, but it seems to be protected and it's unreadable under windows. Doh, it must contain odd partitions and a filesystem nor readable under win, I must have supposed it.

I put the micro SD again on the PB3, but to my surprise... it doesn't even boot now! Ouch, I guess Win must had corrupted the SD or something... So my PB3 now is a useles piece of plastic which only shows 3 LEDs and does nothing. :oh_no:

Is there anyone who could help me, please? I have read that it's possible to clone the MicroSD with Disk Imager for Windows. So if anyone would be so kind to upload the file from his card, maybe I could resurrect my PB3. :help:

If anyone wants pictures of my board, the LEds that are turned off when I plug it or whatever, just let me know. BTW, my PB3 is the normal version (not HD) with the blue case.

Thank you very much in advance for your help and please forgive my limited English.
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1. Have you checked your voltages on the 12v and 5v lines from your power supply?
2. Does your PB3 PCB look exactly like the one I posted on page 1? Can you post a picture?
3. Where/Who did you buy it from?
 
S

Shinobi ZX

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Zerrminator said:
1. Have you checked your voltages on the 12v and 5v lines from your power supply?
2. Does your PB3 PCB look exactly like the one I posted on page 1? Can you post a picture?
3. Where/Who did you buy it from?
Click to expand...

Thank you very much for answering.

1· Yes, I'm not keen on electronics, so I don't have tools at home, but with a simple polymeter it seems to be fine. And Pandora Box 2 works flawless.

2· Yes, it looks exactly the same. It has te same Version numbers, same date of revision and everything. Yes, I can take photos, I attach them with this message, hope they help. One is a view of the board, which seems to be similar to yours:





The other is a picture of the board connected and the leds it shows turned on. It's odd it has 2 red and one green on: I assume they show a diagnostic like "sd not working".



3· I imported it from Aliexpress, but I doubt the seller would exchange it now that I have broken the warranty seal. I tried to contact him before opening the case, but he doesn't seem to understand a word of english, and wanted to send me an electronic manual of the board to my email (???) I gave up on him understandng anything, that's why I opened the device.

Thank you very much and best wishes.
 
SmokeMonster

SmokeMonster

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Shinobi ZX said:
And Pandora Box 2 works flawless.
Click to expand...
I may be overlooking something, but this strongly suggests to me that the new PB is bad. I would start a return request through aliexpress and just remove the warranty sticker completely. If they ask about it, just claim that it was never there to begin with.

If you can convince them to send a replacement or refund you altogether, definitely go that route. It will be expensive to return and there is a risk that returning it won't help you towards a refund anyways.
 
Xian Xi

Xian Xi

JammaNationX,
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Shinobi ZX said:
Hi everyone, nice to meet you.

I have a problem with my PB3. I own a Bartop which had a Pandora Box 2, and it worked more or less fine. I say "more or less" because it was the first version, and it didn't only lack many games like TMNT or SF3, but it had many slowdowns and tearing on most games. So when I saw Pandora Box 3 with Sunset Riders, TMNT, Golden Axe... :drool: I decided to buy it even if I had no previous experience on this kind of hardware (I didn't assemble my Bartop, just bought it). I just checked the pinout and I thought I should have no trouble: PB2 and PB3 have exactly the same pinout, so it should be easy to exchange, "like a Megadrive cartridge" I thought.

But when I plugged the PB3, it showed the intro video and the menu, but resetted randomly. Sometimes it restarted during the video, cutting it, and sometimes it got to menu and it standed for half a minute or so, then it resetted. If you were fast and chose a game, it won't reset. I mean: after a game has been loaded, it doesn't reset, you could be playing for half hour without trouble. Very odd. However, trying "KOF" Neo Geo games, the joystick "down" and button "D" for player 1 only worked 1 of 20 times, randomly, (what the?... :scratch: ) while the 2p controls worked flawless. Very odd. I cleaned the contacts of the jamma with a soft duster and alcohol, but no luck.

So I decided to open the PB3 to check it. I put out the glue and extracted the MicroSD card, trying to check it on my PC, but it seems to be protected and it's unreadable under windows. Doh, it must contain odd partitions and a filesystem nor readable under win, I must have supposed it.

I put the micro SD again on the PB3, but to my surprise... it doesn't even boot now! Ouch, I guess Win must had corrupted the SD or something... So my PB3 now is a useles piece of plastic which only shows 3 LEDs and does nothing. :oh_no:

Is there anyone who could help me, please? I have read that it's possible to clone the MicroSD with Disk Imager for Windows. So if anyone would be so kind to upload the file from his card, maybe I could resurrect my PB3. :help:

If anyone wants pictures of my board, the LEds that are turned off when I plug it or whatever, just let me know. BTW, my PB3 is the normal version (not HD) with the blue case.

Thank you very much in advance for your help and please forgive my limited English.
Click to expand...

You should have returned it from where you bought it.
 
S

Shinobi ZX

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Xian Xi said:
You should have returned it from where you bought it.
Click to expand...

Yes, I know :( But now it's done. I was afraid sending it back to China would not only be a headache but also expensive (around 20 euros without counting arancels if they stop it). And it would take around a month to arrive there, and then another month of wait for the new one... after such a long wait, when I should receive the new one I wouldn't be able to try it, as I would have started classes again.
 
Zerrminator

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Assuming you bought through AliExpress I would ask for a refund. Most times the seller will just send you a brand new board as a replacement.
 
S

Shinobi ZX

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Ok, thanks. I have just written him, let's see if this time he understands that I'm asking for a new one, not manuals or anything like that.
 
geise

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James. You might be able to answer my question. I have a supergun I play my pcb's on, but it's only wired for neo geo controllers, so no 6 button input. The problem I have is basically no inputs what so ever. I can coin up and that's it. Do I need to get one of your Pandora/Blue Elf Adapter to get it to work correctly? I also have the problem with my pvm image being pushed to the left quite a bit. It's actually quite bad looking. I wonder if the vga out to the pvm will likely produce the same image results?
 
Xian Xi

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geise said:
James. You might be able to answer my question. I have a supergun I play my pcb's on, but it's only wired for neo geo controllers, so no 6 button input. The problem I have is basically no inputs what so ever. I can coin up and that's it. Do I need to get one of your Pandora/Blue Elf Adapter to get it to work correctly? I also have the problem with my pvm image being pushed to the left quite a bit. It's actually quite bad looking. I wonder if the vga out to the pvm will likely produce the same image results?
Click to expand...

It sounds like your supergun doesn't have all the grounds connected. Make sure they are all connected. Same with cabs, all grounds should be connected. This way if something uses a specific thing for the ground source, nothing is cut off from being connected to ground. That could be why your controls don't work with the pandora without an adapter. On an MVS harness the last 2 pins are ground but on the pandora only the last pin is ground so if your controls are using that 1st pin as ground then that might be why nothing is working. Best would be to daisy chain the grounds using the same one as the start button.

Something for MVS cab owners is in the works, stay tuned.
 
Pasky

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Xian Xi said:
Be careful with that one. Looks fishy since the screenshots are most likely from an emulator since the font is different and he only has 2 feedback. But if you are going through ebay and paypal, I guess you're covered.
Click to expand...

Ah sorry, I thought this was the same thing, just trying to help out others who don't want to buy from China. Glad you caught that, I have no interest in it myself.
 
wataru330

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Does this thing display 240p? That would be the only reason I would have to use it, as opposed to a rawmXbox.
 
P

pipes

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I can't believe I'm actually considering buying this thing.
 
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pipes

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kuze said:
Don't, lol.

If you do anyways, hit me up and I'll sell you mine.
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Haha....you know, despite all the positive things I've been hearing, I still have a strong feeling I'll think it's a pile of shit. Ever since I saw one of those Blue Elfs in action a while back I swore I'd never get one of these. All the excitement has me curious though, I have to admit.
 
Last edited:
kuze

kuze

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pipes said:
Haha....you know, despite all the positive things I've been hearing, I still have a strong feeling I'll think it's a pile of shit. Ever since I saw one of those Blue Elfs in action a while back I swore I'd never get one of these. All the excitement has me curious though, I have to admit.
Click to expand...

Yeah it's really not as good as it's made out to be.
 
Electric Grave

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Oh please, you two need to STFU. 70 bucks, does the job well enough for what you are paying for and given the price against the alternatives, I have to say this is much easier. If you're too cheap to try it out that's one thing but to hide that frugalness behind silly banter is just plain ignorant. Get one, you don't like it, sell it, it will move quick enough.

I've played CPS2 fighters with actual good competent players and we agreed this is a decent piece of hardware, now the 2 of you don't strike me as much of anything great in the scheme of top level gamers so just do it, you'll be glad you did.
 
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pipes

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ElectricGrave said:
Oh please, you two need to STFU. 70 bucks, does the job well enough for what you are paying for and given the price against the alternatives, I have to say this is much easier. If you're too cheap to try it out that's one thing but to hide that frugalness behind silly banter is just plain ignorant. Get one, you don't like it, sell it, it will move quick enough.

I've played CPS2 fighters with actual good competent players and we agreed this is a decent piece of hardware, now the 2 of you don't strike me as much of anything great in the scheme of top level gamers so just do it, you'll be glad you did.
Click to expand...

You really need to get hired in the marketing department for whatever shitty Chinese company makes this thing. I feel compelled to buy one now.
 
Electric Grave

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Stop being a cheapo, you can spend more money on a date than this thing. It's not the be all end all device, it has ups and downs but if you look back I made a bit of an explanation for what I tested so far and it's well worth its value in my book. Assholes expecting perfect emulation out of a 70 bucks piece of hardware need to get off the fucking high horse.

It's like bitching about a Neo Multi Cart, they might have issues but for what they are and what they cost, they do the job really well.

This is not to gonna replace your 300 USD Ghoulies PCB but it sure as hell can keep you entertained for hours on end.
 
P

pipes

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I hear you man....$70 is pocket change compared to most of the crap I've bought in the last few years.

Your first sales pitch had me seeing stars, the second one delivered the KO. Job well done.....I'll grab one of these little fuckers.

Kuze...where are you buddy?
 
kuze

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pipes said:
I hear you man....$70 is pocket change compared to most of the crap I've bought in the last few years.

Your first sales pitch had me seeing stars, the second one delivered the KO. Job well done.....I'll grab one of these little fuckers.

Kuze...where are you buddy?
Click to expand...

PM me bro. ;)
 
Electric Grave

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Hey if you don't like it, I'll buy it from you. I want an extra one 'cause I'm gonna give my GF a mini Neo19 and put that thing there so I don't have to let her borrow my MVS carts...lol.
 
HDRchampion

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I just got it today, the inputs dont work....Fuck me, this was the same thing that happen to me with the Pandora 2 fiasco....Thanks a lot electrigrave. Another paperlessweight.
 
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