Help fixing CPS2 boards.

aha2940

AH, A, COLUMBIAN!,
Joined
Dec 15, 2013
Posts
2,528
Hi guys

I got two broken CPS2 American boards. Basically, the guy who owns them lent them to me. If I can fix any, I can get it at a decent price. If not, I return them to him, no problem. Here's the situation:

- Board 1: Marvel Super Heroes VS Street Fighter. It has both A and B boards, both USA. I opened the B board, and found the battery had exploded (literally, seemed an open food can) and it blew a capacitor. Corrosion already ate a couple chips and many legs of a custom Capcom chip near the battery zone. I assume this thing is dead.

- Board 2: X-Men VS Street Fighter. It has also A and B boards. B board looks clean inside, battery still in place, no obvious physical damage.

I have not looked still at any of the A boards, but I think they both work, problem are both B boards. My questions are:

1. Is there anything I can salvage from the first game? EPROMs all have the capcom seals, adn they seem to be complete. Is any of this useful?

2. What are the symptoms of the 2nd board being "suicided"? When he connected it to his arcade cabinet, it just throws a white screen, nothing more. I'll do more tests when I finish my supergun (probably a couple days).

Thanks for any help guys, if you need any info/pics, just let me know.
 

Tyranix95

Chang's Grocer
Joined
Jun 30, 2010
Posts
4,593
Depending on how bad the acid leak is: Board #1 is now either a parts board or a junk board.

For board #2, you can do two things: multi-meter the battery. See if there is any charge left in it; second, put a CPS2 suicide tester rom on the board and see if the board starts up or not.
 

fluxcore

Another Striker
Joined
Nov 4, 2013
Posts
324
I have successfully resuscitated 2 boards in probably about the same condition you say the 1st board is in. It took hours of multimetering around on a good board to work out where all the traces went, and then using kynar wire etc to recreate the connections. Personally I think it's worth it.

I made a spreadsheet with a lot of the info (although it needs quite a bit more tidying up) if you decide to try to fix the first board.

Most of the damage occurs on the big custom PPU near the board edge, almost guaranteed you will need to solder to the legs on that, which are fairly fine pitched.

Usually the LS245 chips down near the connector by the battery get pretty wasted too.

I will admit the two I've fixed are now permanently part of my collection, I couldn't really in good conscience sell them off knowing how many patch wires there are around the place. Shipping could possibly dislodge one and then it'd be a return trip to fix it. If it's to a local buddy then it's probably fine though.

As for board 2, burn a cps2 suicide tester rom and give that a whirl :) Often flat-colour screens are an indicator of suicide. If the suicide tester rom doesn't show much then there's probably a hardware fault somewhere, otherwise you'll get a whole menu thing and some sound playing.
 
Last edited:

mainman

CPS2 Person.,
20 Year Member
Joined
Mar 26, 2001
Posts
3,721
The battery damaged pcb is non repairable, the mask roms must be transplanted.

The other dead pcb might just need phoenixing.
 

aha2940

AH, A, COLUMBIAN!,
Joined
Dec 15, 2013
Posts
2,528
Hey

I just have some time to work on these CPS2 boards. Now, I am not getting video from any of them, but I want to get further in the troubleshooting. Question: should a good A board, with no B board installed display anything when connected? maybe a single color or a crosshatch pattern like the Neo does without cart? I ask because I need to know if the A boards work or not, and since both B boards seem dead, I can't test a complete setup.

Thanks!!!
 

MuppeT

War Room Troll
Joined
Jan 12, 2015
Posts
1,548
Hey

I just have some time to work on these CPS2 boards. Now, I am not getting video from any of them, but I want to get further in the troubleshooting. Question: should a good A board, with no B board installed display anything when connected? maybe a single color or a crosshatch pattern like the Neo does without cart? I ask because I need to know if the A boards work or not, and since both B boards seem dead, I can't test a complete setup.

Thanks!!!

the board with the battery leak is bye-bye.
The other one ... get the eproms. send them to someone to re-program them for you. (should cost you about $15-20 both way shipping + the reprogramming) pop them in after you do the minor stuff needed to phoenix the boards and try it out. If it starts great. If not ... though luck. If you need any help and further info just PM me I will guide you through.
 

aha2940

AH, A, COLUMBIAN!,
Joined
Dec 15, 2013
Posts
2,528
Hi

I am now 100% convinced that one of the boards is just junk. Only the EPROMs inside might be useful. But the other one, I downloaded and burned RAZ's suicide tester, and it told the board looked good. It even played a song while saying so. That's a good sign!!! now, I'll buy the phoenix set for this game from Raz, install it and (hopefully) enjoy it with this nice new board! yay!

Thanks for the help guys, will post when (if?) I get the board working again. Wish me luck! :P

the board with the battery leak is bye-bye.
The other one ... get the eproms. send them to someone to re-program them for you. (should cost you about $15-20 both way shipping + the reprogramming) pop them in after you do the minor stuff needed to phoenix the boards and try it out. If it starts great. If not ... though luck. If you need any help and further info just PM me I will guide you through.

Thanks for your help man. In fact, the board is a complete goner. Only the EPROMs can be salvaged, I guess. Even the A board seems to be dead.

Regards.
 

Razoola

Divine Hand of the UniBIOS,
Staff member
20 Year Member
Joined
Nov 12, 2002
Posts
4,662
You can sometimes repair boards where the battery has leaked but from your description its only good for spares.
 

aha2940

AH, A, COLUMBIAN!,
Joined
Dec 15, 2013
Posts
2,528
Hey guys

New findings with these boards: both A boards work, but with issues. One has nice audio, but the video seems to lack one of the RGB channels. The other board has better video (looks fine in fact) but the audio is muted completely. The B boards are what I thought: one worked fine after getting the phoenix set from Raz (Thanks Raz!!), but the other is junk IMHO. I am posting pics of the junk board (zone near the battery) and the board with a video channel missing:






Regards, and thanks for any hints on what to check with the color-missing board.
 

fluxcore

Another Striker
Joined
Nov 4, 2013
Posts
324
Yeah, that CGA chip has certainly seen better days. It would probably be possible to grind some of the package off and solder to the traces, but it's probably not worth it. There'd be a huge number of patch wires.

As for the audio board, try booting it up while holding the volume down button, this should reset the volume controls.
 

aha2940

AH, A, COLUMBIAN!,
Joined
Dec 15, 2013
Posts
2,528
Yeah, that CGA chip has certainly seen better days. It would probably be possible to grind some of the package off and solder to the traces, but it's probably not worth it. There'd be a huge number of patch wires.

As for the audio board, try booting it up while holding the volume down button, this should reset the volume controls.

Hi

I thought so. I just took the EPROMs and the PAL chip from the dead board and stored them, it seems the rest is just junk. I am trying to fix the A board with bad colors. I tried the reset on the board with audio issues and it worked!! now I have a fully working X-men vs Street Fighter CPS setup!! yay!!

Thanks for the help guys.
 
Top