NEOSD MVS Support thread !

INGUES

n00b
Joined
Jun 15, 2017
Posts
3
I'm having a really weird issue with my NeoSD. I've been using it on a CMVS that I bought off of ebay (which was very cheaply made) and it's been running fine. It was a converted MV-1C. I recently received an Omega CMVS and I am unable to get to the NeoSD game listing menu. The Omega will load the last game that I loaded using the cheap CMVS (and I have tried different games to try and resolve this issue) but when I attempt to enter the NeoSD menu it shows some glitchy graphics and then it resets back to the Unibios screen and the game loads again like normal. When I put the NeoSD back in the cheap CMVS I can access the NeoSD game menu just fine (either by holding start or doing the A+D+Start combo during the game). I've tried deleting the cfg file from the SD card, the BUP files, I've set it to "no" on the backup ram setting within the NeoSD, and I've done a hardware test and memory reset on the Omega console without any luck. Does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks in advanced for your help
 

neodev

Neosd Tech
Joined
Nov 28, 2016
Posts
256
I'm having a really weird issue with my NeoSD. I've been using it on a CMVS that I bought off of ebay (which was very cheaply made) and it's been running fine. It was a converted MV-1C. I recently received an Omega CMVS and I am unable to get to the NeoSD game listing menu. The Omega will load the last game that I loaded using the cheap CMVS (and I have tried different games to try and resolve this issue) but when I attempt to enter the NeoSD menu it shows some glitchy graphics and then it resets back to the Unibios screen and the game loads again like normal. When I put the NeoSD back in the cheap CMVS I can access the NeoSD game menu just fine (either by holding start or doing the A+D+Start combo during the game). I've tried deleting the cfg file from the SD card, the BUP files, I've set it to "no" on the backup ram setting within the NeoSD, and I've done a hardware test and memory reset on the Omega console without any luck. Does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks in advanced for your help

Is your Omega overclocked in any way? Also, there might be some issue with some cartridge pins that neosd uses but original games don't. Can you try loading SVC in your old CMVS and then plugging it in the Omega and check if it works fine?
 
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massimiliano

ネオジオ,
20 Year Member
Joined
Feb 27, 2004
Posts
3,224
Hello, I'm back playing my 4-slot cab again and I noted something I experienced in the past a couple of times.

After flashing a game (Magician Lord, League Bowling and Raguy so far) audio is missing for that game.

In one occasion, all the other games (original carts) had no audio as well as the neogeo intro jingle after flashing.

Powering off the cab got audio back to all games except the neosdone.

REflashing another game and then the same did work properly...is this a well known issue?

Thanks!

Edit:

strange, I did flash minasan as Raguy had no audio and Minsan worked for a couple of loops...then audio went missing again...entering the menu and launching current game (Minasan) brought the audio back :(
 
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INGUES

n00b
Joined
Jun 15, 2017
Posts
3
Is your Omega overclocked in any way? Also, there might be some issue with some cartridge pins that neosd uses but original games don't. Can you try loading SVC in your old CMVS and then plugging it in the Omega and check if it works fine?

I loaded SVC in the cheap CMVS which booted fine and I was able to play a few rounds without issue. I then placed the NeoSD in the Omega CMVS and it booted into a garbled screen presumably still trying to boot the previously loaded game of SVC. I'm still unable to access the game list menu within the Omega CMVS but I am able to get into the Universe Bios. I ran a CRC on the NeoSD with SVC already loaded in it and everything came up 'ok'. I purchased the Omega CMVS without any special instructions so I don't know if it's overclocked. What can I do now?
 

neodev

Neosd Tech
Joined
Nov 28, 2016
Posts
256
I loaded SVC in the cheap CMVS which booted fine and I was able to play a few rounds without issue. I then placed the NeoSD in the Omega CMVS and it booted into a garbled screen presumably still trying to boot the previously loaded game of SVC. I'm still unable to access the game list menu within the Omega CMVS but I am able to get into the Universe Bios. I ran a CRC on the NeoSD with SVC already loaded in it and everything came up 'ok'. I purchased the Omega CMVS without any special instructions so I don't know if it's overclocked. What can I do now?

It was just to have more info. It should work fine overclocked or not. Anyways, to check if it's overclocked, you can che k in the unibios main screen, at the bottom right corner, if you see a value like 16MHz or so, it's OC, if you don't see any value, it is not.

To me, it looks like there is some loose pin in the connector, one of the pins that aren't used in original carts, but neosd needs in order to show the game list and support some games (svc for example).
 

neodev

Neosd Tech
Joined
Nov 28, 2016
Posts
256
Hello, I'm back playing my 4-slot cab again and I noted something I experienced in the past a couple of times.

After flashing a game (Magician Lord, League Bowling and Raguy so far) audio is missing for that game.

In one occasion, all the other games (original carts) had no audio as well as the neogeo intro jingle after flashing.

Powering off the cab got audio back to all games except the neosdone.

REflashing another game and then the same did work properly...is this a well known issue?

Thanks!

Edit:

strange, I did flash minasan as Raguy had no audio and Minsan worked for a couple of loops...then audio went missing again...entering the menu and launching current game (Minasan) brought the audio back :(

That is strange, but it looks like either a bug on the neosd menu sound program that causes the z80 to lockup (try witu ui sounds off) or a bad connection in the cart (try resetating it or movin to another slot).
Neogeo doesn't have a way to reset the z80 from software, so if it locks due to a code bug, it will stay locked and won't work for any game slot. Also because the 4 slots aren't reset by neosd the same way than 1 slot arewhen flashing a game, the z80 may not be restored to working statr when leaving the menu.

Seeing that the sound stopped mid game and it was restored with just entering and exiting neosd (or resetting the machine) leads me more towards the connectiin issue.
 

Starcat

n00b
Joined
Jun 16, 2017
Posts
6
Hello,
I have a strange voltage problem with my NeoSD in combination to a MV-1 FZ board with 1.2 Unibios. I used to run it at about 5.1V. But with the NeoSD I got all kind of graphical glitches in the menu, each time the screen refreshed when moving the cursor to a different game. Sometimes the whole screen was hardly readable.
Flashing worked, but for example Windjammers froze and crashed randomly. I tried to reduce the voltage to 5V, which improved things slightly, but didn't fix the instability completely.

Ultimately I turned the power down to 4.55V and now I little almost no of the graphic glitches in the menu anymore and Windjammers is stable as far as I can tell.
But I'm very surpised this works at all. 4.55V seems too low for any normal MVS cart. The voltage is measured at runtime at the power supply.

I also tried Puzzle Bobble and Samurai Shodown III which worked fine.

What voltages are you running your board at? Do you experience any similar graphic glitches or instabilities using the NeoSD?

Maybe the official team can tell me what voltage the cart was designed for and if any similar problems are known?
Can running at a low voltage damage anything despite the fact that it seems to work better now?
 

GadgetUK

Ace Ghost Pilot
Joined
Sep 27, 2013
Posts
1,323
Maybe that's a sign your PSU needs recapping? Mine runs fine between approx 4.8 and 5.2v. It's possible the neo SD is sensitive to ripple on a bad PSU, maybe that's what you are seeing, and when you feed less than 5v ripple is reduced as well as voltage?
 

GadgetUK

Ace Ghost Pilot
Joined
Sep 27, 2013
Posts
1,323
With regards to that Raguy (Blues Journey), note - that game has some weird sound init code I think, and it might not play happy with other carts in a multicart setup. I will see if I can recreate myself when I get some time, but if you look at the version on the 161 in 1, sound doesn't work if you play another game first prior to Raguy.

Edit: but clearly that's not the problem - just reading and you mentioned other games doing it too. Just to help, try limit to just 1 original game and the neo SD, and test with just 2 slots filled. Also test in different slots too. Does sound like connectivity as neo dev suggested.
 
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neodev

Neosd Tech
Joined
Nov 28, 2016
Posts
256
Hello,
I have a strange voltage problem with my NeoSD in combination to a MV-1 FZ board with 1.2 Unibios. I used to run it at about 5.1V. But with the NeoSD I got all kind of graphical glitches in the menu, each time the screen refreshed when moving the cursor to a different game. Sometimes the whole screen was hardly readable.
Flashing worked, but for example Windjammers froze and crashed randomly. I tried to reduce the voltage to 5V, which improved things slightly, but didn't fix the instability completely.

Ultimately I turned the power down to 4.55V and now I little almost no of the graphic glitches in the menu anymore and Windjammers is stable as far as I can tell.
But I'm very surpised this works at all. 4.55V seems too low for any normal MVS cart. The voltage is measured at runtime at the power supply.

I also tried Puzzle Bobble and Samurai Shodown III which worked fine.

What voltages are you running your board at? Do you experience any similar graphic glitches or instabilities using the NeoSD?

Maybe the official team can tell me what voltage the cart was designed for and if any similar problems are known?
Can running at a low voltage damage anything despite the fact that it seems to work better now?

4.5V is on the low side for a mvs and neosd. Voltage should be over 4.8V and 5V is the ideal value. About the random hangs of errors, can you try something? Go to options menu, enable arcade mode, exit the menu and then turn the board off, take the sd out of neosd and boot again. Check that you can't enter the menu, and if the unstability has gone. If it,'s fixed that way, that's something that we fixed by firmware (it was affecting multislots mainly) and that will be included in the upcoming 1.06 version.
 

massimiliano

ネオジオ,
20 Year Member
Joined
Feb 27, 2004
Posts
3,224
That is strange, but it looks like either a bug on the neosd menu sound program that causes the z80 to lockup (try witu ui sounds off) or a bad connection in the cart (try resetating it or movin to another slot).
Neogeo doesn't have a way to reset the z80 from software, so if it locks due to a code bug, it will stay locked and won't work for any game slot. Also because the 4 slots aren't reset by neosd the same way than 1 slot arewhen flashing a game, the z80 may not be restored to working statr when leaving the menu.

Seeing that the sound stopped mid game and it was restored with just entering and exiting neosd (or resetting the machine) leads me more towards the connectiin issue.

Eventually the neosd slot game started being skipped during the loop, I powered off, re-inserted the cart then on, it worked....seems indeed a contact problem for the last issue.

I'm monitoring this as previosly (league bowling) reinserting the cart didn't change the missing sound.
 

Starcat

n00b
Joined
Jun 16, 2017
Posts
6
4.5V is on the low side for a mvs and neosd. Voltage should be over 4.8V and 5V is the ideal value. About the random hangs of errors, can you try something? Go to options menu, enable arcade mode, exit the menu and then turn the board off, take the sd out of neosd and boot again. Check that you can't enter the menu, and if the unstability has gone. If it,'s fixed that way, that's something that we fixed by firmware (it was affecting multislots mainly) and that will be included in the upcoming 1.06 version.

Thanks, I will try it today.

Any idea why the graphical glitches in the NeoSD menu happen? They were what confused me in the first place and made me worry.
Is anybody else experiencing those? Would pictures help to figure them out?

@GadgetUK:
My board works fine for normal carts and multicarts at 5V-5.1V so I'm not sure if the power supply could cause problems for the NeoSD.
 

Starcat

n00b
Joined
Jun 16, 2017
Posts
6
Hmm. I tried it with 5V, but still had graphic glitches in the NeoSD menu and instability in th game (Windjammers). Finally I went with about 4.8V which seems to work for now without glitches and instability.
The arcade mode didn't help.

Quick update: I now put in the latest Universe Bios 3.3 and the board and Neo SD seem to run stable at 5V now. No graphic glitches.
So it seems the very old Unibios 1.2 I had in there before was causing problems and instability with Neo SD.
 
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Rot

Calvin & Hobbes, ,
Joined
Jul 8, 2003
Posts
11,441
Post 44 will be renewed tonight sometime...

xROTx
 

Rot

Calvin & Hobbes, ,
Joined
Jul 8, 2003
Posts
11,441
Post 44 is now active for another 30 days per the man above.

Thanks...

I will re-iterate... they are NOT my files... but i will say, BOTH are password protected.... (DIFFERENT password for each Link...)

Just sayin'...

xROTx
 

nachobeard

n00b
Joined
Feb 2, 2017
Posts
4
hey rot

I can't enter chat (flash is disabled in newer browsers I think) and can't send you a PM (not enough privileges)
what to do?

=(
 

Rot

Calvin & Hobbes, ,
Joined
Jul 8, 2003
Posts
11,441
hey rot

I can't enter chat (flash is disabled in newer browsers I think) and can't send you a PM (not enough privileges)
what to do?

=(

Which file password do you need?

The 4.2gb one... or the much smaller one?

I will send you a PM later... you can recieve admin PM's... just not send any...

Alternatively... wait for me in chat later (GET FLASH INSTALLED!)...

Thursday is my Grandkiddy babysitting day... it's actually less demanding than looking after you kids on the forumz...:keke:

xROTx
 

nachobeard

n00b
Joined
Feb 2, 2017
Posts
4
hey Rot
I got both the files!

if you could pm me that's be great
(I know they're not your files though!!!!!!!)

thanks
 

aha2940

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

I updated neosd firmware to version 1.06, but I am having trouble making the jukebox work. Here's what I've done so far:

- Got the lists.7z file from the link in the jukebox readme file
- Created a directory named MUSICLIST (in capital letters) on the SD card
- Inside this MUSICLIST directory, I copied the .lst files of the neo games I have from the en directory of the 7z file (I deleted all the lst files from non-neo games). Notice that all the files have .lst extension, not .dat as in the example on the readme file.
- I started the neosd, pressed start on the current game, but I see an empty list and only options are A to play, B to return.

What am I missing here? thanks for any help.
 

neodev

Neosd Tech
Joined
Nov 28, 2016
Posts
256
Hi

I updated neosd firmware to version 1.06, but I am having trouble making the jukebox work. Here's what I've done so far:

- Got the lists.7z file from the link in the jukebox readme file
- Created a directory named MUSICLIST (in capital letters) on the SD card
- Inside this MUSICLIST directory, I copied the .lst files of the neo games I have from the en directory of the 7z file (I deleted all the lst files from non-neo games). Notice that all the files have .lst extension, not .dat as in the example on the readme file.
- I started the neosd, pressed start on the current game, but I see an empty list and only options are A to play, B to return.

What am I missing here? thanks for any help.

Did you flash the game after updating to 1.06? Jukebox needs the game to be flashed with 1.06, as it writes important data that jukebox uses. If it's still not working, which game are you using?
 
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