Super SD System 3 - Intermittent black screen issue

Ajax

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Hey everybody, I searched, but didn't see this particular issue, so thought I would ask you all.

I recently scooped up a Super SD System 3 and a Core Grafx II. Got it set up yesterday, and it's basically unplayable due to an issue where the video and music stop, a black screen happens for a few seconds, then the game seems to pick back up. Not exactly crashing, but not playable, by any means.

This seems to happen on both HuCard and CD games. The first game I booted up was Rondo of Blood, and it did it like crazy on that game. I thought it could be a fluke, so I booted up R Type (the first part, on HuCard), and it was fine. I did enable in game trigger at some point in testing. Ninja Gaiden and Bonk's Adventure both did the same thing. Here's a sample of Bonk (sorry for the crap vid):


My setup is as follows:

Core Grafx II
Original NEC power supply (plugged into 120v > 100v converter)
Insurrection industries scart cable
Scart to XRGB Mini adapter > Framemeister
HDMI to Viewsonic monitor
Sandisk 128GB card

I haven't looked at the PCB, but I just bought it this month, directly from SAG, and the listing for the product says Rev B.

Any help is very, very much appreciated. Thanks all!
 
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nam9

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Probably start by picking up a replacement PSU.
Where are you located? I use retrogamesupply which is EU based.
 

Hattori Hanzo

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Can you test it without the Framemeister? There is a known delay of some seconds on the Framemeister when a game switches from 240p to 480i.
 

Ajax

way more american than wyo, way more
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Thank you both for your replies. ✌️

Tested some things last night - I connected to the Framemeister through composite from the port on the actual console. I only tested HuCard games, but no black screen.

I connected directly to an outlet (skipping the stepdown converter) while running RGB and the crashes continued.

Strange thing though, I played R Type and Ninja Spirit for probably ten minutes each with no crashes on the setup noted in the original post. Confirmed that both Bonk and Bonk III crash like crazy.

I’m located in the US now. My first thought was that this was probably a power issue. I picked up a new PSU from Retro Game Cave this morning. I also ordered a different scart cable. When those get here later this week, I’ll attempt to rule those two pieces out.

Oh also, I don’t have any way to test via scart other than the XRGB Mini, I’m afraid.
 
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Hattori Hanzo

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Could be a sync issue between the PC Engine and the Framemeister when it works via composite. Another RGB cable could do the trick.
 

fenikso

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The in game trigger will cause crashes on many games, so leave that off while trying to track down any other issues. It's still in its experimental state, as far as I'm aware.
 

GohanX

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It doesn't look like the system is crashing, it looks like the Framemeister is losing sync and it takes that thing a while to reestablish. Try playing with your sync settings on the FM, and if that doesn't work try a different RGB cable. I doubt this has anything to do with the actual PC Engine or SSD3.
 

pixeljunkie

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It doesn't look like the system is crashing, it looks like the Framemeister is losing sync and it takes that thing a while to reestablish. Try playing with your sync settings on the FM, and if that doesn't work try a different RGB cable. I doubt this has anything to do with the actual PC Engine or SSD3.

This. I had this problem with my AES and had to fiddle with the sync settings. After that, it was golden.
 

Ajax

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Thanks to everybody else who jumped in here. Truly appreciate the help.

To pixeljunkie, if you recall, what kind of changes did you make to the sync setting on the FM? Also, I imagine you can save those changes to a profile?
 

GohanX

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There's a setting in there to turn auto sync on and off, and another setting that is for the sync level which is a slider you can adjust up and down. Only adjust the slider one notch at a time, if you move it too much you'll lose sync entirely and you won't see the menu.
 

Ajax

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Gotcha, I'll test this out. Thanks man.
 

pixeljunkie

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Gotcha, I'll test this out. Thanks man.

Yep, what Gohan said. Load up a game that cuts out frequently, then start nudging the sync settings and see if you can make it stop. That's exactly what I did with my Neo and it worked like a charm.
 

Ajax

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Awesome, hopeful that this will work. Thanks again to you all. I'll post here when I have an update.
 

Ajax

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Just a quick update here:

Moved the sync level slider up a single notch, totally resolved the issue. Huge thank you to everybody who posted here to help me out. ✌️
 
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