unibios 4.0 problems with Neosavemasta

smokey · Jul 22, 2020

I just installed my Unibios 4.0 which I bought on auctions yahoo. Everything works fine but my NeoSave Masta I get the following error

and when I tried to format the cart i get the following error.

I assume I did something wrong but can't figure out what. I also don't have a second memory cart test

Can anybody help?

shadowkn55 · Jul 22, 2020

Does it do the same thing with the stock bios?

smokey · Jul 23, 2020

Good idea will try tonight!

smokey · Jul 24, 2020

shadowkn55 said:
Does it do the same thing with the stock bios?

So the original BIOS has the same error. The NEOSAVEMASTA can't be formated and is supposed to be write protected.

shadowkn55 · Jul 24, 2020

What board are you running?

smokey · Jul 24, 2020

AES 3-6

shadowkn55 · Jul 24, 2020

Check the traces for NEO-E0 near the memory card. A botched socket install could have severed the traces connecting to it.

The signals in question are A1-A23, Y0-Y23, BNK0-BNK2.

https://wiki.neogeodev.org/index.php?title=NEO-E0#MV2F_.40_E1_pinout_.28to_be_confirmed.29

https://wiki.neogeodev.org/index.php?title=68k#DIP

https://wiki.neogeodev.org/index.php?title=NEO-D0

smokey · Jul 25, 2020

Whoa thank you very much that is already very good info. Also very interesting site.

I also discovered that A4 is not connected from 68k pin 32 to the NEO-E0 pin 3. However I noticed that it is connected from 68K pin 32 to the Bios pin 24.
So I guess I have to run a wire from bios pin 24 to NEO-E0 pin3 ?
I'm sorry i'm not an technician but I'm willing to learn.

I also noticed there isn't a pin out for the BIOS chip this would be really handy right now. I'm gonna check all the other connections

shadowkn55 · Jul 25, 2020

You can connect bios pin 24 to NEO-E0 pin 3. It is a shared address bus. The pinout for the bios should match the pinout for a standard 27c1024 eprom.

smokey · Jul 25, 2020

Crap it was working for a while but now I get the same error messages again

. Almost there.
I didn't check those Y0-Y23. I see they leave the NEO-E0 . but I don't get the to which pin they go on the memory card pin out.
I check this but it nowhere says Y only A ?
https://wiki.neogeodev.org/index.php?title=Memory_card_pinout

shadowkn55 · Jul 25, 2020

Take pictures of the top and bottom of the board where you installed the bios.

Y0-Y23 correspond to A0-A23 on the memory card. They are labeled differently on the diagram for NEO-E0 to differentiate it from the 68k address bus.

smokey · Jul 26, 2020

So I checked all off the Y,A and BNK singals all are ok except from A4 which I repaired

smokey · Jul 27, 2020

Ok I was bored abnd just wanted to play games. So I screwed everything back together and now it works. Is it possible that it was giving me errors because I didn't screw the cartidge slot down before?

Neo Alec · Jul 27, 2020

smokey said:
Ok I was bored abnd just wanted to play games. So I screwed everything back together and now it works. Is it possible that it was giving me errors because I didn't screw the cartidge slot down before?

No. As you said, you had it working for a while. I would just redo that wire you jumped if it still gives you problems. You've got quite a bit of extra wire exposed on both ends, and the soldering doesn't look that great.

Overall, it looks like you did a fairly clean job on the bios socket though. The fact that you may only have one broken trace is commendable.

Xian Xi · Jul 29, 2020

It just looks like the wire on the E0 side needs to be soldered way better.

smokey · Jul 30, 2020

Xian Xi said:
It just looks like the wire on the E0 side needs to be soldered way better.

I'm a bit scared to touch the E0 harder....

Neo Alec · Jul 30, 2020

smokey said:
I'm a bit scared to touch the E0 harder....

I don't blame you. I get my wife to do all the fine-pitched soldering because my eyes can't focus on it, and my hands aren't steady. I have to take a photo with my phone and zoom in to check the work.

Still though, yeah, that soldering doesn't look the greatest. As long as it's already working, it's up to you if you want to try again. If you ever sell this, you'll probably want to make sure it's stabilized.

Edit: I think I've soldered to that chip before. It's not that small. Probably doable.

shadowkn55 · Jul 30, 2020

Neo Alec said:
I get my wife to do all the fine-pitched soldering

World's luckiest husband right there.

smokey · Aug 2, 2020

Neo Alec said:
I don't blame you. I get my wife to do all the fine-pitched soldering because my eyes can't focus on it, and my hands aren't steady. I have to take a photo with my phone and zoom in to check the work.

Still though, yeah, that soldering doesn't look the greatest. As long as it's already working, it's up to you if you want to try again. If you ever sell this, you'll probably want to make sure it's stabilized.

Edit: I think I've soldered to that chip before. It's not that small. Probably doable.

I'm a self thought solderer and I'm insecure about smd parts. Also this thing stays with me until I die so no problems there. It worked after I put the wire in. But I didn't screw the motherboard down. Afterwards I checked all the pins on the memcard connector (they were all fine what a drag). Afterwards I screwed the aes back together because I wanted to play some games. So I think screwing the card connector down must have given a better connection with the neosavemasta.

Neo Alec · Aug 2, 2020

That error is most likely a problem with the bios connection, not the memory card.

unibios 4.0 problems with Neosavemasta

massive ding dong

Genbu's Turtle Keeper

massive ding dong

massive ding dong

Genbu's Turtle Keeper

massive ding dong

Genbu's Turtle Keeper

massive ding dong

Genbu's Turtle Keeper

massive ding dong

Genbu's Turtle Keeper

massive ding dong

massive ding dong

Ned's Ninja Academy Dropout

JammaNationX,

massive ding dong

Ned's Ninja Academy Dropout

Genbu's Turtle Keeper

massive ding dong

Ned's Ninja Academy Dropout