MV-1C Universe Bios modification problem

[samurai10000]

Could someone please let me know what direction the pin numbering is for the Universe Bios. I am doing modification to a MV-1C. I dont need the info on the different positions of the MV-1C bios to the Universe Bios just the directions of the pin numbering of the Universe Bios itself. This is what I think is correct am I wrong.

 

[samurai10000]

Thought I would add some more info on my bios problems. I modified the bios on my MV-1C a few days ago. I had no problem with the removal of the surface mounted chip or soldering anything. I checked my soldering thoroughly with my multimeter and everything was perfect. Then I tested it and got a error message followed by different screens of flickering, garbled graphics.

I then decided to solder pins 40 and 39 together like some say if the system does not boot. I still got garbled graphics this time a fuzzy, light purple screen with pink waves in it. I then read somewhere that you need to add pin 38 with 40 and 39 and this provided the same fuzzy, light purple screen with pink waves in it.

I then unsoldered pins 40, 39, 38 so they would be separate again. Now when I turn it on it has a white screen with some green and pink colored squares scattered on it. I think that maybe I have the Universe Bios chip numbering wrong and soldered to the wrong places. I cant find any clear information about this and need help.

I have included some more pictures of the process. I plan on having the bios come out along the side and be mounted on the top of the case for easy bios changes.

 

[Xian Xi]

Just from looking at the solder on the small board I can tell the soldering is wrong. You have pins on the UB that should not have a connection.

 

[samurai10000]

Thanks for the reply.

What pins should no be connected. I thought that pins 38 and 39 on the Universe Bios are the only ones not connected for the MV-1C. I was using the Universe Bios website for the pinout information.

Is my numbering on the Universe Bios chip in my first picture correct. Thanks

 

[Xian Xi]

The numbering is fine, did you test the board before the mod?

 

[samurai10000]

Yes, It worked perfectly.

What other pins should not be connected?

 

[Pas]

Im sure this is where you probably got your pinout info but from the official unibios homepage for others sake:

Here is a small document to explain the pinout conversion
needed to fit a standard 27c1024 type DIP BIOS to either
a MV-1B or MV-1C.

MV-1B MV-1C
----- -----

PCB 1024 PCB 1024

01 ----> 01 01 ----> NC
02 ----> 02 02 ----> 28
03 ----> 03 03 ----> 27
04 ----> 04 04 ----> 26
05 ----> 05 05 ----> 25
06 ----> 06 06 ----> 24
07 ----> 07 07 ----> 23
08 ----> 08 08 ----> 22
09 ----> 09 09 ----> 21
10 ----> 10 10 ----> 02
11 ----> 11 11 ----> 11
12 ----> 12 12 ----> 20
13 ----> 13 13 ----> 19
14 ----> 14 14 ----> 10
15 ----> 15 15 ----> 18
16 ----> 16 16 ----> 09
17 ----> 17 17 ----> 17
18 ----> 18 18 ----> 08
19 ----> 19 19 ----> 16
20 ----> 20 20 ----> 07
21 ----> 21 21 ----> 40
22 ----> 22 22 ----> 15
23 ----> 23 23 ----> 06
24 ----> 24 24 ----> 14
25 ----> 25 25 ----> 05
26 ----> 26 26 ----> 13
27 ----> 27 27 ----> 04
28 ----> 28 28 ----> 12
29 ----> 29 29 ----> 03
30 ----> 30 30 ----> 30
31 ----> 31 31 ----> 01
32 ----> 32 32 ----> NC
33 ----> 33 33 ----> 37
34 ----> 34 34 ----> 36
35 ----> 35 35 ----> 35
36 ----> 36 36 ----> 34
37 ----> 37 37 ----> 33
38 ----> 38 38 ----> 32
39 ----> 39 39 ----> 31
40 ----> 40 40 ----> 29

There has been a couple of cases where a Universe Bios on a
MV-1C needs a wire from pin 40 of the Universe Bios to pin 39
(the pin next to it) before the board will boot. If you have
any problems try this first. The same may be true on a MV-1B
but I have not tired. If you do try this though on a MV-1B be
sure to remove the wire connecting pin 39 to the P.C.B first.

 

[BIG BEAR]

It does look like you connections might be touching.
BB

 

[samurai10000]

Pas - that is the pinout I used.

BIG BEAR - thanks to your comment I checked my soldering again and found some problems. I started removing solder and would notice that other spots would then be touching. I could not figure it out. Finally I start to remove the soldering paste in between all the connections with a tooth pick. I wiped the paste on a paper towel as I went along and noticed metallic specs in the paste. Connections were not bridged by solder but metallic specs and other crap in my 50 year old soldering paste. So every time I would reheat things the specs were flowing to other points.

Now things are not touching and still nothing is working properly. I tested the board many times as I went along. A few times I got the Universe Bios opening screen then it would flash to all kinds of code and garbled graphics.

Something that is very unclear is pins 40, 39 and 38. I tried connecting 40 and 39 as some suggest it still did not work. I even tried adding 38 to 40 and 39 because I heard to do that, did not work.

 

[samurai10000]

I just thought of a few questions if anyone knows.

I used 30 awg solid core wire I got at RadioShack it was called Wrapping Wire. This was the smallest I could find locally. I heard that stranded is a lot better for data connections. Does anyone think this solid wire could be a problem?

With all the problems I have had with bios pins touching when testing the board can this damage the board or Universe Bios chip? If so that could be my problem now.

If the board is not damaged I may just redo the whole thing and see what happens if I cant get this working. I got some new stranded 30 awg wire off ebay. Any advice or knowledge about this MV-1C Universe Bios modification would be greatly appreciated by me and I am sure many others. Thanks to all so far for the help

 

[Xian Xi]

I used that same wire many times for unibios mods and never had a problem.

Touching could cause some damage, check the UB by using it on another board if you have one.

 

[samurai10000]

I just tested my bios on my 4 slot and it worked fine.

 

[BIG BEAR]

My thinking is that one or a few of the wires have a broken connection within the wire because it has happened to me before.You know how a wire becomes severed within a Joystic cable? If you push the wire down in a cerain area, the Bios wil come up normal, if I set it inanother position, I'll get the garbled screen,etc. It may be best to try this other wire you speak about,something more durable maybe...
You should also cut down on the length of the wire as you'll make a more solid connection with a shorter length.
Also don't let it bother you too bad.It be better to back off of it for a little while and come back to it when you are refreshed.
BB

 

[Xian Xi]

Same here. I'm guessing it's a loose connection if all the connections are right as you say. Peel off the hot glue and check that the wires are soldered on good to the 1C.

 

[ne7]

quick random thing from me on this - i actually stopped using solid core wire for any sort of modding as i realised it just didnt last - i was getting problems on older mods i had done with wires moving around and straining against connections, after moving to stranded wire these problems dissapeared completely... as a side issue its also worth mentioning that for any sort of audio mods you will notice much better quality with less interference using decent wire

also BigBear is right on the backing off for a while thing - i had a particularily annoying PS2 i was repairing a while ago (spent like 6 hours pissing around with it!) - and just putting it down for a couple of days meant it got fixed in about an hour when i went back to it

 

[norton9478]

Cheap ass socket...

 

[doggydodomi]

Worst case senario is that you can get a DIP to SOIC adaptor, cost quite some money but well worth the hassle.

 

[andy251203]

Could the problem perhaps be that your wires are just too long? I think the combination of the length and the fact that you're using solid wire is causing the problem.

I'd start over and use ribbon cable from an old IDE or floppy connector. Try not to exceed three inches in length. The shorter the better.

 

[Xian Xi]

Cheap ass socket...

Could be. If it's that socket with the round holes you need to push it in really good.

 

[norton9478]

Could be. If it's that socket with the round holes you need to push it in really good.

Good:

Bad:

 

[Xian Xi]

I actually prefer them the other way around. The one you call good is the one I hate the most since stuff can make it pop out. I used it on my UB for my AES and the shutter flap would barely touch it and pop out the UB. When I changed it to the bottom one I no longer had the problem.

 

[norton9478]

I actually prefer them the other way around. The one you call good is the one I hate the most since stuff can make it pop out. I used it on my UB for my AES and the shutter flap would barely touch it and pop out the UB. When I changed it to the bottom one I no longer had the problem.

I'm talking about the pins... You can get a lower profile version of the wirewrap socket.

 

[samurai10000]

I took a little time off of the project yesterday and today. I have been busy helping out my family. I totally agree with BIG BEAR to take some time off and get back to things refreshed. I was getting tired physically and very frustrated with the project.

My multimeter batteries are low and finally died so I changed them out to new ones. This probably could have caused some problems with my testing along with the other things I mentioned.

I checked out the sold core wires to see if any are damaged or not connected. The wires connections are perfect. I was very careful with the wires in this project knowing that solid wire is not as strong or flexible as stranded.

I was thinking the same thing as others about the solid core wire and the length of it. I have never used solid core wire before on electronics projects. I do know that solid core does not carry data as good as stranded. The length of the wire I am sure is contributing to problems especially with solid. I wanted to mount the chip on top of the case but have decided to keep it inside.

norton9478 is correct that the socket I used is cheep it is from RadioShack. Not as good as the socket in my 4 slot but it works. I tested the pins of the bios to the socket and everything connected perfectly.

I must admit that I rushed this a little bit late one night. Some of my equipment was old and not prepared for the job. I should have got stranded wire but did not want to wait. Now I pay for my rushed work. So now I got my tools cleaned up and replaced some things and plan on redoing the whole thing.

I already removed my old wiring and got started redoing this with the stranded wire. I will take my time and get back with my progress.

New wiring with stranded.

Funny picture of my old soldering paste it comes in a little metal can.

Now I finally got some new soldering paste.

 

[samurai10000]

I just finished redoing the bios and it works perfect now. I will get some pictures up tomorrow.

Thanks to everyone for your help.

 

[samurai10000]

I wanted to post my final results on this sooner. My life has been crazy and very busy with my family I am helping. Hopefully this thread will help others that add a bios to the MV-1C and run into trouble.

I basically just did everything over again but did the following 4 things differently.

1. The solid wire I believe was a problem especially the length of it. On a project like this I would say only use stranded 30 awg wire and keep the length short.

2. Not having clean maintained tools and supplies caused problems. Make sure supplies like your soldering paste are clean.

3. I did not use the little pcb to stabilize the socket this time. Instead I used some poster board and hot glue. It worked very well to add stability to the socket and I think worked a lot better for me.

4. Also soldering pins 40 and 39 have nothing to do I believe with the MV-1C motherboard you are using like some say. It has to do with the bios you use. I had 2 Universe Bios chips I tried on this motherboard a 2.0 and 2.3. With the 2.0 it worked without soldering pins 40 and 39 together. On the 2.3 I had to solder pins 40 and 39 together or it would not work.

This was all that I did differently and it came out perfectly. Many thanks to all of you that gave your good advice to me.

It is very nice having the bios on such a compact motherboard I can more easily take with me. Another plus to this motherboard is that it is compatible with all MVS carts unlike other 1 slots. It was definitely worth the work to modify it. This was not a hard job but it required the right tools, supplies and knowledge before starting. Now my final pictures