Blazing Star garbled music

[cr4zymanz0r]

I'll get straight to the point:
I have a 3-6 revision AES which I'm trying to play a Blazing Star MVS cart on using a Super MVS Convertor plus 2011 version. The graphics work fine and apparently the sound effects do too, but the music is loud and garbled. It doesn't even resemble the music. It's just loud digital static and screeching sounds (if that makes any sense) and the volume of it is a lot higher than the sound effects.

I've cleaned the game and converter contacts several times with no change. Most complaints I see about the super mvs converters is either a game won't work at all or has scaling issues. I haven't really seen music-only complaints. Anybody got any ideas before I ship the game back for another copy of it?

It sucks that I got the converter and MVS cart at the same time, because I can't test them independently to know for sure which one is causing the issue.

 

[mjs256]

Do you have any AES carts you can use to make sure the AES system is okay? I have a MVS copy of Blazing Star but no MVS convertor. I also have an MVS with similar issues, but I know the problem is with the system, not the games. Do you know anyone who has an MVS who could test it for you independantly of the convertor?

 

[cr4zymanz0r]

The AES system itself is fine. I've got a few AES games and they all work without any issues. I don't know anyone with a MVS, but a generous member is going to ship me another MVS game to lend me so I can see if the the converter acts the same with it too. I hope the converter is fine because I really don't want to have to deal with returning it to Hong Kong :\

 

[Xian Xi]

Do you have a multimeter?

 

[cr4zymanz0r]

Do you have a multimeter?

Yes.

 

[Xian Xi]

Then use my pinout and see if any are not connected to the YM2610. If they are all connected then it could be a connection issue between the converter and the AES or the cart and converter.

http://www.jamma-nation-x.com/jammax/tutorials.html?show=aesym2610

 

[cr4zymanz0r]

Then use my pinout and see if any are not connected to the YM2610. If they are all connected then it could be a connection issue between the converter and the AES or the cart and converter.

http://www.jamma-nation-x.com/jammax/tutorials.html?show=aesym2610

I'm at work right now so I'll check when I get home, but I'd like to make sure I understand what you're telling me to do since I'm not terribly familiar with Neo pinouts/layouts. Just correct me if my step by step assumptions are wrong.

Note: I'm using someone else's pic of a Metal Slug 2 PROG board as a visual reference since the layout appears to be the same. http://skitch.com/drazic/dq1xk/dsc03048

1.) open the Blazing Star MVS cart
2.) Only pay attention to the PROG board
3.) (Here's the part I'm unclear about) Looking at your pinout you linked me to I'm assuming all the A32 etc. and B32 etc. listed are the connector pins of the PCB?
4.) I'm assuming the NEO-PCM parts of your diagram are referring to the legs of the chip closest to the PCB pins with the the "PCM" label above it?
5.) If all of my other assumptions are correct let me make sure I'm reading your pinout correctly. I'll use the "A34 - YM2610 (48) -> NEO-PCM (48)" line as an example. Does that mean I check the connection between the PROG board PCB pin A34 to see if it is connected to the PCM chip's pin/leg #48? (and the other portion just tells me that the A34 PCB pin would end up routing to pin 48 on the YM2610 chip in the Neo Geo itself?, though that's not relevant at this point for just checking the game PROG board.)

EDIT: Ok, apparently my assumptions are wrong somewhere because the pins aren't matching up for me with how i'm interpreting your pinout

 

[Xian Xi]

You're going to be checking from the slot on your AES to the YM2610 not the MVS cart.

 

[cr4zymanz0r]

Why would I be checking the AES if AES games work fine? The issue is only present when I'm playing this MVS game with the converter.

 

[Xian Xi]

Why would I be checking the AES if AES games work fine? The issue is only present when I'm playing this MVS game with the converter.

Are they big meg games as well or the cheap games?

 

[cr4zymanz0r]

The biggest AES game I have is Samurai Shodown 2. The cover says it's 202 megs.

 

[Xian Xi]

I'm pretty sure Blazing Star uses higher address lines than Sam Sho 2. If any of those traces are broken then you will have audio problems. If they test fine then you know for sure it isn't your AES and can remove it from the equation and concentrate on your MVS cart or converter.

 

[cr4zymanz0r]

Hmmm, well I think I'll wait a little while. I've got a Metal Slug 1 MVS cart on the way to test. It's a little lower meg count than SamSho2, so if it has garbled music too then I'll know the converter is at fault. I really doubt my AES is at fault since it's practically mint inside and out, but if more signs point to it then I'll end up opening it and testing those bajillion contacts in the pinout :\.

 

[Xian Xi]

I'm at work right now so I'll check when I get home, but I'd like to make sure I understand what you're telling me to do since I'm not terribly familiar with Neo pinouts/layouts. Just correct me if my step by step assumptions are wrong.

Note: I'm using someone else's pic of a Metal Slug 2 PROG board as a visual reference since the layout appears to be the same. http://skitch.com/drazic/dq1xk/dsc03048

1.) open the Blazing Star MVS cart
2.) Only pay attention to the PROG board
3.) (Here's the part I'm unclear about) Looking at your pinout you linked me to I'm assuming all the A32 etc. and B32 etc. listed are the connector pins of the PCB?
4.) I'm assuming the NEO-PCM parts of your diagram are referring to the legs of the chip closest to the PCB pins with the the "PCM" label above it?
5.) If all of my other assumptions are correct let me make sure I'm reading your pinout correctly. I'll use the "A34 - YM2610 (48) -> NEO-PCM (48)" line as an example. Does that mean I check the connection between the PROG board PCB pin A34 to see if it is connected to the PCM chip's pin/leg #48? (and the other portion just tells me that the A34 PCB pin would end up routing to pin 48 on the YM2610 chip in the Neo Geo itself?, though that's not relevant at this point for just checking the game PROG board.)

EDIT: Ok, apparently my assumptions are wrong somewhere because the pins aren't matching up for me with how i'm interpreting your pinout

If you want to test with your MVS cart inserted you can just go from YM2610 to PCM. So for the example you used "A34 - YM2610 (48) -> NEO-PCM (48)" just check NEO-PCM (48) if it connects to YM2610 (48).

 

[cr4zymanz0r]

Well, disregard my previous post. I got impatient and started testing the AES . Currently I'm just testing the console only. I'm still in the middle of doing this but I'm half done so I thought I'd report to see if it sounds odd.

I've tested all the B## pins of the PROG board slot. Only B34 through B39 didn't connect according to your pinout, but they all alternate between YM2610 pin 16 and 17, however B32 and B33 were connected fine and they also connect correctly to the corresponding YM2610 pin 16 and 17. Are B34 and B39 usually just bridged in the game cart, or is this actually wrong in my AES?

Gonna go test the A## pins now. (btw, what does the "A32 - LS74-P3 (2,6) -> NEO-PCM (23)" line refer to, and what do the asterisks beside some lines mean?)

EDIT: Just tested all the A## pins except for A32 (since I don't know where that refers to yet) and all of them tested fine.

HUGE EDIT: Ok, I also went and tested all of the connections with the converter and cart in the AES and the results were.....odd. First off, I didn't test the A32 line again since I don't know what it's referring to. As for the rest of the A## lines, the only one I had an issue with is "A40 - YM2610 (54) -> NEO-PCM (55)*". I don't get a connection when testing from YM 54 to PCM 55, but what's really bonkers is If i take the converter out and leave the cart in it I can test from PCM 55 to the converter's A40 then I get a connection. That makes no sense that it's getting to the converters connector but not going from there to the AES cart slot to the YM2610.
On the B## lines, the same ones were "bad' that were bad when testing the AES slot. However, I found something odd on some of your lines. Here's your:

B40 - YM2610 (23) -> NEO-PCM (39)
B41 - YM2610 (22) -> NEO-PCM (40)
B42 - YM2610 (35) -> NEO-PCM (41)
B43 - YM2610 (36) -> NEO-PCM (42)
B44 - YM2610 (37) -> NEO-PCM (43)

However, when I test with the cart in the system things connect, but the pins are different. Here's what I get:

B40 - YM2610 (23) -> NEO-PCM (38)
B41 - YM2610 (22) -> NEO-PCM (39)
B42 - YM2610 (35) -> NEO-PCM (40)
B43 - YM2610 (36) -> NEO-PCM (41)
B44 - YM2610 (37) -> NEO-PCM (42)

Are you 101% positive those lines on your pinout are correct?

 

[cr4zymanz0r]

FOUND IT! FOUND IT! FOUND IT!

The issue is pin A40 on either the converter PCB or the AES (but the pin on my AES connector looks fine like all of the other pins. I found it odd that the connection from the PCM chip in the cart to pin A40 on the converter was fine, but once I plugged it into the AES it wouldn't make the connection all the way to YM2610 pin 54 even though the AES A40 to YM pin 54 was fine.

Basically I just kept slightly moving the converter up and down in the AES connector then retesting with my multimeter. I finally got a connection then i gently carried it all back into the living room and hooked up and sound was fine!

That pin on the converter looks fine so i'm not quite sure what I need to do insure a more reliable connection. Everything is clean and normal looking. I guess I need suggestions for that now

 

[Xian Xi]

Hmm, maybe the connection inside the converter is loose for that specific connection. If the converter is new then I would ask for a replacement since it is the converter that is the problem. The previous run of converters never had an issue like this so it could be maybe the PCBs are thinner or something else like sloppy soldering inside or even broken solder joint.

 

[BIG BEAR]

If I recall correctly,there was a similar problem with the new SNK vs Capcom Chaos AES carts where there was some kind of "film" on the connecters of the cart causing sound problems...Please somebody correct me.....
You may have worn some of that film off and established the connection...I'm just trying to recall off the top of my head... so now it works? Glad to read this...
BB

 

[Xian Xi]

If I recall correctly,there was a similar problem with the new SNK vs Capcom Chaos AES carts where there was some kind of "film" on the connecters of the cart causing sound problems...Please somebody correct me.....
You may have worn some of that film off and established the connection...I'm just trying to recall off the top of my head... so now it works? Glad to read this...
BB

From what I remember it was poor soldering in the AES carts. The sub PCB wouldn't be soldered on very snug and would end up snapping the thin wire.

 

[cr4zymanz0r]

Well, I messed with it some more and even opened it up to see if anything looked badly soldered and everything seemed fine. The pin looks like the rest of them and all the soldering related to that connection and trace seems solid. With everything assembled I can only get it working by moving the converter around in the AES cart slot slightly in the problem area until it finally works. That probably takes 5 to 10 adjusts and resets to get it to work every time I put the converter back in the system. That's pretty annoying and unacceptable for a new pricey product. I guess I'll have to return it for a replacement, which will probably be a pain since place is located in Hong Kong.

The only other thing I can think to do is maybe put a thin layer of solder covering that pin to bulk it up slightly so maybe it'll get a better connection in the AES cart slot. Though I don't really want to do that because that would probably kill my chances of returning it so then I'd be screwed if it didn't help.