CPS1 Captain Commando: Dead? (SOLVED)

[[OCEAN]]

I recently bought a (supposedly working) Captain Commando CPS1 B Board, which only shows a black screen when booted. I've tried it with 2 different working A boards (taken from 3 wonders and SF2CE) and the result is always the same.

Since these boards have a suicide battery, I would like to know if dead CPS1 games do behave this way (black screen, no graphics or sound at all) so I can find out if the problem is indeed the battery (and try to fix it) or something else.

As a side note, I tested the battery with a multimeter and it marked 2.95V. Also it looks as it has never been removed (it still has the protective black foam on top). ->[edit] Just looked the bottom of the C board and, judging from the soldering job, it does look as it has been replaced.

Anyone has got any experience with this?

Thanks in advance,

 

[andy251203]

That voltage is good enough to assume that it's dead. Also the black screen is further evidence that it's dead. Go Here to the dead battery society to learn how to fix it. I just bought an eprom programmer specifically for fixing my Cadillacs and Dinosaurs.

If you don't have the tools or time, I can fix this board for you (for a small fee)...
PM me if you're interested.

Edit, nevermind, you're in Spain, that would be killa shipping!

 

[[OCEAN]]

Looks like I've got a dead game then, so I'll try to fix it following the instructions given in the dead battery society page.

Do you know which kind of EPROM should I use to burn the patched roms?

Thanks,

 

[MKL]

2.95v is practically 3v so it's fine and no indication per se that the board committed suicide. The original battery is a Panasonic with yellow outline, if it's different it will have been replaced and it could point to a suicided board. Suicided CPS boards may still display some graphics like a sprite or two. Different boards behave differently. A solid black screen can be caused by many other faults. Before trying the dead battery society fix I would try another A-board and also all the socketed chips and C-board on another B-board.

 

[billd420]

Do you know which kind of EPROM should I use to burn the patched roms?

Use the eproms that are on your Commando PCB. Worst case scenario, you can use the mame set to un-do the erasing.

By the way, I'm 95% positive its suicide related based on your description. I've had dead capcom products that read 3.3v on the suicide battery in the past.

-Bill

 

[[OCEAN]]

Ok, so following MKL's suggestion I changed all the socketed chips from the Captain Commando B-Board to another B-Board (SF2CE), together with the C-Board.

While doing this, I noticed that the order of all the Roms from Captain Commando was all screwed up compared to the socket numbers (ie, the rom marked as CC-1M was positioned in the socket numbered 02, CC-2M in 06 etc.). I'm quite positive that the rom numbers have to match the socket's, right??? (Anyone's got this PCB and can confirm?) This is weird.

Anyway, tried the roms in the second B-Board (with the "correct" order) and got the same result: black screen, nothing else. Tried on 2 different (working) A boards. Same result.

This rules out a problem with the B board, right? So as Bill says, if there isn't any other suggestion, I guess I'll have to try the suicide repair.

Thanks for the help!

 

[MKL]

Ok, so following MKL's suggestion I changed all the socketed chips

even the three PALs?

While doing this, I noticed that the order of all the Roms from Captain Commando was all screwed up compared to the socket numbers (ie, the rom marked as CC-1M was positioned in the socket numbered 02, CC-2M in 06 etc.). I'm quite positive that the rom numbers have to match the socket's, right???

No, wrong! the order was correct, you screwed it up.

 

[[OCEAN]]

even the three PALs?

Yep, even those.
Actually, I mounted all of the SF2CE chips on the Captain Commando's B Board and it works flawlessly.

No, wrong! the order was correct, you screwed it up.

D'oh!!! Luckily I left them in the original order after trying...

Today I tried booting the game a few more times, to see if something showed up (scrambled gfx for an instance) and I got an FX sound (a cry, like someone receiving or giving a punch), but just once.

The screen remains black, I just can see a vertical line upon booting, which disappears shortly afterwards (I think SF2CE does this also).

Is there any other thing I could try before going on to a revival process?

Many thanks,

 

[FalcomAdol]

Raz is in Europe somewhere, he might be able to hook you up.

 

[MKL]

Is there any other thing I could try before going on to a revival process?

At this point it sounds like it has committed suicide. I tried a working Captain Commando C-board with battery on a Knights of the round board and all of the sprites display just fine but no backgrounds at all. The game is still kind of playable. Probably it does the same with other boards, at least those with the same C-board graphic chip (CPS-B-21).

If you decide to remove the battery and hack the C-board you could try it on SF2CE and if it doesn't have any other damage it will work fine.

 

[[OCEAN]]

Well, I finally had some time to work on the revival process and, although now the game boots, my Captain Commando is still not working properly

I followed the revival instructions of the Dead Battery Society (hacked the C-Board and replaced the 22 and 23 roms) and now it boots, but the game is all messed up. These are the symptoms:

• I get the initial waning message correctly (well, maybe the color is not right, but I can read it).
• The "Winners don't use drugs" message appears with strange colors.
• The graphics look like garbage, there are all messed up, you can barely recognize a thing.
• The game enters the attract mode, but the action sequence is all wrong.
• When I insert coins, I can hear the "commando!" voice, but after that the game freezes up.

As suggested, I tested the C-Board on SF2CE and the game worked properly, so I guess the problem is somewhere on the B board.

Any ideas what may be causing the game to behave like this?

Also, could someone who owns this board post a picture of it? So I can check that my board has all the necessary roms and are located in the correct sockets (A list of the roms and their location will also be great).

Thanks a lot!

EDIT: OK, I'm stupid. I Just realized that the available patched roms are from the USA version and mine is World, so I guess I have to replace also roms number 24 and 28 with the USA version ones. Hope it works then.

 

[[OCEAN]]

Almost there...

Well, I finally revived this board and (ALMOST ) have it working correctly.

The thing is that now the game works fine (including sound and controls) except for some graphics (essentially backgrounds), which appear all messed up (I'm posting some pics).

I've taken out and reinserted all the chips a few times to discard connection problems, but I still get the same graphic errors.

Anyone's got any idea of what could be causing this?

Thanks a lot,

 

[MKL]

could someone who owns this board post a picture of it? So I can check that my board has all the necessary roms and are located in the correct sockets (A list of the roms and their location will also be great).

The gfx mask roms must be:

5
1
7
3
6
2
8
4

 

[[OCEAN]]

The gfx mask roms must be:
5
1
7
3
6
2
8
4

Great! Dunno why, but 4 and 8 were swapped and that's why the BG gfx where messed up.

Finally it's working correctly and I can enjoy this great beat'em up!

Thanks again for the help!

[OCEAN]

 

[thchardcore]

Good work, I love it when people come together to solve problems. Nice job everyone involved.

 

[Hippee]

Yeah, awesome! You guys that helped him rock!