Neo Diagnostics ROMs
- Thread starter smkdan
- Start date
Hello everybody. I have a problem with my japanese Neo Geo Aes (AES3-6 motherboard). There are a sort of scanlines effect and jailbars present in most graphics except for the text without movement and lifebars. I've checked some possible cut tracks without succes and I'm running out of ideas... I made the test with the universal Bios v3.2 and nothing wrong appear. And I run the Neo Diagnostic and gave me this (the first check was everything OK):
OK, thanks for the quick response! Now that I read the Neo Diagnostic BIOS page again I realized that I never did those tests:
Sub-menu
If ABCD is held down on power on, a submenu appears. Otherwise normal testing goes ahead.
Calendar test (MVS only)
Color bars (currently MVS only)
Controller test
WRAM/BRAM test loop
Palette RAM test loop
VRAM test loop
Misc. input test
I'll do it tomorrow and I'll upload the results.
Sub-menu
If ABCD is held down on power on, a submenu appears. Otherwise normal testing goes ahead.
Calendar test (MVS only)
Color bars (currently MVS only)
Controller test
WRAM/BRAM test loop
Palette RAM test loop
VRAM test loop
Misc. input test
I'll do it tomorrow and I'll upload the results.
- Joined
- Dec 1, 2005
- Posts
- 27,753
You just need a CHAR PCB with the programmed M1. You will need the S1 to display text so just leave all the chips on, just remove the stock M1 and replace with the programmed one.
So I basically would need to use a game cart? That's what I figured, just not sure I have one I want to scrap for it. Perhaps I'll keep an eye out for a cheap cart on ebay. On the AES side, is there a list of games with the correct sized M1/S1? Some of them look different...
Edit: Found a baseball stars for cheap, which looks like it has the expected M1 chip. Is the m1.bin also just burned to a 27c1024?
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- Joined
- Dec 14, 2001
- Posts
- 8,289
You don't need to destroy a cart. I'm pretty sure I have a spare CHAR board.The m1.bin is burned on an M27C010... You just need the s1 and the m1 on the pcb.
BB
BB
You may be over estimating my desoldering skills!
Intriguing, got any more information? Though I'm most likely just going to desolder the M1 and put in a socket. Problem is I expect I'll need to modify the shell to get it back together after.
Question I've not found an answer to (though I'm sure that's a fault on my end). If I put the diagnostics bios in an AES, how do I access it's functionality? I assume holding down a key combination of some sort on boot?
Edit: Never mind, I'm an idiot or too tired. Of course it just boots and goes...
Edit: Never mind, I'm an idiot or too tired. Of course it just boots and goes...
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Yup. Think I was just under caffeinated. Somehow I got it into my mind, that it operated as a normal BIOS as well as a diagnostic tool.... at any rate, it says my Bjorked AES is fine, gonna need to build a test cart to see what's up with the Z80. Thinking I MAY try to just make a MVS test cart and use it on the AES via a converter.
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Thought I'd share this here, as it's fairly interesting and pertinent to the diagnostics BIOS. Picked up a bootleg copy of NeoGeo Cup '98 that already has socked EEPROMs (W29EE011) in the M1 & S1 slots. Even has the PCBs cutout so it all fits back together. Kind of high quality for a bootleg...
Not stuck the Neo Diagnostics cart M1.bin on it yet, that'll have to wait for a week or so (or if I can't sleep tonight).
Not stuck the Neo Diagnostics cart M1.bin on it yet, that'll have to wait for a week or so (or if I can't sleep tonight).
dr.wily
n00b
- Joined
- May 24, 2005
- Posts
- 31
Hello,
I have burned V 0.19 to diagnose a dead AES who shows green screen even if a game is inserted. But unlucky, Neo Diagnostics BIOS does not show up, I only have a screen with a random color and some "jail bars". When I press ABCD and reset I have a blue block a the top of screen. Image is flickering when a move the joystick but that's all.
How can I diagnose this AES console ? I allready test all color RAM lines and this BIOS does not works. Any idea ? Thanks
I have burned V 0.19 to diagnose a dead AES who shows green screen even if a game is inserted. But unlucky, Neo Diagnostics BIOS does not show up, I only have a screen with a random color and some "jail bars". When I press ABCD and reset I have a blue block a the top of screen. Image is flickering when a move the joystick but that's all.
How can I diagnose this AES console ? I allready test all color RAM lines and this BIOS does not works. Any idea ? Thanks
Last edited:
- Joined
- Dec 1, 2005
- Posts
- 27,753
Hello,
I have burned V 0.19 to diagnose a dead AES who shows green screen even if a game is inserted. But unlucky, Neo Diagnostics BIOS does not show up, I only have a screen with a random color and some "jail bars". When I press ABCD and reset I have a blue block a the top of screen. Image is flickering when a move the joystick but that's all.
How can I diagnose this AES console ? I allready test all color RAM lines and this BIOS does not works. Any idea ? Thanks
Start with the basic system which is CPU-BIOS-RAM. Make sure everything is connected then try again.
dr.wily
n00b
- Joined
- May 24, 2005
- Posts
- 31
Thanks Xian Xi.
- Tested all RAM lines, no broken traces.
- Tested LO lines between LS244 and LSPC2. No problem
- Tested SP lines between wRAM and CPU. No problem
- Tested lines between SP and NEO-EO. No problem
- Tested lines between SP and LSPC2. No problem
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Worked perfectly for a Neo Diagnostics cart. And because it was an EEPROM I was able to just backup the Neo Cup M1 and restore it when I was done. Very tempting to try putting something more interesting on the cart now... all in all, a good eBay find. Still one available if anyone's interested.
