Neo Geo CD PAL to NTSC

[Amano Jacu]

Well, today has arrived my new Neo Geo CD PAL system. I’ve decided not to make the same mistakes as before and forgot about NTSC, soldering and resistors. I’ve opened it, and for my surprise it was a bit different than my other one. This one has the date 9-8-1994 (more or less) in the video board, while the other one had around 6-5-1995. Differences? This one has a red, plastic cover of the downside board, while the other was metallic. Also the video board has different labels, I think R47 is now called R33. Anyway I just don’t care about it and looked for R26. Well, it was not in the same place! Things are different down there. Anyway I held my breath and cut it. Mounted again and.........................

IT WORKED AT 60 HZ FULL SCREEN !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
YEAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!! <IMG SRC="smilies/smile.gif" border="0">

Wow, what a difference. Games are incredible better now. I also switched to Japanese to see blood, mutilations and bounces.

So my TV and my RGB cable work OK, the problem was in my old Neo Geo, it must be something wrong I made when soldering the cursed R47. I now don’t care that much about it, but I guess I’ll try to put again a 16 K and close JN1 on it. I don’t have anything to lose.

So I guess that’s all. Check pictures of my new console performance at http://danielcuadras.eresmas.com/ng/index.htm
(the last 2, the other 3 are the old ones from my damaged console)

Thanks really really a lot to all the people who has helped and specially Takumaji and Arakon (you guys rock!)
I’ll post info if anything new happens to bith of my consoles.

See ya later, I’m off to play my games now!
<IMG SRC="smilies/drool2.gif" border="0">

 

[Takumaji]

Congratulations! Finally you made it. It's good to see that there are people who don't simply give up after a failure!

Agreed, the problem must be the old NeoCD. Guess you damaged it during the removal of R47, at least the video pcb of your old console seems to have a ditch. If you re-mod it to PAL, drop a few lines about it. Would be interesting to know.

And now: Have fun, blast away and go, Go, GO! <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0">

 

[Amano Jacu]

Well, today I’ve had some free time so I went to an electronics shops. I bought 1 meter of wire (I think it’s exactly the same size as the original jumper in JN1) and also looked for a 4.3 mm security screwdriver for the special screws at the back of Megadrive cartridges (because I want to open my Nomad). I’ve so far tried 5 specialized shops looking for this with no luck. I show a Megadrive cartridge and ask for the screwdriver, and they all say they’ve never seen anything similar. Oh well. Anyway, I saw a pencil-type solderer that seemed much better than my old one for that tiny spots, so I bought it.

With all these I’ve opened again my old NGCD and replaced R47 with a 16K and closed JN1 (the new solderer is much better than the old one). I’ve also tried to clean as much as I could the contacts there, due to my crappy previous soldering. I’ve mounted it all again and tried it. I was sure it wouldn’t work. But well..........

IT NOW WORKS AT 60 HZ FULL SCREEN WITHOUT FLICKERING, JUST LIKE MY NEW CONSOLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH <IMG SRC="smilies/eek2.gif" border="0">

Well, now I have 2 working at 60 Hz PAL NGCD.... I guess I shouldn’t have bought that other one, but I was very busy these last 2 weeks so I couldn’t go to that shops that are quite far away from my home, and that was an ebay auction that only lasted 7 days and seller was located in Madrid, so I could save a lot on shipping... and I didn’t think at all I could repair my console... so that was then or never....

Guess I’ll have to sell one. OK, know that settles it. Thanks a lot for your help. This has got a tragic-comic ending now, but I’m happy as I can play the games at full pleasure. Who cares about the rest? In addition, now I know much more about electronics and soldering and that sure comes in handy. <IMG SRC="smilies/smile.gif" border="0">

 

[Takumaji]

LOL, hey Amano, that's just too cool! <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0"> So the morale of this tale d'extraordinaire of NeoCD modding is either: Thou shalt not use too much lead, or: Thou shalt first remove R26 and see how it goes from there <IMG SRC="smilies/wink.gif" border="0"> <IMG SRC="smilies/smile.gif" border="0">

Ok... A TV-incompatibility, weird soldering - so what, you're now the proud owner of two cool (and working) consoles, congrats!

Btw., this strange kind of screw driver you mention is called "Torx", perhaps you'll find one by this name...