Problem with KOF 98 JPN AES

[Argentina94]

I´ve had this game for a few years now and haven´t used it for quite a few months, probably a year (like most of my other AES games) but has always worked perfectly. It was purchased used but mint and has been one of my most used carts in the system.

Well, after getting the same glithy graphics and thinking it was dirt, I realize I have an issue with this cart and I really don´t see how as I´ve always kept my carts stored on a bookshelf and no one´s touched them.

On the NEO GEO logo at startup and on most of the graphics when the game boots, I get vertical lines (sort of like vertical interlaced lines) and the graphics mess up. I get sound fine. After many tries, it´s the exact same glitch.

My other games work just fine on my system. Now unless KOF 98 uses certain pins on the console that none of the other games use and those pins aren´t making contact, the cart itself has a fault. I begrudgingly opened the cart, but found no loose solder joints or broken traces (I could check again, you never know).

I don´t think it´s the pins on the console, since all my other games work fine. It´s a Neobitz modded US system but I doubt that has anything to do with it.

Has anyone had a problem with a cart that always worked fine and then started glitching for no reason, same glitch? Any suggestions?

 

[metallizer]

hope your cart is still opened...

you should inspect closely the game CHA board.

 

[Xian Xi]

Could be a dirty cart also.

 

[slugger_dan]

hope your cart is still opened...

you should inspect closely the game CHA board.

yea. if it's not the fixed foreground stuff like credit counter being affected but rather everything else then it's not accessing the C ROMs properly.

 

[Argentina94]

Thanks for the quick replys guys.

Yeah. it´s not the counter or anything. Even the Neo Geo logo on startup is affected so it´s the actual graphics.

If it´s the CHA board, or the chips, is there anything I should be looking for in particular, like loose solder connections or broken traces? Anything else?

Thanks.

 

[metallizer]

cracked solder points and you should give a good clean at cart contacts with a pencil eraser, since they oxidize when not in use.

 

[Argentina94]

cracked solder points and you should give a good clean at cart contacts with a pencil eraser, since they oxidize when not in use.

I was just about to post when I saw your reply.

I opened the cart again and checked the CHA board. Other than a few sloppy solder contacts on a few of the C chips, I didn´t notice any cracked points or broken traces.

I then plugged the PCBs in as is and the game worked fine. I admit I was confused, maybe I cleaned something I didn´t notice and now works. So I assembled the cart again, plugged it in and sure enough the same glitch appeared. Maybe it´s the contacts. I´ll clean them up now with an eraser like you said.

The ydon´t appear oxidized but at this point I don´t know what else to try.

 

[Argentina94]

Thanks for the tip, the eraser worked perfectly. It never occured to me since the contacts looked quite clean. I went ahead and did a couple of conversions as well that were giving me trouble as well.