| Cartridges starting to fail? [message #130118] |
Sun, 17 May 2009 17:01  |
curtw_us
Messages: 2
Registered: May 2009
Karma: 0
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So, I decided that it was time to empty out the closet, and started
bundling up the Nomad to sell on eBay. I thought it would be better to
include a few select games, and that Virtua Racing would make a good
candidate. However, it wouldn't boot. Wouldn't even get to the
"startup" screen. Not only that, after trying to use Virtua Racing,
*NO* other cartridge would work either, until I pulled the power plug
completely and waited a minute or so. Thinking it might have been a
Nomad-specific issue, I tried the same trick on a regular Genny. Same
problem! I also went through another batch of cartridges, and almost
all of them were fine, with the exception of Rocket Knight Adventures.
Has anyone out there had an experience like this? I'm thinking I
should just throw these things out before they could potentially cause
permanent damage.
(And by the way, if you're in the market for a Nomad, it should be
posted on Tuesday night. Two power supplies, five games, and a few
other extras.)
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| Re: Cartridges starting to fail? [message #130119 is a reply to message #130118] |
Sun, 17 May 2009 17:14  |
Kendrick Kerwin Chua
Messages: 41
Registered: January 2007
Karma: 0
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Member |
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In article <de553ae0-be4e-4dc2-acb7-b20d4c33b362@e24g2000vbe.googlegroups.com>,
<curtw_us@yahoo.com> wrote:
> So, I decided that it was time to empty out the closet, and started
> bundling up the Nomad to sell on eBay. I thought it would be better to
> include a few select games, and that Virtua Racing would make a good
> candidate. However, it wouldn't boot. Wouldn't even get to the
> "startup" screen. Not only that, after trying to use Virtua Racing,
> *NO* other cartridge would work either, until I pulled the power plug
> completely and waited a minute or so. Thinking it might have been a
> Nomad-specific issue, I tried the same trick on a regular Genny. Same
> problem! I also went through another batch of cartridges, and almost
> all of them were fine, with the exception of Rocket Knight Adventures.
This is usually due to solder joints being cold, or otherwise failing.
I've resurrected a number of Gameboy, Genesis and SNES carts simply by
reflowing the solder on all the ICs on the board. You can do this with a
15-watt iron, but I got an SMD rework unit (that blows 400 degree air) to
do it more efficiently.
Some Genesis/Megadrive carts are known to fail when the mask ROM chip
fails, due to inserting the cartridge crooked. On the web forum I
moderate, one user discovered by accident that you can drop a resistor on
one of the IC pins to resolve that problem. Both repair methods are
described here on GamesX:
http://nfggames.com/forum2/index.php?topic=3433.0
-KKC, who can't find anything good on TV.
--
-- "Very long easy right, | kendrick @ |
baby!" | io . com | http://www.io.com/~kkc
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| Re: Cartridges starting to fail? [message #130123 is a reply to message #130119] |
Mon, 18 May 2009 19:04 |
Scott H
Messages: 60
Registered: November 2006
Karma: 0
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Member |
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Kendrick Kerwin Chua wrote:
> In article <de553ae0-be4e-4dc2-acb7-b20d4c33b362@e24g2000vbe.googlegroups.com>,
> <curtw_us@yahoo.com> wrote:
>> So, I decided that it was time to empty out the closet, and started
>> bundling up the Nomad to sell on eBay. I thought it would be better to
>> include a few select games, and that Virtua Racing would make a good
>> candidate. However, it wouldn't boot. Wouldn't even get to the
>> "startup" screen. Not only that, after trying to use Virtua Racing,
>> *NO* other cartridge would work either, until I pulled the power plug
>> completely and waited a minute or so. Thinking it might have been a
>> Nomad-specific issue, I tried the same trick on a regular Genny. Same
>> problem! I also went through another batch of cartridges, and almost
>> all of them were fine, with the exception of Rocket Knight Adventures.
>
> This is usually due to solder joints being cold, or otherwise failing.
> I've resurrected a number of Gameboy, Genesis and SNES carts simply by
> reflowing the solder on all the ICs on the board. You can do this with a
> 15-watt iron, but I got an SMD rework unit (that blows 400 degree air) to
> do it more efficiently.
>
> Some Genesis/Megadrive carts are known to fail when the mask ROM chip
> fails, due to inserting the cartridge crooked. On the web forum I
> moderate, one user discovered by accident that you can drop a resistor on
> one of the IC pins to resolve that problem. Both repair methods are
> described here on GamesX:
>
> http://nfggames.com/forum2/index.php?topic=3433.0
>
> -KKC, who can't find anything good on TV.
Hmm, I might like to try this IC pin solution for a Streets of Rage 3
cart I have that just goes straight to a red screen. If it's just a
small soldering job, I'm game. Based on this threads description
though, I have no clue where to start. Is there a handy newbie guide I
should have already found the link to?
--
Scott
http://www.gamepilgrimage.com
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| Re: Cartridges starting to fail? [message #130124 is a reply to message #130123] |
Mon, 18 May 2009 19:18 |
Kendrick Kerwin Chua
Messages: 41
Registered: January 2007
Karma: 0
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Member |
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In article <guspi1$d1p$1@news.eternal-september.org>,
Scott H <weaponx013@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Kendrick Kerwin Chua wrote:
>>
>> Some Genesis/Megadrive carts are known to fail when the mask ROM chip
>> fails, due to inserting the cartridge crooked. On the web forum I
>> moderate, one user discovered by accident that you can drop a resistor on
>> one of the IC pins to resolve that problem. Both repair methods are
>> described here on GamesX:
>>
>> http://nfggames.com/forum2/index.php?topic=3433.0
>
> Hmm, I might like to try this IC pin solution for a Streets of Rage 3
> cart I have that just goes straight to a red screen. If it's just a
> small soldering job, I'm game. Based on this threads description
> though, I have no clue where to start. Is there a handy newbie guide I
> should have already found the link to?
There is a numerical pinout on GamesX, but it lacks a corresponding
schematic diagram:
http://www.gamesx.com/cartouts/gennycart.htm
The problem with mapping the pins to the ROM chip connections is that you
can do it a number of different ways, depending on how you want to run
around the banks. This page pretty well covers the different
possibilities:
http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/micro/games/sega/docs/hardware.tx t
-KKC, failing to buy olympics tickets.
--
-- "Very long easy right, | kendrick @ |
baby!" | io . com | http://www.io.com/~kkc
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| Re: Cartridges starting to fail? [message #130125 is a reply to message #130124] |
Tue, 19 May 2009 08:34 |
Scott H
Messages: 60
Registered: November 2006
Karma: 0
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Member |
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Kendrick Kerwin Chua wrote:
> In article <guspi1$d1p$1@news.eternal-september.org>,
> Scott H <weaponx013@yahoo.com> wrote:
>> Kendrick Kerwin Chua wrote:
>>> Some Genesis/Megadrive carts are known to fail when the mask ROM chip
>>> fails, due to inserting the cartridge crooked. On the web forum I
>>> moderate, one user discovered by accident that you can drop a resistor on
>>> one of the IC pins to resolve that problem. Both repair methods are
>>> described here on GamesX:
>>>
>>> http://nfggames.com/forum2/index.php?topic=3433.0
>> Hmm, I might like to try this IC pin solution for a Streets of Rage 3
>> cart I have that just goes straight to a red screen. If it's just a
>> small soldering job, I'm game. Based on this threads description
>> though, I have no clue where to start. Is there a handy newbie guide I
>> should have already found the link to?
>
> There is a numerical pinout on GamesX, but it lacks a corresponding
> schematic diagram:
>
> http://www.gamesx.com/cartouts/gennycart.htm
>
> The problem with mapping the pins to the ROM chip connections is that you
> can do it a number of different ways, depending on how you want to run
> around the banks. This page pretty well covers the different
> possibilities:
>
> http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/micro/games/sega/docs/hardware.tx t
>
> -KKC, failing to buy olympics tickets.
Thank you sir! I will look into these.
--
Scott
http://www.gamepilgrimage.com
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