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Optimus Prime

Feeling slightly more confident about soldering since doing that wire and leg above today.. i tried to remove a capacitor from a board. well Holy Jaysus. I cant get the thing out, its like there is solder holding it in the hole i cant get at. is it the soldering iron thats not hot enough? or the solder sucker i have not strong enough? whats the trick to it???

Myrddin

keithgeo wrote: »

Feeling slightly more confident about soldering since doing that wire and leg above today.. i tried to remove a capacitor from a board. well Holy Jaysus. I cant get the thing out, its like there is solder holding it in the hole i cant get at. is it the soldering iron thats not hot enough? or the solder sucker i have not strong enough? whats the trick to it???

Some caps are soldered from both sides of the board. Have a look & see if this one is. If so, remove as much solder as possible using the sucker...then if it's still resisting, hold the iron where the cap is stuck on the board briefly while trying to remove it at the same time. Just be wary of holding the iron on the board for too long

CathalDublin

Good stuff on fixing sunset riders, on the bubble bobble, have you read and verified the roms?
Both my boots had bad roms, also check against photos of other people's boards and make sure you are not missing caps around the amp, noise going up and down when twisting the pot would indicate to me the op amp is working. Also check the solder joints around the caps in this area too

On desoldering, cut the cap with a snips leaving just the 2legs then solder sucker and desoldering wick is what I use

KeRbDoG

Myrddin wrote: »

Some caps are soldered from both sides of the board. Have a look & see if this one is. If so, remove as much solder as possible using the sucker...then if it's still resisting, hold the iron where the cap is stuck on the board briefly while trying to remove it at the same time. Just be wary of holding the iron on the board for too long

If its a cap your replacing, you could clip it off and then remove the legs from the board afterwards with the aid of a solder sucker

Myrddin

KeRbDoG wrote: »

If its a cap your replacing, you could clip it off and then remove the legs from the board afterwards with the aid of a solder sucker

True, you can do that Just take note of the polarity first, incase it's not on the pcb

Optimus Prime

CathalDublin wrote: »

Good stuff on fixing sunset riders, on the bubble bobble, have you read and verified the roms?
Both my boots had bad roms, also check against photos of other people's boards and make sure you are not missing caps around the amp, noise going up and down when twisting the pot would indicate to me the op amp is working. Also check the solder joints around the caps in this area too

On desoldering, cut the cap with a snips leaving just the 2legs then solder sucker and desoldering wick is what I use

Havent read and verified the roms ill do that tomorrow, I bought a TL084C too so ill try that aswell. ill read and verify the roms first.

Myrddin wrote: »

Some caps are soldered from both sides of the board. Have a look & see if this one is. If so, remove as much solder as possible using the sucker...then if it's still resisting, hold the iron where the cap is stuck on the board briefly while trying to remove it at the same time. Just be wary of holding the iron on the board for too long

I gave it a bit of the push it down with the iron and pull from underneath, no joy, i put some new solder on it then used the sucker again on it and managed to pull more out of 1 side, but the other side is still wedged in.

CathalDublin wrote: »

On desoldering, cut the cap with a snips leaving just the 2legs then solder sucker and desoldering wick is what I use

KeRbDoG wrote: »

If its a cap your replacing, you could clip it off and then remove the legs from the board afterwards with the aid of a solder sucker

Ill cut it and give this a go next, dont know why i didnt try that already! I need to get some desoldering wick too.

Thanks a lot!

Optimus Prime

CathalDublin wrote: »

Good stuff on fixing sunset riders, on the bubble bobble, have you read and verified the roms?

Hey, I started reading and verifying these chips, the first one i tried, i can read it fine. when i verify im told the following.

Verify Failed, Address=0x000021, Device=0xD5, Buffer=0x00

Does this mean, the eprom itself is physically broken, or just the stuff on it?

The chip has M27256ZB on it, i cant find that one exactly in the list to ive tried both 27256 and M27256 both dont verify. they do read though.

The Last Bandit

Did you need to load up the ROM image you're verifying against into the programmer ?

Optimus Prime

Dont think so.. i just clicked the verify button and it did its business on the one that worked.

On the one that doesnt work, when i click verify it gives that error above.

EDIT: Im starting to think its because these are write once are they? so i cant erase them or write over them?

CathalDublin

is it a windowed eprom?
upload the read image to that hamster site and see if its found in the mame bublbobl romset

Optimus Prime

No its not windowed, it doesnt erase though. Ive bought some 27C256's

the 2 that dont verify are not picked up on romident, the one that does is a different type of chip and its BoblBobl

CathalDublin

if they are not picked up in romident, they are most likely corrupt.
you could try reading them and replacing them in the bublbobl.zip/boblbobl.zip and running the rom in MAME and seeing if you get sound or not.
Out of interest what rom numbers are they?

Optimus Prime

Numbers 2 and 3 dont verify on GQ-4X, 4 does, 5 is not socketed, so thats going to be an experience unsoldering it.

Im guessing the REDUX roms need 3 4 and 5 burned based on whats in the download.

Could it be possible that the 2 and 3 chips are only write once?

CathalDublin

Well a78-07 in the top left of the top board is the audio rom

Optimus Prime

ah yeh but thats soldered on too isnt it? I just was checking the socketed roms on mine and those two wont verify.

So then i decided to try wipe them and burn on the roms from boblbobl from mame.

But they dont erase and i cant overwrite them , so they must be only write once things or something, is that possible?

CathalDublin

Ah I see, on my board they are all socketed

Optimus Prime

ah yeh only the 3 beside each other are socketed on mine, the other two are not.

Which ones do i need to burn to get REDUX. is it 3, 4 and 5 yeh, so two of the 3 beside each other then the one beside them down below?

Is it the other one on its own that is sound related?

CathalDublin

Just the 3 beside each other for redux, I've been using the aladar version which is not redux but I'm starting to think its playing too fast because I'm finding it much more difficult to get good scores so will be swapping the roms for the latest redux ones posted in the thread on OA

Optimus Prime

Ah cool so for redux I don't need to unsolder that one on its own beside the 3?

CathalDublin

just 3,4,5 on the board pictured above or on your board (2,3,4) which appears to be labeled wrong or someones mixed up the stickers.
Use the version boblbobl_redux_2013-03-11
or BB Aladar Bootleg

Optimus Prime

CathalDublin wrote: »

just 3,4,5 on the board pictured above or on your board (2,3,4) which appears to be labeled wrong or someones mixed up the stickers.
Use the version boblbobl_redux_2013-03-11
or BB Aladar Bootleg

Ah cool mine is definitely labeled wrong so. Makes it easier cause those are the 3 socketed on mine.

BGOllie

well. I took the plunge and decided to start modding my consoles. Did some soldering before -and I read Electronics for dummies in the jacks once i think , but started from the easiest : multi region 50/60hz switches on my megadrives.

Next will be the master system (generously donated by ciderman) for a proper RGB out and 50/60 mod

Not quite in your league but it's a start

Optimus Prime

I thought id broke my BObble Bobble bootleg by trying to erase the chips on it so much haha, i plugged it in and nothing was loading up except one sprite like a horseshoe in the middle of the screen!!

But..

I got a few eproms delivered today so i used the GQ-4X and burned the REDUX roms onto them and slotted them in! Bubble Bobble!



The sound still doesnt work but ive another chip on the way to replace one that could be causing the problem. Could be tricky though as i have to remove and solder in the new one.... hopefully i dont wreck it!

The Last Bandit

Great job !! Hopefully you'll get the sound sorted without too much hassle.

Optimus Prime

yep ill try piggy backing the chip over the one in it first when it arrives. looks like the eproms in the BB bootleg were not erasable\re-writable anyways because these new ones worked first time.

eddhorse

So a few Arcade Cabinet questions for the gurus.

1. How do I test my arcade monitor with only a jamma harness?

2. If arcade monitor works I will need a J-PAC, where is best to acquire such an item?
Did a search on boards, adverts ebay etc.

3. If arcade monitor doesn't work do I need an I-PAC and a PC monitor?

4. Any recommendations if all this results in gutting everything?
For instance any choice of 2 player 6 button joystick pack?

Thanks, Ed

CathalDublin

eddhorse wrote: »

So a few Arcade Cabinet questions for the gurus.

1. How do I test my arcade monitor with only a jamma harness?

2. If arcade monitor works I will need a J-PAC, where is best to acquire such an item?
Did a search on boards, adverts ebay etc.

3. If arcade monitor doesn't work do I need an I-PAC and a PC monitor?

4. Any recommendations if all this results in gutting everything?
For instance any choice of 2 player 6 button joystick pack?

Thanks, Ed

1.Power on monitor, look for neck glow just where neck plugs into board or borrow jamma board, make sure voltages are all ok and plug in board.

2.Direct from ultimarc, gremlinsolutions

3.I'd get chassis fixed/serviced.

eddhorse

CathalDublin wrote: »

1.Power on monitor, look for neck glow just where neck plugs into board or borrow jamma board, make sure voltages are all ok and plug in board.

2.Direct from ultimarc, gremlinsolutions

3.I'd get chassis fixed/serviced.

Thanks Cathal.
New to all this and lots of information available so sifting through it.

I don't have any Jamma boards so difficult to make a decision if unsure if arcade monitor is working.

I'll check the monitor again for neck glow, then order a J-PAC.
Can still get Jamma PCB's then also.

Any recommendations on the different types of Joysticks and buttons available?

TechnoFreek

Edd. Welcome to the cab club! Best club in the world!

Cathal has given some sound advice on the monitor.

If you have a jamma harness and would like to run a mame pc in the cab instead of game pcbs you're going to need a Jpac or ipac. They're basically the same board but the ipac is more the hobbyist version with the Jpac like a prewired simplified version. I'd recommend the Jpac given you have the jamma harness and are probably planning on running a standard joystick and button setup.

They rarely come up second hand so get one from ultimarc like cathal said or else arcadeworlduk who also supply sticks and buttons. They're a bit more expensive for stuff but they are a one stop shop and UK based with fast shipping.

A Jpac isn't exactly plug and play and getting your pc configured to run in an arcade cab especially at a low resolution can be trial and error as you're working blind. Save yourself a lot of heartache by having a jamma game pcb to hand.

Stick an wanted ad in the marketplace here looking for ANY working jamma pcb. Bootleg, whatever . Makes no difference just as long as it is working. Hopefully someone can offer something in the 20 or 30 quid mark.

I'd put the Jpac on hold and get a pcb first. You need to get the monitor working. That would be my first priority.

Mods. Suggest splitting these last few posts into a new thread for edd?

Yep good tips!
where are you?
some one mind be kind enough to drop in and test the monitor.
when you power it up it should make a noise and you can feel static on the screen with your hand.