Any Neo Geo AES owners?

o1s1n

Mr Vengeance wrote: »

Cheers for the link mate. €450 is a lot of cash isn't it?! I was hoping to pick one up for about €300 but I suppose I'm being a little optimistic as €400 odd seems to be the going rate for a Naomi.

I'd love a vert Naomi with Ikaruga - I'd never be off the thing!

Are there any arcade in Dublin or Bray that have old school cabs in them that aren't the usual lightgun and car set-ups you see around? I remember there was an arcade on.... ah it was up at the top of Walbot Street (not the one down at the two retro game shops) that had a load of great cabs - I think it was turned into a very seedy looking gambling spot. Had a copy of Metal Slug running in there if I recall correctly.

€450 is a lot of cash indeed, but it does seem to be in and around the going rate for Naomi cabs.

Luckily for you, Naomis seem to be at the lower end of the cost scale. When compared to the likes of candy cabs such as Egrets and Astros, it's only about half the price of one of them.

A Naomi with Ikaruga would be incredible. Thankfully due to the Dreamcast version you wouldn't have to spend a fortune on an arcade board. Just get the Dreamcast working in it.

Arcades like the above just don't exist around Dublin anymore unfortunately Even the ones out in Bray are just full of dedicated driving/shooting cabs. Long gone are the days when you'd see a joystick on an arcade machine.

CiDeRmAn

Kerbdog has picked up a Naomi cab for his currently underconstruction house, going in the kitchen apparently, lucky fecker!
While I'm dismissed to my attic!

I swear, I'm gonna build a gamesroom in the backgarden, pop a cab or two in there, by Grabthar's hammer, by the suns of Warvan, I shall have it!

Mr Vengeance

o1s1n wrote: »

€450 is a lot of cash indeed, but it does seem to be in and around the going rate for Naomi cabs.

Luckily for you, Naomis seem to be at the lower end of the cost scale. When compared to the likes of candy cabs such as Egrets and Astros, it's only about half the price of one of them.

A Naomi with Ikaruga would be incredible. Thankfully due to the Dreamcast version you wouldn't have to spend a fortune on an arcade board. Just get the Dreamcast working in it.

Arcades like the above just don't exist around Dublin anymore unfortunately Even the ones out in Bray are just full of dedicated driving/shooting cabs. Long gone are the days when you'd see a joystick on an arcade machine.

Thats a pity. I suppose Dr Quirky's is probably the best place around still then. Used to play a lot of Soul Calibur II, Virtua Fighter 4 and Outrun 2 in there back in about 2004. Great fun!

Just of note on arcades in Dublin, the Stillorgan Leisureplex or whatever its called had a couple of Scud Race cabs in there a couple of years ago.....

KeRbDoG

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

Kerbdog has picked up a Naomi cab for his currently underconstruction house, going in the kitchen apparently, lucky fecker!
While I'm dismissed to my attic!

I swear, I'm gonna build a gamesroom in the backgarden, pop a cab or two in there, by Grabthar's hammer, by the suns of Warvan, I shall have it!

I'm picking up a cab, yet to be picked up sir.
Should also in about a weeks time have all released Naomi1 cart games working on the orignal hardware Might splash out if all goes well on a Naomi2, will see how it goes!

Pyongyang

Looks like I'm resigned to never play Neo Geo games. Last night I went to test my MAK Strike and the JAMMA connector is too wide for the MVS slot on the board!

The connector goes nearly all the way in for a snug fit but not quite. I powered it on anyway because after speaking to the guy at Arcade Forge (who said his system had the same fitting issue but his worked) I powered it on, saw a unibios screen (albeit garbled and flickering) and then heard a pop or snap sound that I think came from the MVS system board.

I powered the MAK Strike off and waited a few seconds (sure I could smell burning, could have been dust/heat combo though as the board is pretty dusty). I powered it on again and I don't see any Unibios screen at all. Just a mainly green screen flickering between garbled colours.

Power was definitely missing somewhere (all LED's were on on both the MVS system and the MAK Strike so power is reaching those).

However I had the following setup:

PSU > MAK STRIKE > MVS > SCART CABLE > SYNC STRIKE > VGA SCALER > VGA MONITOR

The Sync Strike has an LED on it which I since proved the device still works as I hooked up my Saturn to it last night and played Donpachi on it just fine. LED working and everything.

Reckon the MVS system is fried? Or the SCART cable is wrecked?

Either way it's seriously annoying the JAMMA connection doesn't fit snug. Fair play to the guy on Arcade Forge though who said I can send it straight back (for a refund?).

Gutted though, Neo Geo controller is due to arrive today and I was all set for some MVS tonight. Argh!

Can anyone offer any help on what may be the issue?

ondafly

can you take photos of the connectors ? as the MVS is jamma and should line up exactly with the jamma edge connector.

do you know if the MVS was working prior to connecting to the mak strike ?

I'd also try and without all the extras and just go scart to TV

Pyongyang

ondafly wrote: »

can you take photos of the connectors ? as the MVS is jamma and should line up exactly with the jamma edge connector.

do you know if the MVS was working prior to connecting to the mak strike ?

I'd also try and without all the extras and just go scart to TV

Cheers. Pics coming in a sec (of the board/JAMMA connection). I haven't actually tried a straight SCART > TV. Will try that tonight. The JAMMA and MVS slot do line up just fine, they just don't fit snuggly.

No idea if the MVS was working before the MAK Strike as I had no supergun.

Pyongyang

UPDATE: Jochen at Arcade Forge has been absolutely awesome. He's offered to send me a new MAK Strike with a cut down JAMMA conenctor so it fits snug.

He's even offered to send it while I send the other one back to him. That's awesome service, fair play to him. I might as well get the trimmed down one so at least it works with everything in future.

Pyongyang

Here's the pics of my board and the MAK Strike. You can clearly see it doesn't fit properly:

o1s1n

Sure you can shave a bit off either side of that blue jamma connector yourself...? Would only take a few minutes!

Andrew76

Pyongyang wrote: »

UPDATE: Jochen at Arcade Forge has been absolutely awesome. He's offered to send me a new MAK Strike with a cut down JAMMA conenctor so it fits snug.

He's even offered to send it while I send the other one back to him. That's awesome service, fair play to him. I might as well get the trimmed down one so at least it works with everything in future.

Good service that but shame it didn't fit properly in the first place.

/Edit: Would you need a jamma loom to better connect the two? As in does the base of the MAK sit flush with the base of the supergun when they're both sitting flat?

Pyongyang

Aye I was going to trim the JAMMA connector down but I'd rather send it back and have a snug one pro-cut.

The actual connector slot and MVS connector do sit flush, it's just just the actual MVS slot size itself is too narrow (or the JAMMA connector plastic is too wide).

Any ideas if my MVS is fried though? Seriously hope it's not the case as it's unibios'ed and everything.

o1s1n

So in summary, you plugged your MVS 1 slot into the MAK board, it didn't plug the whole way in because it was too wide, you powered it on, saw the Unibios garbled and then got a pop?

I get garbled graphics when the MVS game has dirty contacts. A quick clean (or even blow) on the contacts and it fixes that.

However the pop followed by garbled colours isn't good. Worst case scenario, something was fried/shorted due to the JAMMA harness not making a full connection. Although do keep in mind that's from my uneducated opinion!

Pyongyang

Yep that's pretty much cutting a long story short!

I haven't cleaned the contacts though, I just got pissed off with the whole thing, plugged in my Saturn and played some Donpachi for the rest of the night instead.

Andrew76

Looking at your pictures above it was the jamma pins that control ground and voltage that weren't connected properly. 1 & 2 (and a & b) are for ground, and 3 to 6 (and c to f) are for the +5, -5, +12 volts, link.

If it was me I would just shave off some width on the MAK side and connect it properly then power it back on and see what happens, I wouldn't bother waiting for a replacement. The problem was the width of the MAK not the MVS, my MVS is the same and I've no problem connecting superguns to it.

Pyongyang

Andrew76 wrote: »

The problem was the width of the MAK not the MVS, my MVS is the same and I've no problem connecting superguns to it.

Yep, that's exactly my thinking, I was wondering how MVS slots could possibly differ in size!

However, the pop and whiffy smell (that could have been dust) is worrying. Jochen has offered to send me a new board though so I'd rather not touch the MAK Strike connector and leave it be. Don't want to affect my right to return the goods to him (unless he gives me permission to trim it down of course).

o1s1n

Big +1 on shaving the Mak down. You only need to take a few mm off the left. If you've no Dremmel, a craft knife or even a hot kitchen knife should get through it very easily. From what I remember, that plastic is pretty soft.

Fingers crossed nothing shorted and it's just a matter of making a bad connection. The effect you're talking about also sounds like something I was seeing when I wasn't getting enough power to my 6 slot board.

ondafly

Pyongyang wrote: »

UPDATE: Jochen at Arcade Forge has been absolutely awesome. He's offered to send me a new MAK Strike with a cut down JAMMA conenctor so it fits snug.

He's even offered to send it while I send the other one back to him. That's awesome service, fair play to him. I might as well get the trimmed down one so at least it works with everything in future.

Jochen is a good guy - and has sorted me out on few obscure things. Also good to know for scouting games etc. When he designed it originally I'd say he expected people to use a loom of some sort between devices, as you would with an arcade cab etc.

Personally I'd probably just shave down the plastic on the blue edge connector and get playing some MVS :cool:

Pyongyang

I bet after all this though it's fried. Just my luck!

I'm going to check with Jochen and see if I can get permission to trim the edges down to test a flush fit. See if my MVS is wrecked completely or not. I have no Dremel alas so a stanley it is.

If not I'll just send it back and wait for a new MAK Strike.

o1s1n

That blue part that needs to be shaved down is extremely cheap to buy. I'd be very suprised if he said no.

The thing about arcade hardware is a lot of the time it does need a bit of self modification. It's a long way from the modular 'everything fits' world of consoles! Part of the fun of it though

Andrew76

Pyongyang wrote: »

Yep, that's exactly my thinking, I was wondering how MVS slots could possibly differ in size!

However, the pop and whiffy smell (that could have been dust) is worrying. Jochen has offered to send me a new board though so I'd rather not touch the MAK Strike connector and leave it be. Don't want to affect my right to return the goods to him (unless he gives me permission to trim it down of course).

Very strange about the MAK width considering he has pictures of it hooked up to a one slot MVS on his site and it says the following:

This kit contains:

- MAK Strike with case fitting exactly for MVS NeoGeo one slot boards.
- External Power Supply with MOLEX connector giving 12V, 5V and GND

Are there two versions of the MAK or just one? One "consolized" and one not?

Hopefully the MVS is not fried though. From your pic the jamma pins least connected were the ground ones since they are on the outside. If you still plan to return the mak then just get permission to shave it and try it out.

ondafly

Pyongyang wrote: »

I bet after all this though it's fried. Just my luck!

I'm going to check with Jochen and see if I can get permission to trim the edges down to test a flush fit. See if my MVS is wrecked completely or not. I have no Dremel alas so a stanley it is.

If not I'll just send it back and wait for a new MAK Strike.

I bet the MVS is fine (if it was in working order prior to you using it ), they are more robust than you think, and you probably just caused a bit of a surge etc.

Andrew76

If nothing else a valuable lesson was learned never to power on anything jamma related unless all connections are correctly fit together (and the correct side up). An mvs 1 slot is much easier to replace than a rare/expensive arcade pcb.

Pyongyang

ondafly wrote: »

I bet the MVS is fine (if it was in working order prior to you using it ), they are more robust than you think, and you probably just caused a bit of a surge etc.

It looked grand. I powered it on, the display showed Unibios and then some crosshatch stuff when I put Art Of Fighting in to test (as I have 2 copies of it). It never booted the game though, I just knocked it off and left it. I think the pop and the burning plastic whiff came at that point.

Shoved in Fatal Fury and got the green screen with flickering blocks of garbled colours.

What bothers me is when I first ever powered it on, the Sync Strike LED was on. So it was getting power. Now it's not. I wonder if the SCART cable was wrecked?

Andrew76

Hold on, you put the game cart in before turning on the mvs.

o1s1n

If you get a crosshatch like that on boot up, it means the cart is either dirty or the slot is.

As does a green screen with flickering blocks.

Myrddin

Pyongyang wrote: »

but I'd rather send it back and have a snug one pro-cut.

If he designed them himself, he likely ordered the components in bulk. I'd say all of his jamma connectors are the same size, they look like the standard size anyway.

He'll probably just use a hot blade to slice off a few mm each side. A dremmel being round-tipped, won't give a pro-looking finish but a nice sharp blade straight down will look pro enough.

Regards the pop...you might be lucky in that the power just arced from one connector to the next causing a surge. Fingers crossed anyway. If not, a pop usually indicates a component somewhere just had a bowel explosion.

Pyongyang

Jochen is sound as a pound. He's mailed me back super quick saying I can trim the JAMMA connector down and test it out, said it helps him with finding out issues anyway. I'm going to do that tonight and try it out.

As for how I powered it up first time, I basically had everything set up ready to go (like a console if you will). Cart in place, all bits connected, powered on and then... well, you know the rest.

I'm going to try cleaning the contacts, see if that helps with the display issue. Going to heat up a craft knife or stanley and trim that connector tonight. See what happens.

I really hope these MVS systems are as robust as you guys say!

Pyongyang

Oh and here's a good one for you. When plugging in my SLG to my Saturn last night I electrocuted myself on it.

o1s1n

Haha, ouch. It's them scanlines, they're unhinged

I must have some mad electromagnetic field as I'm always doing that. All the time on everything.

Last time it happened was yesterday. A coke can in Dunnes gave me a static shock

Pyongyang

The SLG is unreal. Makes Donpachi look utterly amazing. Great device. The ability to tune the scanlines with the dial is a work of brilliance. Better than the dipswitches.

The shock last night was actually quite brutal. Oddly it made me play Donpachi a lot better than I normally do though. I was happy out with my Saturn last night while my stupid MVS was tossed aside in a rage.

Pyongyang

OK so I shaved off the sides, it now sits flush. I cleaned the game and MVS contacts. I tried taking everything apart and connecting only the MAK Strike and the MVS direct to my TV via SCART only. Same thing.

This is a screenshot of my PC monitor, it does the below but when on my TV I could hear white noise and a continuous clicking sound too.



The MVS is shafted isn't it?

Pyongyang

Oh dear.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebmKuGZOsWM

o1s1n

Oh noes

Any other setup you can try it on? Just in case?

Andrew76

That doesn't look good.

Maybe a silly question but you've tried other carts on it rather than just the one when the problem occurred?

CathalDublin

If your getting video it should be fixable, bad trace on the board somewhere or bad solder joint possibly

Pyongyang

CathalDublin wrote: »

If your getting video it should be fixable, bad trace on the board somewhere or bad solder joint possibly

CathalDublin

LOL
look for things like this on the mv-1b board or bad connections/shorts around the unibios


this thread could help you
http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=150000

Pyongyang

Looks clean. I took the black plastic shielder off too and looked at the whole board. No explosions, burns, bad traces etc. Not that I can see with the naked eye anyway.

I did sniff the board too...

Pyongyang

Heres a photo of the board (excuse file size):

7sr2z3fely84g5

i would had used an continuity tester from a multi meter,which gives beeps if there's a current running through a line.

is that glue on the caps?.

some mvs suggestions here-
http://www.arcadecomponents.com/repairlogs.html#81947

Neo-Geo MVS system has garbled video Neo Geo 2 slot board worked and passed all RAM tests but video was messed up. The normal title screen was squished up into the upper half of the screen. The bottom half of the screen was a jumbled mess. During gameplay things on the screen changed on the upper half and bottom half at the same time.
Replaced one CXK5814 IC. IC tested fine on self tests and on an external tester. It had an internal addressing issue where the top addressing line had failed. When addressing the top half of the chip it would restart at the bottom of its memory. It would pass the simple memory tests of the Neo Geo and the external tester. Replacement of the chip cured the video problems.

Pyongyang

I think we're realming to depths where I'm struggling to stay afloat here lads... would I be better off just getting another board?

Not sure on the caps, it looks like glue I think...?

ondafly

Do you have a voltmeter ? Just to check your getting 5v and 12v at the right pins ?

o1s1n

Might sound like another obvious one, but have you made sure all the dip switches are in the off position?

Pyongyang

OK, Dip switchs 1, 2, 3 and 4 are set to OFF. 5, 6, 7 and 8 are set to ON.

Don't have a voltmeter.

CathalDublin

Sorry for another obvious but have you
cleaned the edge connector contacts with a rubber/alcohol/Vaseline/the womans nail file or the likes, because they look a little bad

Pyongyang

Yep, cleaned it, set all dips to off. Just tested it now. Same result.

o1s1n

I wonder is there any chance your Supergun fried?

What you really need to do is to drop that MVS board into a cab/other supergun or else try another PCB in your supergun just to figure out exactly which one it is.

Andrew76

I'd offer my services here although I'm probably a bit far out of your way.

CathalDublin

Does the garbage on screen flicker or is it the same stationary image every time?
When you plug the MVS in without a game inserted is it the same as if a game is in?