Bad CDR Simpsons Bowling Cure?

FlashbaxArcade

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so is there a solution/fix for a bad CDR for a Simpsons Bowling game? what i mean is there a compact flash/thumb drive, or some kind of upgrade that i can do besides just going to a place and finding another old ass CD rom drive?

thanks
 
Since it is a SCSI drive and not an ide, it makes it a bit harder to get ahold of. I havnt seen any kind of CF solution or anything.

On a replacement CDRom, make sure you match up all your jumper settings for your SCSI ID, termination, ect. The pin locations on the new drive will likely be different so pay attention to the markings and what its setting.
 
Just replace the CDROM drive with another one. It's really easy, and those drives are dirt common. And yes, keep the jumper settings for ID and termination the same.

I suppose you might be able to use a hard drive in place of the CD drive, but I've never tried it. The game needs very little data from the CD, so the speed isn't an issue.

-Ian
 
ok thanks for the info on the connections! i just would have thought by now that someone would have changed/updated the old CD system by now....haven't tried looking for an old one yet but might be tougher to find later if they keep going bad anyway!

just looking for a better "perminent solution" than keep rigging with a CDR is all, but if there is nothing better then i will bite the bullet and buy all the old CDRs i can find i guess.
 
I haven't had any problems with the reliability on the CD drives. The arcade environment is pretty tough on devices of this nature as it is, and that game is what, ten years old? The drive lasted this long. The drive I had to replace had clearly been dropped - it was in terrible condition. The drives are incredibly reliable in computers.

If I still had a board around here, I would be tempted to try replacing it with a hard disk to see if it would work. You can try it if you want, dd the CDROM disc image to a drive and hook it up with the same settings (ID, termination, etc) and see if it works. But... I almost think the CD drive is better for longevity, hard drives are fragile too, but if a hard drive breaks then you lose the data as well. At least with the CDROM, you need only switch out the drive - the disc will be fine.

-Ian
 
I haven't had any problems with the reliability on the CD drives. The arcade environment is pretty tough on devices of this nature as it is, and that game is what, ten years old? The drive lasted this long. The drive I had to replace had clearly been dropped - it was in terrible condition. The drives are incredibly reliable in computers.

If I still had a board around here, I would be tempted to try replacing it with a hard disk to see if it would work. You can try it if you want, dd the CDROM disc image to a drive and hook it up with the same settings (ID, termination, etc) and see if it works. But... I almost think the CD drive is better for longevity, hard drives are fragile too, but if a hard drive breaks then you lose the data as well. At least with the CDROM, you need only switch out the drive - the disc will be fine.

-Ian

Ok, so any SCSI CDRom will do?
 
Ok, so any SCSI CDRom will do?

Yeah, pretty much. It's worked with every drive I tried on it. It *is* picky about the device ID though, although I forget which ID it was. When I worked on one, the original drive was badly damaged. I replaced it with another, copying he jumper settings, and it didn't work. Turns out that someone else had messed with the jumpers, or one had fallen out - I tried each ID in succession until I found the one that worked. 6 maybe? I don't remember. One of those things I probably should have written down... After finding the right ID, I tried several different drives and they all worked.

-Ian
 
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