beatmania / hiphopmania / beatstage region-locked? Help please!

AceJay

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beatmania / hiphopmania / beatstage region-locked? Help please!

Hi all - not too long ago I purchased a set of all the beatmania (Japanese) mixes and a JP beatmania cab, plus a beatstage (Korean) cab.
For reference:
gQ7ovl.jpg


So, I've been having some trouble with the boards, which are DJMain (Konami GX + Audio Extend: http://www.system16.com/hardware.php?id=826 )

First question:
Since I've been doing a LOT of swapping of the ICs for testing and I don't have any IC extractor that works with these, is Rom dumping possible for backup purposes? and would I be able to overwrite another "spare" IC chip in case one snaps?

Second:
The reason I've needed to swap them so many times is because I have 5 DJMain boards:
1x GQ753 (A3)
3x GQ753 (A4)
1x GQ753 (A5)

Some of the boards will work sometimes, for example I have a CompleteMix2 kit that works on one of the boards in the JP cab, but my TheFinal kit will not, on the same board. TheFinal works on another board in that machine, and another in the beatstage.

So, is there some kind of region lock for this hardware? And what exactly can I do to bypass this, if anything? Ideally I just want all my mixes to work on both machines, in any PCB. Are there any "universal" mods or boards that I could fix this with?

I should mention as well that some of the boards affect cabinet lights: sometimes they're all on, other board all off, other boards halfway, etc. Most of the boards I've tried in the beatstage cab have come up with a flashing pulse and loud popping noise when powered on.

Any help or insight would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Paul
 
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As much as I love the series of games, I can't say I've had any experience with the arcade versions. So I don't know how much help I can be on the technical side of things. :(

I believe all the roms have been dumped (iirc most of the 5 key games are supported in mame) though I wouldn't know anything about re-burning them...
 
Haha thanks, didn't expect to see you here.

Also, one of the boards, a PWB A3, has some crossover wire connecting two pins on the underside:
OEMHjl.jpg


Would this mean anything? The board itself looks crappy and there might be some corrosion or a dead battery or something.
 
Well the main reason i signed up for an account was SEGA gave away a 50'' Gunblade NY, which I scored... but I still need to get the repairs done at some point. :(

I only wish I could be more help! :(
 
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