Donkey Kong displaying all zero's

jeff412

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I've got a donkey kong that I sold to someone and after about two weeks it is displaying all zeros across the entire screen. Before I go over there I was hoping to have a fix in hand. Does this sound like a rom issue? From the research I have done it looks like a bad rom, but I'm not sure. Does anyone know where I can get the rom files? My email address is jeffchambliss at sbcglobal.net if someone has them.

Thanks,

Jeff
 
I would suspect bad video (character) ram and not the roms. Or hopefully
just the gray interconnect cables need to be reseated. When the video
memory has binary value 0 in the ram it maps to character "0". In the
past I've seen zeros for bad ram. Good luck, tell us what it ends up being.
 
attached is a photo the new owner texted to me.
 

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Yeah, Scott Brasington (Braze) really contributes to the community! I just know how to use Google search: donkey kong troubleshooting. :D
 
Yeah, I looked there. That is why I was thinking it was the roms. There is one image that is close to what I am seeing. He says it was a bad 5E rom.

Jeff
 
Yeah, I looked there. That is why I was thinking it was the roms. There is one image that is close to what I am seeing. He says it was a bad 5E rom.

Jeff
hmm, I forgot about that one. Well maybe it could be. I just know in the past
when I saw "0" it was usually bad ram or bad connection between the boards.
But that is alot of zeroes. Hopefully it is bad connection and your fix will be easy.
If you have a way/friend to borrow a DK HS kit, it has a builtin automatic RAM test
and also bypasses the 5x CPU eproms. Its a great quick way to diagnose problems
like this.
 
can someone email the 5E rom file to me? I am supposed to go over to this guys house this afternoon and I'd like to have this option with me.

Jeff
 
Tried 5e rom, 6P and 6R ram. Still has zeroes. Had to load it up and take it home. Anyone got any ideas?

Jeff
 
hmm, I forgot about that one. Well maybe it could be. I just know in the past
when I saw "0" it was usually bad ram or bad connection between the boards.
But that is alot of zeroes. Hopefully it is bad connection and your fix will be easy.
If you have a way/friend to borrow a DK HS kit, it has a builtin automatic RAM test
and also bypasses the 5x CPU eproms. Its a great quick way to diagnose problems
like this.


How much do you sell the dk hs kit for?

Jeff
 
Changed out 5a, 5b, 5c, 5e, 6p, and 6r. It still has all zeroes. The game tries to play, but it's like the ramp isn't there. Donkey Kong and Mario are visible. On the first level Donkey Kong falls and it advances to the next level. On Level two, Mario falls through the bottom and out the top over and over.

Jeff
 
Tried 5e rom, 6P and 6R ram. Still has zeroes. Had to load it up and take it home. Anyone got any ideas?

Jeff
6P and 6R are the sprite rams (moving objects). The character ram (fixed objects
like letters) are 2P and 2R. I would suspect character ram or atleast rule that out
first.

Your kit is on its way, hopefully that helps shed some light on it.

-Scott
 
Thanks for the tip and the quick response on the kit. I'll try 2P and 2R tonight and see where that gets me.

Jeff
 
Changed out 5a, 5b, 5c, 5e, 6p, and 6r. It still has all zeroes. The game tries to play, but it's like the ramp isn't there. Donkey Kong and Mario are visible. On the first level Donkey Kong falls and it advances to the next level. On Level two, Mario falls through the bottom and out the top over and over.

Jeff

One thing I've learned: If Braze says you're barking up the wrong tree with regards to DK, you're barking up the wrong tree. :)

Thanks for all the assistance in the past, Braze.
 
One thing I've learned: If Braze says you're barking up the wrong tree with regards to DK, you're barking up the wrong tree. :)


Agreed. I thought I was barking up Braze's tree when I changed 6P and 6R. But now I realize I should have barked at 2P and 2R. :) I just misunderstood which video ram he was suggesting to change. Bad part is that I had the 2114's in stock. I had to wait on the 2148's.:confused: Oh well. Hopefully it'll be up and running tonight and I can return it to it's rightful owner.

Jeff
 
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