Donkey Kong Startup Issue

bbeckwith

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Ok so this is my first time hooking up my donkey kong 4board set. And right off the bat I can tell something is wrong. (lol ok so it might not be a small problem like I was hoping, such as a character sprite would be messed up.)

So basically all I get is this scrambled screen at the start. Random sounds kind of come and go, there was one time when the donkey kong song actually played through 3-4 times with no problems, but then stopped and began doing random character sounds.

Here is a tiny video of what I get during start up (I was hoping to see the game in attract mode or whatever it's called)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6unDR3oSSA&feature=youtu.be

sorry the video is so short, my camera was literally dieing and would take no more than 10 seconds of video! I didn't manage to capture any game sounds either when I recorded that one time.

Any help is always appreciated!!! Thanks and hopefully I will get this guy (my first machine) up and running!!!

Here is a different scramble pattern that it is showing... it kind of changes every now and then.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pu4BrbCZGVM&feature=youtu.be
 
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Ok so by adjusting the Red Green Blue levels on my Video inverter and also RGB to Component converter I was able to get a glimpse of the attract mode! But there are still issues. 1st I need to flip my monitor. and then figure out what is causing the other problems.

I am still having sound issues as well as positioning of the actual game screen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUTja4UuTtc&feature=youtu.be
 
That looks like a Sync Issue.

Could be on the monitor, or it could be on the PCB.

It could be something as simple as adjusting the horizontal and vertical hold.
 
well Im not really sure what I should do... I have toggled with the v and h hold knobs on the PCB and nothing seems to change...

I did notice however on my video inverter... (from mikesarcade) it has a 6 pin Video Out header... the pinout is 1. red 2. green 3. blue 4. ground 5. Sync (Negative composite) and 6. Sync (Negative composite)

But when connecting the inverted video to my video converter, there is only a 5 pin video input with only 1 sync. but an empty slot next to it... wonder if I should connect that last slot?

That looks like a Sync Issue.

Could be on the monitor, or it could be on the PCB.

It could be something as simple as adjusting the horizontal and vertical hold.
 
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well Im not really sure what I should do... I have toggled with the v and h hold knobs on the PCB and nothing seems to change...

I did notice however on my video inverter... (from mikesarcade) it has a 6 pin Video Out header... the pinout is 1. red 2. green 3. blue 4. ground 5. Sync (Negative composite) and 6. Sync (Negative composite)

But when connecting the inverted video to my video converter, there is only a 5 pin video input with only 1 sync. but an empty slot next to it... wonder if I should connect that last slot?

Can you post some pictures?
 
I wasn't sure what exactly you wanted pictures of, so I took photos of my converter, inverter, power supply, and board....

If you have any questions about the setup I can answer it for ya.

Oh I figured it might help if everyone knew that this was an untested board that I bought.... So, it is not like it has been confirmed to work in a original machine yet or anything.
 

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Ok so by messing with the RGB settings on the converter and inverter (and flipping my TV) I was able to get the picture this good. And I am now able to slightly see the title screen where it says Donkey Kong with DK under it. The machine only makes one sound, and it is constant. It has stopped playing the actual random game sounds...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQqNuSuqLKo&feature=youtu.be

and this is as good as I can get the title screen and attract mode to look the best... (I turned the volume down on this second video so you cant hear it)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RbvEMT7_nA
 
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Ok, so you're hooking this up to a TV then? I thought you were hooking it up to an original Nintendo monitor.

Can you hook the video up directly to the JROK board (without going through the Inverter?)? If so, is the picture any more stable? (colors would probably be wrong).
 
I will test it out and post a few pictures or a video to show what I get.

Ok, so you're hooking this up to a TV then? I thought you were hooking it up to an original Nintendo monitor.

Can you hook the video up directly to the JROK board (without going through the Inverter?)? If so, is the picture any more stable? (colors would probably be wrong).
 
ok so I was wiring it up and ran into a problem... the original diagram for wiring from the CPU video pinout was green, red, blue, ground, ground, sync.

on the JROK the video input is red, green, blue, ground, sync.

So I would be missing one ground if I wired it up to the JROK.... will that be ok?
 
I agree, the only problem is, I have no idea where to find that or anyone that would even let me do that with their machine.... (This is my first machine.) Glad to have you commenting smalltownguy :) I have watched a few videos of yours and you seem to know your stuff really well.

You really need to hook this up to a Nintendo monitor to verify that the board set is OK.
 
Thanks for the kind words! :D


If you can stand to be away from your boards for a few days, I'd be happy to test them for you free of charge. You'd just need to send them to me. I'll pay for return shipping.
 
Ok so by messing with the RGB settings on the converter and inverter (and flipping my TV) I was able to get the picture this good. And I am now able to slightly see the title screen where it says Donkey Kong with DK under it. The machine only makes one sound, and it is constant. It has stopped playing the actual random game sounds...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQqNuSuqLKo&feature=youtu.be

and this is as good as I can get the title screen and attract mode to look the best... (I turned the volume down on this second video so you cant hear it)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RbvEMT7_nA

This looks like a video gnd issue..

My CAW looked like this...
3.jpg


So I did this... (don't worry it's a bootleg board.)
4.jpg


And it ended up looking like this...
7.jpg


Apart from that, I've owned a later version of Mike's converter and I had to go over every solder joint on it with some extra solder before it started working as it should..
 
Just wanted to let you know I received your boards today. I booted them and everything is A-OK. Boards boot and work fine.

You have a few sprite issues on the moving sprites like Kong, Jumpman, and the hammer. These are probably due to rom rot, which can be repaired relatively easily.

I'll shoot you a PM.
 
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