Help...my new Neo Geo is glitchy and unplayable :( (138-in-1 board)

jehuie

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Help...my new Neo Geo is glitchy and unplayable :( (138-in-1 board)

So I just picked up a nice Neo Geo with a 138-in-1 cart that was working when I grabbed it. But now that I have it home it's all glitchy and weird. Sound comes and goes and sometimes gets garbled. Text is often garbled and unreadable. Games start to play and then freeze after a few moments. It's a sad state of affairs.

I've tried re-seating the aux board, connector and the cartridge. Checked all the wiring and it seems fine. Checked the +5 and it's at 5.1. Not sure what else to check as I'm brand new to Neo Geo stuff.

I don't have a spare game cart to throw in there for testing unfortunately. Any other good tips for quick troubleshooting on this thing though? My kids will thank you. I will thank you.
 
Without a REAL MVS cart, it's impossible to say what's wrong. My guess is the boot cart, until further notice. :(
 
Ah, I just thought of someone who lives near me who has some extra carts. I'll see if I can borrow one from him tomorrow. What happens if you start these things with no cart in them? Can you still run them through self-test mode?
 
I actually have an idea, until you get another cart. Take that multi game cart OUT, and see how the game works without it. It should go into the test menu fine, and you should be able to adjust the MVS mobo settings. At the very least, make sure that part works well.

You can try re-seating the top and bottom boards in the meanwhile, but I would say it's the cart. Don't fart around with the power supply voltages just yet.
 
I replied to you before you asked. Yes, take the cart out, and turn it on. It's perfectly safe. You will see a sound test, cross hatch, button test, and color test menu. BUT that part of the hardware is different than the actual game graphics part. So, if that works, it's a good start, but don't celebrate just yet.

Not unlike the old NES games, regular MVS/AES Neo Geo games are finicky, and need to be seated JUST RIGHT in there. Try that, too. Almost all the way in, wiggle and try again. Sounds dumb, but it works. Could just be a dirty connection (I've owned both the home system and arcade, so trust me here).

EDIT: Also, unless you're using a single slot mobo, these multi cart games are supposed to not work well with multi cart mobos. So, there's that. I owned a 138 in 1, and it worked fine on a single cart unit.
 
Good ideas. Should I disconnect the auxiliary board that comes with the 138-in-1 and plug the cable directly into the Neo Geo board instead? Or just leave the aux board in place?
 
Hey....I think it's working now. I tried what you said about trying the main cart in various positions. A little extra jiggling and wiggling and it seems to have dialed in. I'll try it for a while and see if it keeps working. Thanks guys!
 
When testing these guys I would have removed the aux board and connect it up directly. Keep in mind that the single slots are all JAMMA while the multislots are MVS. A slight difference in wiring but good to remember.

For good neo-geo sites I would recommend:

http://www.hardmvs.com/ -- All about the hardware
http://mvs.gotwalls.com/ -- Scans of legit boards to tell if you have a bootleg or not

As far as the 138-in-1 board, it is funny, I have heard they work better in single slots than multi-slots, but mine works the best in my 2-slot, kind of flaky in my 4-slot, almost unplayable on 1 single slot, and doesn't even come up in 3 other single slots i have :(

which is a bummer, I was really hoping to get a single slot loaded with it so I could throw it in to try out a game before I bought it.
 
That's interesting. Mine is a one-slot and, by all accounts, it was working fine in there until I brought it home. I suspect it was just all the jostling from driving around in there that caused the problems. I haven't played many games yet but it looks good so far.
 
Yeah, clean your connectors on both the cart and the board (I used to use those SNES cart cleaner kits.... no idea if they even exist anymore). Even on "real" carts, they need to be in a certain position to work well. Glad it was an easy fix.
 
Another funny tidbit that might be true if you have a MV-1: I have a 160-in-1 cart and it crashes/resets a large majority of the games on my only MV-1 board but works fine in the MV-2F and the MV-4F boards.
 
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