Infinikey Install Gone Wrong

tristan

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I installed an infinikey on my Street Fighter Alpha 3 CPS2 board, but now the board has suicided on me. It was working with a 17 year old battery before I started (I waited way too long to change it). I've tried resoldering everything, but just a purple screen now. Any thoughts on what might have happened or where to go from here? I'm kind of sad since I probably could have just swapped the battery and had no issues as I had in the past.
 
I am pretty sure I have good soldering on this thing. I was able to get it to come up once after resoldering. I got a blank screen instead of color, so I fiddled with the wiring harness and got it to come up with some issues:

20220730_183331.jpg
20220730_183700.jpg

I tried reseating the harness again and now it's back to a solid (purplish/blue) color screen at boot. It's a rev 6 board.
 
For some reason I feel like it's supposed to be suicided before the infinikey will work.

Lots of small traces. Look for spatter or anything else you may have on there from the install also.
 
I pulled it and put it on my bench. I cleaned up the contacts good (one side was pretty dirty) and it came up, but still getting the lines. I messed with it a bit and I think the A and B board were not making a good connection either. I made sure to get a good solid link between the two and it seems to be working. I now have the game up and running, but having sound issues. I think the Infinikey is working as expected at this point, so probably an issue with the cabinet harness or need to clean the contacts some more on the sound pins. At least I didn't completely kill this guy.
 
For some reason I feel like it's supposed to be suicided before the infinikey will work.

Lots of small traces. Look for spatter or anything else you may have on there from the install also.

I think it's batter needs to be removed if I recall.
I installed an infinikey on my Street Fighter Alpha 3 CPS2 board, but now the board has suicided on me. It was working with a 17 year old battery before I started (I waited way too long to change it). I've tried resoldering everything, but just a purple screen now. Any thoughts on what might have happened or where to go from here? I'm kind of sad since I probably could have just swapped the battery and had no issues as I had in the past.
You coded it for sfz3j? I would check that thatbis correct. It would be called Street Fighter Zero 3

No no, I read it wrong, but still verify that's the version you have :)

7CB004E3-683D-4F87-B57C-9160E9B85BEA.jpeg
 
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if you don't have the metal clips for the A and B boards, you'll probably have connection issues. your lines are indicative of this. and in other cases it just won't boot at all, yes.

the infinikey replaces the battery-powered decryption gimmick, so it would make sense the battery needs to go I think. I've never installed one of these before. if that were indeed the problem however, the game wouldn't load at all. if you don't understand how CPS2's rom encryption scheme works then you should probably read up on it.

if you want to rule out the A and B board interconnects, just remove the boards from the plastic cases and connect them that way.
 
I think it's batter needs to be removed if I recall.

You coded it for sfz3j? I would check that thatbis correct. It would be called Street Fighter Zero 3

No no, I read it wrong, but still verify that's the version you have :)

View attachment 597533

To OP: to verify the version you need, look at what is stamped on the game ROM stickers. It's probably right, but, worth a look.
 
It is the correct version and it is working now except for sound. Voltages are fine. I've had the board for at least 19 years and just haven't ever had these kinds of issues with it. I will say the cab was starting to flash red on the screen occasionally before this and I thought maybe the monitor had developed a short in the red gun or transistor, but I have not seen it again since I got this one working, so thinking it just needed a good cleaning anyway. I'll try it in another cab with sound to see if I have sound issues there also in the morning.
 
No sound after finding a speaker to add to my bench. My son is telling me that he had heard some audio issues previously, so likely an existing sound issue with the boards. Tried the sound reset trick but no luck. May see if I can scrounge up another A board.
 
I am pretty sure I have good soldering on this thing. I was able to get it to come up once after resoldering. I got a blank screen instead of color, so I fiddled with the wiring harness and got it to come up with some issues:

View attachment 597512
View attachment 597513

I tried reseating the harness again and now it's back to a solid (purplish/blue) color screen at boot. It's a rev 6 board.
Mine does that if the A and B board are not making good contact.
 
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