Michael Jacksons Moonwalker

joeybagadonuts

Well-known member

Donor 10 years: 2012-2021
Joined
Dec 29, 2012
Messages
2,557
Reaction score
194
Location
East Windsor, New Jersey
So I picked up an Untested Moonwalker (assuming it didn't work and hoping it was a battery issue) and sure enough it booted to a black screen. Did a little research and picked up a 68000 to replace the battery chip and burned the roms for locations 5 and 6 but still a black screen. Checked the battery on the old chip and it read 3.03v. Also replaced the Z80 just in case. The board is clean with no visible damage. Only had a few minutes to look at it today but figured I would asked if I missed something with this board (never did a resurrection on a Sega board before)? Ill check more tomorrow but do you guys have any ideas?
 
Last edited:
So I picked up an Untested Moonwalker (assuming it didn't work and hoping it was a battery issue) and sure enough it booted to a black screen. Did a little research and picked up a 68000 to replace the battery chip and burned the roms for locations 5 and 6 but still a black screen. Checked the battery on the old chip and it read 3.03v. Also replaced the Z80 just in case. The board is clean with no visible damage. Only had a few minutes to look at it today but figured I would asked if I missed something with this board (never did a resurrection on a Sega board before)? Ill check more tomorrow but do you guys have any ideas?

Should we skip past the part where we ask if you tested all the voltages and connectivity within the harness between power and the edge connector and monitor cables?
 
Is the 8751 MCU installed on motherboard?Don't forget this game use this MCU as protection so the chip could be missing.
 
The MCU is there.Did you do some preliminary troubleshooting like dumping the other program ROMs, swapping a good board set (if you have it)?
 
Last edited:
The MCU is there.Did you do some preliminary troubleshooting like dumping the other program ROMs, swapping a good board set (if you have it)?

Checked all the roms in Romident and all checkout out except the two "bootleg" roms to resurrect the board. Would they check out even being bootleg versions? I tried 3 different download sources and checked them against Romident and none seemed to check ok. AM I just downloading the wrong version or something? Anyway, I don't have a spare board to isolate which board is the fault. Would the battery being at 3v kill that factory chip?
 
Just so you know, I have subscribed to this thread because I have one with the exact same symptoms. The hacked (decrypted) roms won't match anything on romident. The ones for my Golden Axe didn't match either but worked to resurrect the board. This Moonwalker and a Shinobi with no sound however I have not been able to resurrect.
 
It's absolutely normal that the decrypted ROMs don't match any MAME set since they are not factory ones so they are not included in any ROM sets.It's an hacked code and MAME include only original one.
For first both of you have to analyze what the main 68000 CPU is doing.
 
It's absolutely normal that the decrypted ROMs don't match any MAME set since they are not factory ones so they are not included in any ROM sets.It's an hacked code and MAME include only original one.
For first both of you have to analyze what the main 68000 CPU is doing.

Unfortunately, I have yet to learn how to use my logic probe and oscilloscope (going to try in the near future). I just picked up the 68000 from an ebay user and it was supposed to be working. I have one on a parts board that I know is working. I just have to desolder. I have a feeling the original chip (the one with the battery) still might be good as well. I did get a 3v reading on the battery. On a side note it looks like the three crystals on the board had some work done to them. A little bit of flux on the solder side. Who is a good Sega tech in case I cant get this running?
 
Best choice would be to get a working System18 motherboard.The fact that you read +3V on battery inside the FD1094 can also mean few, I have seen suicided boards with still a good battery.By the way, some days ago in an operator raid I picked up a Moonwalker, it still works with the original FD1094 CPU module but it has sprites issue, I stilk have to troubleshoot it but most likely the problem lies in the ROM board (maybe MASK ROMs)
 
Last edited:
I forgot.How is labeled your FD1094 CPU module?Don't forget there are different revision so the decrypted set must follow it.
 
From picture I can't read well the label on the FD1094 module but it should be '317-0158' so you have to use the decrypted set for this version, you can find it on JAMMArcade.It's the US version so if you already tried it and board doesn't boot, the problem is elsewhere.
 
From picture I can't read well the label on the FD1094 module but it should be '317-0158' so you have to use the decrypted set for this version, you can find it on JAMMArcade.It's the US version so if you already tried it and board doesn't boot, the problem is elsewhere.

Just got home to check and it's 0158. Can any sega system 18 mother board be used for this? I looked at a shadow dancer and the board looks slightly diffrent. If so, does anybody have a mother board to sell?
 
Any Sega System18 motherboard is fine, it's the same for all games.Which are the differences you are talking of?
 
I saw a picture of a board that looked identical but it inly had two crystals instead of three. I assumed there was no difference buy I wanted to make sure. I'm going to post in the wanted section for a motherboard. Thanks for all your help Caius.
 

Attachments

  • Screenshot_20170522-134827.jpg
    Screenshot_20170522-134827.jpg
    749.4 KB · Views: 12
So I ended up picking up a dead Alien Storm from feebay. I resurrect that board and tried to swap mother boards. I don't think the new mother board is 100% because the AS booted with sound but none of the controls work. I swapped rom boards and MJ booted but it had a wavy picture ( another member sent me a message stating the same thing happened to him) and no sound. Compared the mother boards and there are three differences. The biggest being a slot for a pal chip. There is actually a spot for the chip on AS but no traces go to the holes. My search continues for a working mother board. I believe there are 2 different mother boards.
 

Attachments

  • 20170606_083544.jpg
    20170606_083544.jpg
    2.2 MB · Views: 15
I have a MW board in the shop here that I repaired and it's running on the 2 clock oscillator version of the motherboard just fine.

For no inputs or a wavy screen, clean the edge connector well with a pink pencil eraser. A dirty edge connector will cause both of those symptoms.
 
Back
Top Bottom