Neo geo cabinet help!

RyogAkari

New member
Joined
Apr 11, 2008
Messages
182
Reaction score
2
Location
Milltown, Indiana
Ok so this problem started awhile ago and I think it has been getting progressively worse.

I have a neo geo dedicated 4 slot big wooden cabinet that I traded my four slot for and got a 6 slot.

Anyway the problem is the cabinet does something strange after a while of play. What it does is kinda hard to explain. You guys know that green blocky splash screen before it boots the neo geo song with text? Well after a little bit of play the cabinet starts freaking out and that green splash screen comes up and keeps stuttering rapidly. The coin indicators flicker as well and there is snapping over the speakers.

Things I wonder if it is:

1. Power supply? The cabinet has been doing this for awhile but it used to take a long time before it would start. Now it does it after a couple minutes after boot.

2. Bios? I bought the board as a Japanese board and had a burned EEPROM of a regular Europe bios so I threw that in there. I had been intending on getting a universe bios but hadn't gotten around to it yet.

3. 6 slot? I heard after trading mine out that the 6 slot was notorious for failing and I wondered if my time was up. I have a 4 slot I can try out in the cabinet but it is in my neo candy and is on loan to my wife's elementary school for their summer program that I help out with so I won't have access to it for quite some time.

Anyway, does anyone have a similar experience that they can share with me or know of this problem? Any help would be appreciated!
 
Power supply is by far the most likely cause, check your 5V line at the board, not at the powersupply.

The BIOS is unlikely to have anything to do with this fault.

The 6 slotters tend to fail by losing slots, rather than not being able to boot at all.
 
If you replaced a 4 slot with a 6 slot without adjusting the power supply then you would get volt sag. The 6 slotters have more chippery and so draw more current than 4 slotters, at a fixed resistance of the wiring you will find the volts have dropped.
 
Yes, but the way the Op describes it makes it sound like the board isn't fully booting before it tries to boot again. This doesn't sound like a cart issue.
 
I've done some testing with the multi tester but I am by far a novice at it. When checking the 5v at the board can I hook onto one of the grounds at the board or do I need to hook on to the ground straight at the power supply? The first one I can do with relative ease, the second one obviously poses quite a challenge.

Also does it matter if the board is plugged in at the time? Thanks guys
 
Also does it matter if the board is plugged in at the time? Thanks guys

Yes, it does. You want to measure the voltage at the board, when it's plugged in. If you just measure the power supply with no load (no board), then the voltage will be higher. You want to test under the load of the board. Also, the important thing is what the voltage is, at the board - there will be slight losses due to the connectors in the harness, so if you measure 5v right at the power supply, you might only have 4.8 at the board.

-Ian
 
definetely appears to have been the power supply. Checked the 5v line first with the board plugged in and it was hovering around 4.66
I adjusted my power supply to have it show up as 4.87 while the board was plugged in. Only got to run it about an hour but I didnt have one problem with it.

Thanks guys = )
 
Still too low. you want it between 5 and 5.1v at the board.

Replace the PS.
 
Back
Top Bottom