new to rom issues. DK

kcfreeloader

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I purchased a game called "superbike" It's a rom swap for donkey kong. Fortunately the original dk roms were with the game. I swaped them back in. The game comes on and looks fine at first. Then in demo mode the first level comes up with the characters, but no ramps. The characters do not move and dk keeps making his noise over and over. If I coin up when it first come on, then hit player one start the screen goes blank except for the scores. Then it does nothing else.
Do I need new roms? Or can these be erased and rewritten. Im willing to buy the writer and all.

Maybe not related, but a couple of the chips from superbike had been bent over, which I read is aa sign that it had been worked on before. Superbike was working just fine thought.

Thanks.
 
Superbike was working just fine thought.

If the Superbike ROMs on the DK board worked 100%, then yes I suppose it has to ROM related, unless there has been hacks performed to the board for the conversion. Make sure all the DK roms are in the correct positions, are oriented correctly and have clean and shiny legs. If it's still bad then you'll have to read out the ROM contents to know.
 
My ROM burner programer should arrive tomorrow. I'm looking at my board (tkg4-11) and i am a bit confused as to which chip is which.
First off i'm looking at the
dkongo.zip

it shows
c_5f_b.bin
c_5h_b.bin

5f and 5h are not socketed chips. Or are those two actually for 3F and 3H?

then
tkg3c.5k

I have 3 tkg4 chips, but no tkg3

Now looking at dkong.zip i have
c_5at_g.bin
5bt
5ct
5et

Those are easy enough to find

then
c-2j.bpr
c-2k.bpr

dunno unless those are for the tkg4-c-2f and tkg4-c-2e

Then
I_4m_b.bin
4n
4r
4s

I dunno, i'm getting lost, my board has like 7ct -7ft which i see on DKjr and dk 3 roms, but this board says 1981 nintendo tkg4-11. Anyone got the time to help just a bit?
Thanks!


Am i looking at something wrong?
 
The locations don't match yours because TKG-3's are the 4-board sets used in the early machines (and cocktails). In fact, dkongo is the early US romset with the ladder cheat (and only says "Nintendo 1981" instead of "Nintendo of America 1981". When they switched to 2 board sets in the upright, those boards were labeled TKG-4. Also, I believe the .bpr files are proms.
 
Use DKONG.ZIP.

CPU Board -
5A = c_5at_g.bin
5B = c_5bt_g.bin
5C = c_5ct_g.bin
5E = c_5et_g.bin
3F = s_3j_b.bin
3H = s_3i_b.bin

Video Board -
7C = l_4m_b.bin
7D = l_4n_b.bin
7E = l_4r_b.bin
7F = l_4s_b.bin
3N = v_5h_b.bin
3P = v_3pt.bin

The .BPRs are PROMs, just ignore them.
 
I've got the programer and now i'm trying to figure out how to compare the rom to the bin.

I've run the bin in a checksum calc for 5a and i get E96426A8084F925711D16C6741D7012D

The checksum at the bottom of the reader program says 0005A0F0

Which looks like the chip id.

so now what?
THanks!
 
I've got the programer and now i'm trying to figure out how to compare the rom to the bin.

I've run the bin in a checksum calc for 5a and i get E96426A8084F925711D16C6741D7012D

The checksum at the bottom of the reader program says 0005A0F0

Which looks like the chip id.

so now what?
THanks!

You should be able to load the ROM image (from MAME) into your burning software, then tell it to compare it to the EPROM.
 
That makes sense. My 5b didn't verify. Everything else checked out good. I threw it in the eraser and i'll rewrite it in a bit.
Thanks!
 
I erased the 5b. I tried to write it back and got an error. So i did some searching about the chip and it seems as though the gq-4x from MCUmall won't write to the TMS2532JL !!
So, anyone out there that can write to this one if i send it to them?
 
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It appears the page I read that this programmer won't do that chip was wrong. It also appears that the original dk 5b was bad. I took one of the chips from superbike and reprogramed it. Now dk has been rereleased from his slumber!
Thanks for the help all!
 
I've got the programer and now i'm trying to figure out how to compare the rom to the bin.

I've run the bin in a checksum calc for 5a and i get E96426A8084F925711D16C6741D7012D

The checksum at the bottom of the reader program says 0005A0F0

Which looks like the chip id.

so now what?
THanks!

Just wanted to know, what type and model number of programmer did you buy?
 
I purchased a gq-4x from MCUmall online. I also bought a cheap eraser from them. Both seem to work good. You may have to come up with an external power supply for the programmer but any old wall wart that is the right volts should do (and make sure the polarity is right or swap the wires as needed)
 
You can try to program the EPROM with all zeros, erase it, and give it a shot again. Sometimes the bits just get stuck.

You should be able to program it to all zeros even if it isn't blank. You can flip a 1 to a 0 on the eprom but not a zero to a 1. To do the zero to a 1 you have to use UV light.

RJ
 
I purchased a gq-4x from MCUmall online. I also bought a cheap eraser from them. Both seem to work good. You may have to come up with an external power supply for the programmer but any old wall wart that is the right volts should do (and make sure the polarity is right or swap the wires as needed)
I have the same programmer and eraser in the mail now. What is the voltage required for the programmer? I will pick a PS up before it arrives. And what about the eraser? Is it ok out of box?
 
You can try to program the EPROM with all zeros, erase it, and give it a shot again. Sometimes the bits just get stuck.

You should be able to program it to all zeros even if it isn't blank. You can flip a 1 to a 0 on the eprom but not a zero to a 1. To do the zero to a 1 you have to use UV light.

RJ
Thanks RJ
I tried zeroing it out too. Still hit an error when doing that. I just used one of the chips from my superbike and programed it just fine, so everything is going now.


I have the same programmer and eraser in the mail now. What is the voltage required for the programmer? I will pick a PS up before it arrives. And what about the eraser? Is it ok out of box?
I think it's 12 volts, but will check when i get home tonight. You could always get one of those multivolt things and have it covered.
The eraser works just fine and needs nothing(other then the fact that they have an odd smell)
 
I think it's 12 volts, but will check when i get home tonight. You could always get one of those multivolt things and have it covered.
The eraser works just fine and needs nothing(other then the fact that they have an odd smell)

Thanks. I will check wal mart or circuit city. Either should have one. BTW, love the avatar. I actually met them once.
 
I just checked, it's 9 volt tip positive. I know my wall mart has the multivolt adaptors.

Thanks, love the boys! (That sounded wrong) Got hooked when I got to see about half an episode in 2002 (the satilite got rain fade.) Got to see them at two of their live shows of the "drunk, high, and unemployed" tour on consecutive nights and had about 12 hours drive time total in it. The second night I wore an orange convict outfit and made a milk jug goalie mask. I bought a hotdog from Julian. He told me "cool mask." My wife wore my shirt (the blue ricky flame shirt) and got on stage for the" are you smarter then a first grader" bit. At one point ricky came up to my wife and said" that's a really nice shirt." He recognized it. Didn't find out until after the show that they sold meet and greats (that's pretty greasy) Wish i got to really meet them. They seem like really cool guys. You're so lucky!
 
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