Nintendo Vs. Upright cant get both sides to boot

ChebuhHawk

New member
Joined
Jul 9, 2011
Messages
18
Reaction score
0
Location
Delaware
I've been a long time member at NG.com, and they directed me here. I recently picked up a Nintendo Vs. Dual system upright. It came with 3 boards and 4 game ( Duck hunt, Excitebike, Hogans Alley, and SMB ) I can get all but SMB to boot, but I can NEVER get both sides to boot at the same time, its always one or the other. I've fixed and restored an MVS 4-slot, and an MK1 Conversion, but this beast is a little more than I am used to.

Can anyone tell me where to begin looking for a problem.

BTW I have swapped the games around on all 3 boards, and that is how I've gotten them to boot, but no combination seems to work together.

Thanks in advance
 
I am assuming this is the dual monitor upright (side by side) and you can only get one side to boot?
Did you check the wiring on the side that does not boot?
 
Both sides boot, I just can't get them to both come on at the same time, by flipping chips around on the boards, I can get both sides to boot one at a time, one will come up full sound video, everything, the other monitor powers up, no sound, black screen. I have done the simple steps first, no traces on the boards seem to be broken, and the PS is is putting out everything it should consistantly ( 5, 12, 24v )
 
Hopefully I'm reading this correctly. Some games won't dual boot, others have to be on a certain side of the PCB.

Super Mario Bros. for instance has to have its CPU, PPU and roms on the right side of the board. In addition to this, it has a second CPU that needs to be on the left side CPU slot, therefore not allowing a second game to run with it.
 
I was thinking this is the case. No matter what games i match on either side. both sides will not be on at the same time.

Is there a guide or anything to show what games need to be on what side, or what games need to work with one another?

Oh I forgot to mention this specific cab has 2 joysticks on the left side, and a joystick and a gun on the right....So I'm guessing that it is specific to which game goes on which side.
 
It also may be that you have one good CPU chip and that's why only one keeps booting. Do you move the CPU around when you swap or just keep it in the same slot? Is the one that keeps booting the same side of the same board every time?
 
I've been swapping all the chips, including CPU. I'll have to swap them all around again, but from what I remember: Excitebike with hogans alley only excitebike boots ( on the side with 2 controlers ). Same board, take out Excitebike and put in SMB, Hogan's alley now boots on the gun side ( which was a blank screen before ). Same board - Swap out Hogans alley and put in Duck hunt, only duck hunt on the gun side boots. I can't get SMB to boot no matter what.

I hope this helps a little more.
 
I would check the manuals for each game. They should give you the installation directions and whether or not they will dual boot.
 
I've never had a problem with any combination of games causing failure to dual boot. Do you have a spare Vs. motherboard to test?
 
I've never had a problem with any combination of games causing failure to dual boot. Do you have a spare Vs. motherboard to test?

3 boards, 4 games ( MDS-02 CPU, MDS-04 CPU, MDS-05 CPU ) not one board or combination I've tried will get both sides to work.

Light gun signals a fire, but I can't get a hit to register yet either. the damn wires are crap, plastic with a tube of copper and nylon on the inside...hard to strip and re-splice.
 
Another question:
What is the extra harness for which is attached to the front door of the PCB cage? It looks like the same connectors comming in and going out...
 
3 boards, 4 games ( MDS-02 CPU, MDS-04 CPU, MDS-05 CPU ) not one board or combination I've tried will get both sides to work.

Light gun signals a fire, but I can't get a hit to register yet either. the damn wires are crap, plastic with a tube of copper and nylon on the inside...hard to strip and re-splice.
If the gun signals a shot then it's not the external wiring, it's most likely one of two things:
- you have the brightness/contrast set improperly
- the optics inside the gun aren't working

Have you tried installing just one game on the board? Install a known working game, e.g., Excitebike on the left side, leave the right side unpopulated. Does it work? Now swap it to the other side? Does it work?
 
Will the regular games boot on the side with the gun? I thought maybe the controllers vs the gun would mess things up, I havent tried a controller based game on the gun side...
 
So I had Hogan's alley playing perfect all morning gun working and all. flipped some ROMS/CPU's around and I finally got both sides to boot!!!

NOw that both sides boot. The gun no longer registers a shot, and the controls for excite bike dont work porperly....the joystick for P2 controls the bike, the buttons for P1 control the gas....

Since I've had both sides working perfectly at separate times, does this mean my boards or ROM Chips are bad?
 
Sounds like your CP connectors are switched around. Maybe when they plugged the gun in they switched some wires around. EB should be playable from both P1 and P2 at the same time.
 
Sounds like your CP connectors are switched around. Maybe when they plugged the gun in they switched some wires around. EB should be playable from both P1 and P2 at the same time.

It is, just some buttons/Directions don't work now...Ill trace the wires, must be a dirty connector, as they worked fine before
 
Super Mario Bros. for instance has to have its CPU, PPU and roms on the right side of the board. In addition to this, it has a second CPU that needs to be on the left side CPU slot, therefore not allowing a second game to run with it.

That is only true for a Unisystem setup. In a Dualsystem you can run SMB on either side. You have to remove that fake 2nd CPU (RP2A04) and replace it with a real RP2A03 CPU however. The OP may be trying to use the RP2A04 to run the 2nd game, and that would explain it not booting.
 
Well I'm getting closer...2 bad RP2A03 chips. I can now get both sides to boot no problem. Still having an issue with controls. If I take out the harness that is attached to the PCB cage, Hogan's Alley and Excite bike work fine. ( I think this is because excitebike is a 1 player game ). I put in Duckhunt and SMB....Duct Hunt will not register a shot no matter what board or position I put it in, and SMB runs and works fine, but the controls are reversed...( 1p is on right 2p is on left ) could this be because I took out the harness?

Any ideas?
 
I am 95% sure that SMB plays that way on a dual cab.
P1 is on the right. Someone will chime in to confirm.
As for the shot not registering in DH, I am unclear on that one.
 
Back
Top Bottom