RTC clock repair on Konami Racing Jam

XcALiBrE

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I know there were several threads over the years about the Konami RTC chips, and what a pain in the ass it is. I got a pair of the units, and really wanted to get them fixed. Would it be easier to buy a chip programmer, and the chips and HOPE I can find the chips data to burn to it.

or

Does anyone have a way of doing it? can I just have someone program the chips and send them to me, and I solder them? Sending them to Konami is NOT an option. I am not willing to pay $285 per board when a programmer is less than $70 and the chips are like $12-20 each.
 
I did a couple for a member on here awhile back. The code in mame is apparently for the deluxe version with a shifter and such so it had a couple oddities, but it worked.

Chips are a little more than that

http://www.jameco.com/webapp/wcs/st...amecoall&ddkey=http:StoreCatalogDrillDownView

$25.85 plus shipping, then you really should socket it.

If you want to try it yourself,
Here is the programmer I used
http://www.mcumall.com/comersus/store/comersus_viewItem.asp?idProduct=4312

And the information on writing to that chip
http://www.mcumall.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=3366

Keep in mind to get the chip into read / write mode you need to jump pins 26 and 28 together.

If you are looking for someone to do it for you, I dont stock the chips so you would have to cover the cost of me ordering the chips, shipping here, then shipping out to you, and all the time for them to ship back n forth.

Good luck
 
Im not sure if that will work, I dont see the base type in the supported list on the page, but i highly doubt thats a complete list. Ill see if I can find a complete list.

Keep in mind that requires BOTH the usb and parallel cables (usb for power, parallel for data) so if you pc is older and dosnt have parallel, it wont work.
 
Are you sure that chip even needs to be programmed? Many Konami boards have the ability to initialize that NVRAM/RTC with the necessary data. Unless someone has previous experience with this particular board, I'd first just replace the chip and see.
 
Are you sure that chip even needs to be programmed? Many Konami boards have the ability to initialize that NVRAM/RTC with the necessary data. Unless someone has previous experience with this particular board, I'd first just replace the chip and see.

Good point. Looks like it's just a NVRAM with clock data mapped into the top 8 bytes. Would be a PITA if it needed an external programmer just to set the time...
 
Good point. Looks like it's just a NVRAM with clock data mapped into the top 8 bytes. Would be a PITA if it needed an external programmer just to set the time...

You can program it like any 8K Dallas. It will fail the verify stage because the top byte that contains the time will always be changing, but that's OK (setting the actual time/date is done via the game's test mode).
In fact, on the systems I've fixed, I've used a normal NVRAM instead (without the RTC function) and the game works fine. The clock function is probably only there for time-based bookkeeping stats (that you're never going to look at anyway).
 
Are you sure that chip even needs to be programmed? Many Konami boards have the ability to initialize that NVRAM/RTC with the necessary data. Unless someone has previous experience with this particular board, I'd first just replace the chip and see.
The system is the same as the silent scope boards. It needs to be programmed then initialized on first boot with it.

Thats correct on it failing the verification pass. Ive seen that plenty of times :)
 
Ive done several silent scope boards, and programmed and mailed out the chips for the racing jam. The through-holes on these guys are tiny, so it definitely takes patience to clear every hole. I understand konami is famous for that :\ I havnt installed the chip in a racing jam yet, but given the design similarities it should be about the same. These boards are actually what got me to buy a rework station as the desoldering braid and vacuum hand pump couldnt cut it on em.
 
Ive done several silent scope boards, and programmed and mailed out the chips for the racing jam. The through-holes on these guys are tiny, so it definitely takes patience to clear every hole. I understand konami is famous for that :\ I havnt installed the chip in a racing jam yet, but given the design similarities it should be about the same. These boards are actually what got me to buy a rework station as the desoldering braid and vacuum hand pump couldnt cut it on em.

I recently replaced the chip on a couple System 573 boards. Definitely a difficult chip to desolder! I would not advise that anyone attempt to tackle this job without a proper desoldering station.
Programming the chip (if it needs to be done) is the easy part. Remember, these are just battery-backed RAMs... they don't require any special programming algorithm. Power them up, write the bytes, power them down. I've programmed NVRAMs before just using a game board.... Same thing could be done here. Hmmm... maybe I should make a "resurrection" boot ROM for Silent Scope....
 
I recently replaced the chip on a couple System 573 boards. Definitely a difficult chip to desolder! I would not advise that anyone attempt to tackle this job without a proper desoldering station.
Programming the chip (if it needs to be done) is the easy part. Remember, these are just battery-backed RAMs... they don't require any special programming algorithm. Power them up, write the bytes, power them down. I've programmed NVRAMs before just using a game board.... Same thing could be done here. Hmmm... maybe I should make a "resurrection" boot ROM for Silent Scope....
Yeah, the only thing to remember writing to them is to jump pins 28 and 26 to get access to it. As long as the programmer supports the chip type, its all good :)

A resurrection rom would be nice, except each version of ss has different code on the chip, even different regions and versions of the games. Wrong code on the chip and it boots to a security error rather than the 11p when the chip isnt working.
 
Yeah, the only thing to remember writing to them is to jump pins 28 and 26 to get access to it. As long as the programmer supports the chip type, its all good :)

Ah, good to know. The non-RTC version (M48Z58) does not have that extra chip enable line. I bet pin 26 is tied high on the PCB.

A resurrection rom would be nice, except each version of ss has different code on the chip, even different regions and versions of the games. Wrong code on the chip and it boots to a security error rather than the 11p when the chip isnt working.

The simplest approach is to just make a unique resurrection ROM for each version. If someone was overly ambitious they could roll them all into one... but that seems like overkill.
 
Ah, good to know. The non-RTC version (M48Z58) does not have that extra chip enable line. I bet pin 26 is tied high on the PCB.
Thats something to check i suppose, if not your resurrection kit would also need some board mods, bringing it above the level of the average user anyway. With the difficulty of the solder job, I figure most people with the ability to desolder it safely would also have a burner on hand, or access to a buddy with one. so im not sure how much of a market there would end up being for these, since the chip will need to be swapped regardless.

The simplest approach is to just make a unique resurrection ROM for each version. If someone was overly ambitious they could roll them all into one... but that seems like overkill.
Very much so overkill. And the code for several versions is still somewhat unknown. Mame only has a few, and I havnt seen any others floating around here...
 
Thats something to check i suppose, if not your resurrection kit would also need some board mods, bringing it above the level of the average user anyway.

No board mods would be necessary... the chip is used read/write on the board (game settings are saved to it), so initializing it with data would not be a problem.
A resurrection ROM would just make it DIY for someone who doesn't have a programmer (they could just buy the ROM for ~$10). But you're absolutely right... someone with the skills and equipment to socket that chip will most likely have a capable programmer anyway.
I have run into cases where I couldn't program a particular NVRAM with my programmer (Simtek for example). In that case, I wrote code to run on a Time Pilot PCB that programmed the chip with the data I needed. :D
 
No board mods would be necessary... the chip is used read/write on the board (game settings are saved to it), so initializing it with data would not be a problem.
A resurrection ROM would just make it DIY for someone who doesn't have a programmer (they could just buy the ROM for ~$10). But you're absolutely right... someone with the skills and equipment to socket that chip will most likely have a capable programmer anyway.
I have run into cases where I couldn't program a particular NVRAM with my programmer (Simtek for example). In that case, I wrote code to run on a Time Pilot PCB that programmed the chip with the data I needed. :D
Learning to write the code for these things is on my bucket list to do at some point. Nowadays Im mostly writing machine control and industrial traceability systems. I even bought the full kit programmer with the intention of getting to it at some point!!
 
Thanks for all the information guys. I love coming here, I always learn new things. I may get into programming chips soon too based on what I've seen, it's not too difficult, but the de-soldering and re-soldering such small connections will be the issue most likely. no worries. Thanks again. you guys all rock!
 
Do you have any old pc parts laying around? Practice taking parts off and putting them back on with junk motherboards or video cards. Get a cheap weller temperature controlled soldering gun. NEVER use lead free solder. Use hand vacum pumps and desoldering braids to start. I usually keep my gun at 370c for soldering, and bump it up a little to desoder large spots as necessary.

Oh, and grab a granite tile from home depot to work on, wives hate it when you put burn marks on the kitchen table :)
 
lmao. I understand that. I have a bench out in the shop I use. I have a cheap radio shack soldering gun for now(works for cap kits and flybacks) but might need better stuff to get working on littler closer parts. thanks :)
 
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