Spy Hunter NVRAM mod issues

FrizzleFried

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Alright... I need to get this worked out as it's pissing me off...

I removed the battery from my Spy Hunter and replaced it with NVRAM per the instructions found here on the forum (I do believe it was Spaeth who made the post, but I am not 100% sure).

In any case, the NVRAM consistently works as long as I power up the cab daily or every couple days. My high scores will remain.

If I let the cab sit for a while (a week perhaps?), when I fire up the cab... I've lost all my high scores. WTF? NVRAM doesn't require "charging" does it?

There has been about a week where I powered up the cab daily to test... and the scores remained. I let it sit for a number of days (again, about a week)... and gone. I put up new scores... let it sit for a number of days... gone. I repeated this 4 or 5 times.... consistently. I then powered up, got some high scores... powered down... powered up again and the scores remained. I powered down... let it sit for 15 or 20 minutes... powered up... scores remained. I repeated throughout the day a number of times, each time the scores remained... i let it sit and the next day I powered up... the scores remained. I let it sit for a full day and then some... checked... sure enough... scores remained... i let it sit for about a week... powered up... scores gone.

WTF?
 
And did you use new RAM? The battery backed (internal battery) RAM only has about 10-15 years of life on them (according to specs... expect less). The... I think they're Simtek(?) RAM are not battery backed... they use some NASA, Alien, ferrite magic to save the information for... well, let's just call it forever.

Also, check your voltages... if you're not getting greater than @4.80 to the RAM at all times the machine is on, you'll get RAM boo-boos.

FWIW: If you're REALLY cheap... you CAN replace the battery in the RAM. Google is your friend on this one because I didn't bookmark the page. But you can cut into the top casing, remove the old battery, put in a new battery and call it done for a while.
 
And did you use new RAM? The battery backed (internal battery) RAM only has about 10-15 years of life on them (according to specs... expect less). The... I think they're Simtek(?) RAM are not battery backed... they use some NASA, Alien, ferrite magic to save the information for... well, let's just call it forever.


Simteks are too fast for this application... MCR ram accesses are glitchy and you'll get spurious writes....
 
I wanna say they are Dallas (does that mean something to someone?)... I bought it direct from Mouser...
 
Try a different NVRAM chip? Maybe you got a bad one.

Switch to a cordless phone battery? I've gone over 3 months w/o powering my game on and it's held the charge w/o any problems. I just replaced mine after 3 years with the game turned on so I didn't lose my high scores.
 
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