Fixing UMK3 sound problem

[Psychosylph]

I have a UMK3 with a sound problem.  The guy who sold it to me pointed out that 3 or 4 chips (I don't remember the exact number - they're the sound ones U2, U3 and U4 or some such) needed to be reprogrammed and it would work properly.  I have no reason to doubt the seller as he was very honest about the machine and any issues it had.

So, how best/inexpensively to fix it if this is indeed the problem?  Should I find someone to reprogram the chips?  Should I buy a programmer?  Maybe find an old board on ebay or elsewhere and pull the chips?  I'd appreciate any suggestions/links to help me along.

[Malenko]

www.hobbyroms.com

stefan is AMAZING.

Did it fail any rom checks?

[Psychosylph]

Nope, doesn't fail ROM checks.

[Malenko]

could you be more specific on what sounds are giving you problems? If you go into the sound menu does anything not play correctly consistantly?

[Psychosylph]

Not at the moment; I'm posting from work.  I've only plugged the speakers in once and they made a horrendous static-y noise that had me unplugging the speakers after only a minute or two.  I don't remember hearing anything recognizable in that amount of time.

Edit:  Just remembered:  The seller told me that sound would work for a while then it would hit a particular sound and file and fail.  He seemed to know that it was a particular sound on one or more of the chips that was corrupted?  -Shrug-

[Psychosylph]

Alright, managed to land a (relatively) inexpensive board off of ebay and my inexperience is definitely showing.  I figured it was pretty much slip the new board in, connect the edge connector and plug in the control connector and go.  It kind of worked; I have a board that plays and has sound but the controls don't work.

There is a bit of difference between the boards although they both are UMK3 Rev. 1.2.  There are 4 connectors on the same side as the edge connector, labeled P9, P10, P11, P12 w/ 7, 10, 15 and 15 pins, respectively.  The new board has the same things plus it has CN 3/4, EXT IN, Player 4 and Player 3 silkscreened on, as well.  The real difference I notice is that the #4 pin on both the P11 and P12 blocks on the old board are missing - it is present on both blocks on the new board.  I have a single connector that I plug into the P12 block on the old board and the controls work - plug it into the new board and they don't.

I swapped the sound chips from the new board to the old board and that didn't fix the sound issue.  So I'm thinking I should go w/ the new board.  What might I need to do to get the controls fixed?   So odd that just swapping the boards might mean rewiring things.   

[Malenko]

pix?   the MK3 boards should be exactly the same, and they are exactly the same as WWF Wrestlemania (and I think NHL Open Ice)

[Oni2382]

to go along with malenko MK3, UMK3 and wrestlemania are all the same board...I'm not trying to cause an alarm but if you say the boards are different it sounds like one may be a bootleg :-/...Hopefully I'm wrong...Also.....Check your -5 voltage (this can cause sound issues.) If all your ROMS are showing green your -5 voltage could be the culprit (and this is an easy fix.)  Please post pix however.