First Timers Restoration of Neo Geo Single Slot

[fullmetalchicken]

So for a wedding gift a friend of mine gave me (and my wife) a Neo Geo cabinet. This was about two months ago and since then I have been poking around on this sit looking for ideas and getting a general idea for what can be done and what is possible with an arcade cabinet. After going over the projects section I realize I don't have the creativity and know how to do anything worthy of such a gift so just resorting to it's former glory should be just enough of a challenge/adventure for me to handle and my wife to put up with. So we got it home and i parked it in the garage for stripping and painting.

FMC's To do list
Strip Paint, Repaint, Replace T-Molding
Try to shine up exposed bolds
Replace All buttons
Replace Joysticks
Replace Marquee light
Figure out issue with player 1 button
Clean inside
Check for other issues
Replace Marquee Decals
More Games
Make Neo Geo 8 button CP
Make game documentation for multi-cart

The painting didn't go so well but i did get the right colour and brought it inside for sanding, the final coat and t molding

So as always there are a few issues the 1 player button doesn't work so i have to figure out how to fix that also the marquee is not an FT as i expected but something with 20 lights so converting it to the LED will be interesting

[Donkbaca]

Cool!  That's not a neo-geo cab though, it looks like a conversion.  It would be sweet if you could get a neo geo cp, you know, like the ones that have the LCD credit counters. 

For the games you can get a 150 in 1 cart, that will pretty much have you all set up.

Sounds like a cool project. 

[opt2not]

Hey fullmetalchicken, welcome to the forum! Restoring cabinets is a great way to get into the hobby, as well as build confidence for taking on bigger, more custom jobs. There's a lot you'll learn from restoring these cabinets, like how components are mounted, shape design & measurements, powering the cabinet, etc...

Unfortunately, it looks like you have a converted cabinet there, as that's not an original Neo Geo machine.
The original Neo Geo machines were released in these styles for full-sized cabinets:


I can't really put my finger on what it was originally, so if you plan on "restoring it to it's former glory", you might want to find out what it really was. There might be some clues inside the cabinet, like labels or markings. But keeping it a Neo Geo would probably mean that this posting should be in Project Announcements.
I'm not sure if restoring a cabinet to it's former conversion counts as a Restoration. Primarily this forum is for restoring cabinets to their original condition...but good luck in any case!


*edit:  I think I found what your cabinet originally was:
Aqua Jack! 

Looks like the same cabinet shape.
I never played the game personally, so I don't know if it's a game that'd be good to restore to. But it looks like the game-play might be cool.

[IG-88]

Welcome to the forums 

Too bad you weren't closer too me I'd trade ya straight across. I got me one of those Neo-Geos in need of some love and Aqua Jack is a cool game!!

[fullmetalchicken]

Sorry for posting in the wrong spot. If a moderator sees this before I move it to project announcements please do so.

I had an idea that this might have been something in a former life but I had an idea it wasn't a NEO GEO, but if i do find any markings I will take pics.

[fullmetalchicken]

so after a busy week I finished replacing all the buttons, shined the CP, tried to get the t-moulding just right and joy sticks, followed by more polishing and t-moulding banging.





and now on with the electrics i followed the 1 player button all the way back to the Jamma and found



and i have not been around long enough to know what this is I imagine that arcades put them in to make switching games and consoles easier.

so i will be checking if there is a problem with this thing this weekend then hoping to put in my last orders for goods this weekend.

my current list
150 in 1 mvs cart
matching locks for front and back
LED replacements for the marquee as i burnt out my most resent purchase of an LED replacement light (an electrician i'm not)

replacement coin return button
and a Jamma wire extractor tool

I'm hoping to find all this in one store

any help with the thing in my cab or a shop where i can get all these in one shot would be appreciated.

[mgb]

Hey Fullmetalchicken,
Welcome to the forums. That thing, though it's not a regular Neo Geo cabinet, looks pretty slick in Neo Geo red with the sideart.
You may just be able to unscrew that marquee light and slap in an Led bar or see what kind of bulbs go in whats there and look up replacement leds for those bulbs (may be expensive that way)
Many times when one button doesn't work, it may very well be the microswitch in that button that is bad.
Heres a list of a couple vendors that I find are great for ordering stuff through
http://www.lizardlick.com/
http://www.jammaboards.com/
http://www.twistedquarter.com/
http://www.therealbobroberts.net/
plus there are a bunch others

[fullmetalchicken]

Thanks MGB parts now ordered I couldn't find the LED bulbs but i did find the regular ones will have to make due for now.

Progress on the 1 player button.
I replaced the button and the switch still no go

Using a multi-meter I did the beep test
from the button to the first molex.    No Beep
did a temporary patch using some copper wire i had lying around from an old electrical patch job in the house.
from the button to the first molex.      Beep
from the mystery board to the button Beep
From the JAMMA to the button           No Beep
from the JAMMA to the mystery board  Beep
one side of the board to the other       Beep

Will test with the power on in a few places again if I can't figure it out I'm going to pull the wire our of the JAMMA and rewire the whole button

[mgb]

That mystery board must be a neo geo to jamma conversion board of some sort.
Because from what I know, the mvs boards are not quite the same as jamma.
here is a good site for Neo Geo info
http://www.hardmvs.com/index.htm

[fullmetalchicken]

Yah MVS multi and MVS single are two different wiring beasts the multi is a MVS harness and it seems that all singles are Jamma.

[notroubleclubber]

From what your saying i would say its the wire from the button to the jamma harness. The other thing to check is make sure the other side of the button is grounded (ie, put your meter on the ground and place the other end of the meter to another ground - ie, another buttons ground).

[fullmetalchicken]

Thanks notroubleclubber will do. You guys are super helpful.

I'll write out a hole test method and get back in the morning with the results.

[fullmetalchicken]

Left switch test - Beep
ground test - 106
live wire test - 0

Findings: All as expected

Male molex to button - Beep
Jamma to female molex - 0
Jamma to mystery board - 106
Jamma to mystery board out - 106

Findings: Issue with the first molex connection

Solution: temp fix cut wire from molex and unscrew wire from Jamma to mystery board in twist and all working... 1 player button 

this was quickly followed by another issue.  Turns out the joystick was not wired up correctly so after 10 mintues of moving clamps around left, right, and up are working down is not. 

But now I know how to do all the testing so tonight..well actually I'm touching up the paint. Then fixing the wire.

Thank you guys for all your help. 

[mgb]

Good to hear. keep up the good work.

[fullmetalchicken]

So I've been puttering around the cab just doing this and that mostly nit picking stuff, painting hidden surfaces, cleaning inside, removing the old padlock bolt, cleaning the cartridge bolts.

AND WAITING FOR MY  PACKAGES TO COME IN STUPID CHEAP PAST ME!!!!!

When I realized I had no idea how to play any of the games that are on the multi-cart so now my mission is to track down all the marquees and move lists for all those games. So far I have 80 marquees and now trying to figure out the best way to keep this information. Has anyone ever made anything like this before?

[mgb]

Doesn't every Neo Geo game give button info at the beginning of the game.

[fullmetalchicken]

UUUmm I don't know I've only ever played 1 neo geo game. 

[fullmetalchicken]

I just had a monkey touches the monolith moment instead of tracking down and printing off all the old marquess why not just buy a digital picture frame load it up with all those scans AND TADA instant multi marquee.

[BobA]

You could probably get a neogeo emulator to send info out to select the marquee displays but a single slot neo geo does not have that capability to send info out to select a marquee.

Edit: but if you have to change a cartridge to change the game then a manual change of the picture in the digital frame is probably what you are thinking of.  Sorry always thinking of making everything automatic.