Ghost Squad GPU chip replacement?

[lilshawn]

I have a Ghost Squad arcade machine where the GPU has overheated and packed it in due to a failed fan. I attempted to resurrect the board by replacing the 1 or 2 blown out caps and also replacing a fried bypass cap under the GPU..but no dice.

What i'd like to find out is if anybody knows of a reputable service where they can remove the GPU and replace it with a new one. I know the service exists for the 360, there must be someone who can repair this one.

this machine runs a Sega "Chihiro" CPU system... if you don't know... in a nutshell, the main CPU board is an original Xbox motherboard (labeled "xbox arcade")  with an early version of the chipset (MPC X2) with custom BIOS loader and expanded memory (128 vs 64mb ram). Essentially very similar to the development/debug console.

I noted the debug console mkmk4 was selling... but without knowing exactly what's in there, i'm not prepared to buy it to find out.

If I can find a board the same as this one, i'd attempt to dump the BIOS ROM out of this unit and dump it to a dev board and see if it works..

[lilshawn]

I contacted Ken at Advanced Repair Center (irepairsega.com) and sent him some photos of the board.

He gives it a 50/50 chance of a successful repair, as the board has been pretty cooked by the GPU and is discolored. (possible trace/pad damage under the GPU itself.) If the board is just gone dark green, it's likely repairable, but brown is iffy or turning black is probably not repairable. It doesn't smell of burnt PCB (like if it was truly toasted) so it might be okay. I'll be putting this to the boss to see what he wants to do with it.

as a last resort, I may attempt transferring the BIOS to a debug kit and see what happens.

[lilshawn]

looks like my best bet is obtaining a debug kit.

I proposed to ken about pulling the BIOS, 4 RAM, and MCXP-2 chip from the dead Chihiro board and swapping them over to a retail xbox board (essentially making it a chihiro board) he apparently has had no luck swapping the X3 for the X2, he's not sure if the X2 requires other components to work properly or if it's just not reflowing properly or what the deal is. it seems to seat alright, but it doesn't work.

oh well, just thinking out of the box on that one.

in any case i'll try and source a debug kit locally and see if i can patch the bios with the chihiro bios.

[grantspain]

you can get chihiro units from japan at good price atm,about $150-$200 plus shipping and taxes

[lilshawn]

would you happen to have a link or contact for someone? All i've managed to locate are units in europe for 300 euros and up plus shipping.

[grantspain]

sophia corp

[lilshawn]

thanks for pointing me in that direction, however, i've contacted them and while they do have a chihiro system board available but i've been informed it's price is JPY37,800 for it (~400 canadian) not including shipping.

still hunting.