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Neo Geo
pbj:
I’ve been around here a long, long time in various guises. Since 2000ish. And for various reasons there have been moments of introspection lately. I woke up this morning to this and pondered that there’s fewer of these ahead of me than are already behind me.
It is what it is and I think most of us are in the same boat.
So, what are those things in our shared realm that have been haunting me…. And it turns out it was a Neo Geo.
Bust out the credit card and here’s what arrives here 3 days later. Shipping from Japan is simultaneously the cheapest, fastest thing ever and also the most expensive and complicated. Entirely dependent on the seller/scammer.
“Works but turns off randomly” = who the ---fudgesicle--- knows. I probably got raped. I had an MVS board I pulled out of a smoldering cabinet 20 years ago and quickly got bored with it, so I’m not sure what I hope to find with this…. Besides recreating the experience of playing Art of Fighting on a console like I did one time at Incredible Universe 30 years ago.
I’ll also add that everything for this system is unbelievably ---fracking--- expensive. I’m keeping a running tally and it’s gasp inducing. I’ll share it if I ever get this thing running.
:cheers:
bobbyb13:
At least you figured out what itch you really needed to scratch.
Presently I have 6 projects that I hope to finish and get to play even just once before I'm dust.
I'm totally unfamiliar with Neo Geo stuff so this should be even more of a fun learning experience than your Sega cart mayhem.
lilshawn:
lift the skirt on that badboy and lets see some cracked solder joints!
pbj:
So, if Neo Geo forum posts are to be believed, you can't really trust the sticker on the bottom of the console to indicate what power supply you really need. And if you stick a 9V power supply into a 5V system, you run a very real risk of smoking the motherboard. Meaning your only option is to physically inspect the board inside.
An old credit card made short work of the rubber feet and here's what was inside:
Thankfully the board is very clean and has had no previous work. I took one look at the BIOS chip, and yeah I'll be desoldering and lifting pin 2 and soldering the Unibios chip on top of the old one. It is surrounded by tiny, delicate traces and this isn't a $1 Genesis football game.
Here's the power switch area -
Now what's kind of interesting here is that the system is labeled to "USE PRO-POW AC ADAPTOR ONLY" which implies a 5V supply. But there's a 5V voltage regulator.
???
Anyway, that means I can just toss a readily available Genesis 1 9V power supply at it and we're done here. This was sold as, "Occasionally, power switch contact is bad. Occasionally, the power switch turns on and off repeatedly." Maybe the seller had it hooked to a 5V supply? Maybe I won't lose ---my bottom--- on this?
Phones can do anything except hold me at night and take photos of things up close, but you get the general feeling here that we're not dealing with cracked solder on the power jack:
This, however, is giving me some hope. I have had issues with old consoles turning off and on randomly, and it's been corrosion on the power jack.
Anyway, a little scrape scrape with a needle and we've got shiny metal again.
The power supply... av cable... joystick... and actual game are all in the mail.... so no testing this thing for awhile....
:cheers:
pbj:
Got bored, hit it with cleaning carnuba wax.
:cheers:
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