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Killer Intinct 2 Repair - Pink Cupcake Screen of Death (PCSOD)

clintkolodziej

clintkolodziej

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Looking for some ideas on a Killer Instinct 2 board I picked up. I saw a post https://www.arcade-projects.com/threads/killer-instinct-pcb-issues.13175/ by @mugen_ketsueki that also seemed to have a weird static image, but it wasn't clear what the final resolution was - it looked like the CPU was replaced but I'm not sure if that was the fix or not. All other posts seem to mention some sort of scenario documented here: http://solid-orange.com/1758 but none of those fit with what I'm seeing as I don't get the blue boot progress screen at all, but there are signs of life such as the sound BONG and the indicator lights seem to be checking for sound/disk just fine. Any ideas would be welcome.

Background:

The board came to me with an original hard drive and the boot rom [U98] had a broken/missing window on it. When booted the disk drive started to spin up and I hear one BONG followed by the SOUND ACTIVE light coming on. The D. DRIVE ACTIVE light comes on without the drive, and stays off with the drive attached (it seems it may flicker initially then turn off, probably once it sees the drive is there). In all test scenarios I end up with a pink screen with colored dots (kind of like sprinkles on a delicious pink cupcake of death), and the position and color of the dots are always in the same locations. Pressing Test/Service doesn't seem to do anything either.

When I received it, I immediately thought the boot rom was bad due to the damage (it was). Replacing it with an Any-IDE rom didn't seem to help. I moved on to the disk drive, replacing it with a DiskOn Module (as documented here: https://www.arcade-projects.com/threads/ki2-dom-killer-instinct-2-disc-on-module.3259/), that didn't seem to make a difference either. I inspected the PCB for damage and didn't notice anything obvious. I also pressed on all the chips while it was running and didn't see a difference (I also tried during booting but you don't get a lot of time so we'll consider that incomplete). Just for a test I also removed the boot rom and hard drive in various configurations - no matter what I do I get the one bong and the PCSOD.

So basically I see signs of life with the single sound BONG and disk drive lights that seem to correctly check for the drive, but it doesn't appear it ever tries to read the boot rom or proceed past that.

I also took a look at the pins on the CPU, it did look like someone reflowed them as there is light flux residue around the chip. I pressed on each pin and none appear to be loose, and none appear to be bridged under 3x magnification. My multimeter's probes are too large to test each pin for continuity against the pcb pads or against the neighboring pins so I'm stuck there until I get a better multimeter. I'll probably get out the logic probe next to check chip activity, notably the RAM to see if there is anything I can notice on those, and on the boot rom and socket (especially since the original boot rom was damaged).

Any other ideas let me know. It could be the CPU but I figured I'd ask since I don't seem to see the white lines screen like everyone with a bad CPU seems to mention -- also it isn't clear if those with CPU problems get any activity at all, like the BONG or disk lights, so maybe I lucked out there? The CPU heatsink gets hot after a minute or two, but not too hot to touch and everyone always says it normally gets really hot so that may be normal.

Original Test:

Configuration:
Original hard drive
Broken boot rom [U98] - verified NO MATCH against MAME

Boot up result:
D. DRIVE ACTIVE: OFF
SOUND ACTIVE: OFF initially, turned ON after the bong
Screen: Pink screen with colored dots (always in the same place)

No Boot Rom Test:

Configuration:
Original hard drive
Boot rom [U98] removed (empty socket)

Boot up result:
D. DRIVE ACTIVE: OFF
SOUND ACTIVE: OFF initially, turned ON after the bong
Screen: Pink screen with colored dots (always in the same place)

No Hard Drive Test:

Configuration:
No Hard Drive connected
Broken boot rom [U98] - verified NO MATCH against MAME

Boot up result:
D. DRIVE ACTIVE: ON
SOUND ACTIVE: OFF initially, turned ON after the bong
Screen: Pink screen with colored dots (always in the same place)

No Boot Rom / No Hard Drive Test:

Configuration:
No Hard Drive connected
Boot rom [U98] removed (empty socket)

Boot up result:
D. DRIVE ACTIVE: ON
SOUND ACTIVE: OFF initially, turned ON after the bong
Screen: Pink screen with colored dots (always in the same place)

New Boot Rom (U98 Any-IDE Boot ROM L1.4) Test:

Configuration:
Original hard drive
Replaced boot rom [U98] with a working ST M27C4001-10F1 using the U98 Any-IDE Boot ROM L1.4 from Killer Instinct Project

Boot up result:
D. DRIVE ACTIVE: OFF
SOUND ACTIVE: OFF initially, turned ON after the bong
Screen: Pink screen with colored dots (always in the same place)

New Boot Rom (U98 Any-IDE Boot ROM L1.4) / New DiskOn Module Test:

Configuration:
Replaced original disk with a new DiskOn Module with the KI2 CHD written to it
Replaced boot rom [U98] with a working ST M27C4001-10F1 using the U98 Any-IDE Boot ROM L1.4 from Killer Instinct Project

Boot up result:
D. DRIVE ACTIVE: OFF
SOUND ACTIVE: OFF initially, turned ON after the bong
Screen: Pink screen with colored dots (always in the same place)
 

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HDD is usually the first thing to fail, followed by the solder on the CPU, then the CPU itself, then the RAM.

are you sure the DOM you created works? sending it to someone with a good working unit to confirm would be good.

sounds like someone already relfowed the CPU but that doesn't means they did it right. given your symptoms I'd seems CPU relataed
 
From what I understood without the hard drive (or with a bad one) I should still see that blue progress screen right?

I guess there could be a graphics issue on top of a disk drive issue where with a verified working drive it might play “blind” with bad graphics?

I did see on another thread that there is now a debugging/test rom, I may give that a shot as well to see if that loads at all.
 
twistedsymphony said:
I wrote a really brief guide on troubleshooting KI here: http://solid-orange.com/1758

it's for KI1 but I believe KI2 is similar. the test ROM might be useful also.
Click to expand...
Ah that was you! I saw that page but my issue didn’t quite fit the scenarios there. Thanks for posting that, if I figure this out I’ll let you know so perhaps we can add another thing for others to check. I’m erasing the rom now, we’ll give that test rom a shot and see if I still get this pink screen with that, I’ll post results.
 
twistedsymphony said:
yeah I suspect CPU, either the original reflow was done wrong or the CPU itself is cooked.
Click to expand...
I’ll try to check the pins with my multimeter for bridges and continuity to the pads, I didn’t think it would work on those small pins but I managed to check a few earlier as a test, just wasn’t easy with the standard leads on it.

I’m leaning towards cpu as well although it is still curious that the sound and disk checks work. Can anyone confirm if those checks run if you get the normal white line issues with the cpu?
 
clintkolodziej said:
it is still curious that the sound and disk checks work.
Click to expand...
the sound check works because the sound system basically has it's own independent CPU separate from the main CPU. it's actually similar to MK2, just integrated into the main PCB. A lot of games do this where the audio is it's own independent computer and the main game just sends commands to it when it wants certain sounds played. Similarly there is an IDE controller that may also be booting on it's own independent of the main CPU.
 
twistedsymphony said:
the sound check works because the sound system basically has it's own independent CPU separate from the main CPU. it's actually similar to MK2, just integrated into the main PCB. A lot of games do this where the audio is it's own independent computer and the main game just sends commands to it when it wants certain sounds played. Similarly there is an IDE controller that may also be booting on it's own independent of the main CPU.
Click to expand...
the ADSP-2105 is identical to MK2 actually and other games of that generation (before stereo DCS2 was introduced with War Gods I believe) ;)

what's this test rom? I have a board that I suspect popped a CPU leg or two and I tried fixing it years ago and it's stuck on the white lines of doom. and another board that has the sound calls wrong, like it'll play Riptor farts instead of what it's supposed to. if you have any idea what could be at fault there... sound ram, sound buffer?
 
clintkolodziej said:
From what I understood without the hard drive (or with a bad one) I should still see that blue progress screen right?

I guess there could be a graphics issue on top of a disk drive issue where with a verified working drive it might play “blind” with bad graphics?

I did see on another thread that there is now a debugging/test rom, I may give that a shot as well to see if that loads at all.
Click to expand...
I've got a KI that would like my attention, wondering about this debug/test rom, where did you see this?
 
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