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Supergun

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So I recently purchased a Konami Violent Storm board from a member on the KLOV. It was supposed to be a working board, but so far, I still have not been able to get it to work. I really don’t want to deal with the hassle of returning it and then having to locate and purchase another board, so I was hoping I could just fix whatever is wrong with it, and I figured it wouldn’t likely be a serious issue since it was supposed to be a working board from the start.

I decided to write this in the form of a repair log, explaining what I have observed and done so far, in the hopes that this will eventually result in finding and fixing whatever is wrong with the board.

So the board arrived and I plugged it into my test unit and was given this screen:

461CAACC-AE1A-4E61-9DFD-A847AE411869.jpeg

As you can see, the board fails the power up test, reporting 2 chips as being “bad”. It then resets and continues to do the same thing over and over.

The first thing I tried was the typical Konami initializing of holding down the test button on power up to “reset” the eeprom. Sadly, this did not fix the errors, rather it gives me this screen:



At this point, I decided to visually inspect the board. The first thing that caught my eye was on the solder side of the board. There were 2 large areas underneath the board that have the remains of old adhesive masking tape. At some point in the past someone recklessly did this:

22F120BA-7D7D-4E1E-AF4B-33C80F8A6EEA.jpeg

I carefully removed the tape, which was not easy & took quite a long time to do so safely & properly, but I was successful and the end result was quite nice:

292C19A2-25C7-4262-A87B-854B5BAF14D8.jpeg

However, this had no effect on the problem and so I went back to look over the board. I found a few areas of minor corrosion and build up on some traces and solder points, but they all tested good for continuity and they mostly cleaned up ok. And beyond that, I found no bridged points, damaged or cut traces, etc.

Voltages are good, I tested the board in multiple cabinets and test rigs with no changes. I cleaned the edge connector, reseated all the socketed IC’s, etc. (you can rest assured that I covered the easy and common stuff)

I then decided to focus on the 2 reported “bad” chips. Even knowing full well that the rom tests are often incorrect and can report chips as bad, when in fact they are not. I began with the bit eeprom chip. A tiny and simple 8 leg chip. I desoldered it from the board, installed a socket, and replaced it with the exact same chip that I sourced from a Konami Run and Gun parts board I have. And no change:

49E3FC34-1558-4C97-A5C5-8D208FF09B67.jpeg

And so that’s where I am now. My next step will be to do the same thing with the other chip now. Maybe piggybacking it before swapping it out though. However, before I waste my time doing anything else, I wanted to ask for advice from some of the other techs around here, hoping someone may have an idea for what else might be causing this problem and how I can fix it.

My knowledge, skills, and tools are just basic. I have several eprom programmers and hundreds of EPROMs. I can erase and program most EPROMs. I can solder and desolder any standard and most surface mount components. I have a multi-meter, logic probe, and other basic tools.

Thanks,
Billy

Edit: added pics of the sound module:

352E5FB2-48E9-4557-8DA2-E1B0F0C4AB8A.jpeg

E2BA445C-B547-4563-B79B-001B5CFA3482.jpeg
 
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Billy,

First, your pictures are not working.

Second, the sound area on these boards leak like crazy, which can cause problems elsewhere. If you haven't yet, I'd say send that in for replacement or take it off yourself and socket it.

I'm not experienced enough nor do I have tools, but I do have a working VS PCB so I will help in anyway remotely if I can.

Does this help:

https://www.jammarcade.net/violent-storm-repair-log/
 
I apologize about the pictures. I will try again to upload them and place them in the post.

Regarding the sound module, yes, I have re-capped and/or replaced them with the Caius units on other Konami boards. But this unit looks good. I will post a picture of it.

And I will read that repair log as well.
Thank you for the feedback!
Regards,
Billy
 
I apologize about the pictures. I will try again to upload them and place them in the post.

Regarding the sound module, yes, I have re-capped and/or replaced them with the Caius units on other Konami boards. But this unit looks good. I will post a picture of it.

And I will read that repair log as well.
Thank you for the feedback!
Regards,
Billy
You can't say they look good unless you desolder it and look at the bottom. I've seen a ton of them look good on the top and then on the bottom it was corroded to death.
 
So then, the only advice so far, is that I should replace the Konami sound module?

Does anyone else have any other suggestion besides that? Would replacing the U56-3F chip be a waste of time then?

I will go ahead and order a few sound modules anyhow, because I will eventually need them for other boards, but while I wait for them to arrive, is there anything else I could check that might be causing this issue?

Thanks to all,
Billy
 
Maybe a silly suggestion, but it's worth trying to reset it if you haven't already? Experienced the same with a R&G which was fine after just resetting it. Unsure what the button combination was again, maybe sb else could chime in here. Surely it was a button press or combo during the ROM check.
 
You may have to burn the EEPROM with the data from a MAME dump. On M2 boards the RTC chip can reprogram itself, but the EEPROM cannot rewrite itself.

So even if you popped a new chip in to the EEPROM area, it may require the data specific to Violent Storm.

Just a thought. I am not familiar with this games pcb, but I am familiar with what Konami liked to do with their EEPROM chips
 
yes,
the eeprom probably contains the region flag and such.

also, trace the tracks from the eeprom to the source incase of breaks/shorts - it's only 6 tracks at most to follow.
 
Ok. Update time.
So today I replaced the hybrid module.
And guess what? SAME PROBLEM.

On boot up, during the ram/rom power up test, I STILL get the EXACT same report. Everything passes as OK except for:
component U7 at 13C and U56 at 3F are BAD.

(see picture in thread above)

As a reminder, 13C is the small 8 pin chip near the test button. (and I already desoldered it, installed a socket, and tested with another one with no different result btw)

And 3F is a 28pin IC; a ram chip I believe.
So what now?
Replace the 3F chip, as I originally thought and asked, and re-test it with another?

Any help is appreciated.
Thank you.
 
But did you program the eeprom? M2 has the sameish chips, and they will reprogram themselves If you hold down test on boot. But maybe Violent Storm won’t reprogram itself.

Try holding down test on boot. It works for M2. Less than zero idea if it’ll do anything here but considering it’s Konami maybe the thought process remains the same
 
Yes, I tried that, thanks.

The whole “hold test down while powering up” Konami thing does the same thing as it is did before I changed the Hybrid Module. No change there either.

The only other thing I’ve done, is power up the board with the module completely removed. And that results in the same 2 IC’s coming up as “BAD”, as well as all of the other sound IC’s coming up as BAD too.

SIDE NOTE:
when I removed the original hybrid module, it was IMMACULATE underneath. NO corrosion, NO bad traces, NOTHING was wrong with it. It was most likely NEVER the problem, (which was my personal opinion, but nobody agreed)

and so the fact that it comes up bad when removed, and comes up good when installed. (Which is/was exactly as it was doing before I replaced it) pretty much supports my theory that it was not bad and was not the problem.
 
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So, regarding the U56 ram chip at position 3F on the board, which is coming up as BAD in the power up test:

The actual one used on the Konami board is:
Hitachi HM62256alsp-8
(high speed cmos static ram)
32768 word x 8-bit

I have these 2 in my spare parts bin. Are either one of them “compatible”?

Panasonic MM4464M-08LL
(standard SRAM 8K x 8 80ns)

and

SONY CXK5863P-35
static RAM 8K x 8
 
After reading some other Konami repair logs, another issue is not that the chip is bad, but it simply can't be contacted. Use your logic probe on all the pins of the "bad" chip and see if there is activity. See if you can trace all the pins and verify they go somewhere.
 
@Supergun I was wondering if you made throught this?
I have the whole sound compartment marked as BAD.
At first i usually thought it was due to the Sound Module but i've tested it out in another board and it works fine (i even changed it with another one, same result).
Then i saw that the 2x 256rams were acting weird on the data out and after checking them with the tl886 one of them reperted a bad bus on A11, so i thought "thats it", and after the replace, still the same (Nvram reset won't do too).
I also tryed to check the 2x 74ls08 at 3F since they were related to OE of the rams, my HP comparator "told" me different output put after pulling them out they were fine again on the TL.
I noticed that one of the audio customs near the 256rams get super-hot on the upper side, were VPP and VCC pins are one next each other, but i couldn't see any bridge or some sort (no rework too) so i doubt thats the case. I think i'll try to change that but that couldn't be related to the system check, i need to figure out the I/O involved when is checking this stuff before booting
 
No. I gave up on this board.
And even worse, the experience from it has ruined the hobby for me.
Lessons learned so far:

1) The next time I buy a “tested/working” Konami hybrid module board, and it does not work, I will immediately file complaint with PayPal for a full refund.

2) The next time I have a Konami hybrid module board fail, I will immediately send it to a tech who specializes in that area of repair.

3) The current hybrid module replacement options are “primitive”. An easier, better, and more complete solution is still needed.
 
Yes, absolutely. I’m currently debating between both of those options.
 
PM me your email and I’ll put you in touch with the guy who repairs my Konami boards.

Or you can shoot me an offer if you’re just done with it. I can get you a fully working VS as well I think.
 
i see. Anyway, theres no more primitive solution for the module since its been reproduced and it works really well.
I actually delidded one of these and cloned it, i have sent the pcb design to a chinese factory and i got back many spares. Solution is there, you just need to apply that
 
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