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segasonic91

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Bought a Darksoft Multi+Jp motherboard yesterday, along with a (sadly busted, broken pins) CPS2 multi. After tye annoyance of finding broken pins on the CPS2, I also have had no luck getting the F3 to work.

I have tried in 3 Blasts and a NAC. The LCD keeps saying "No SD Card!", but then it will work. Sometimes I have to take it out and put it back in. It loads a game, the PROG light is lit, but the screen shows only a rapidly scrolling picture of red and black on the Blast and white on the NAC. No mater what I do, it will not work.

Could this be caused by plastic remaining between the pins causing not enough contact? The plastic is worn right down on the mother to make it region free, but I did not do it myself. This and the CPS2 were brand new, not used. I did notice so breakage of the plastic around a couple of holes on the Darksoft connector side, and found some bent pins where the plaatic tabs had been worn down. Fixed those but same result.

I keep reading about power issues with the F3 on 5v, could this be factor? I should have taken some photos before I put the damn thing away. Between the CPS2 last night and F3 tonight, I was really over it so packed it all away.
 
I'd try a different SD card. Most likely didnt load a game properly yet.
 
i thought of that, too. Was going to try the CPS-II multi's card seeing as it is currently not working. I will do that. I suppose I am a bit silly for not trying that first.
 
Let us know how it works and remember to use branded quality microSD. I advice preferably the ones from Samsung.
 
@Darksoft Thank you, will do! I think it is a Samsung actually. Have to check. CPS2 SD is a Sandisk. Apart from the FAT32 formating, should a specific cluster size or anything like that be chosen when formatting? I read a comment about using the largest size?

@Mitsurugi-w I made a comment on your yputube video about excessive glue on the top of the connectors, it is on the solder from the connectors that go into the F3 motherboard. Also on the board itself. I will take a photo when I test the other SD card. Thank you for the response, too!
 
UPDATE: Tested with the other card and same result. The "SD not inserted!" message is not the SD card, it is the card reader. If I press ever so slightly on the back of the reader, it gives the "no SD" error.

I tried a few games and still had the rapidly rolling, frozen image. It did load Arkanoid, as it loaded Bubble Memories with the other card. I could hear the game and see the image changing through the rolling image, but that was it. I tried lightly touching over the board to see if a chip triggered a change, but nothing. Tapping the F3 does nothing and slightly moving the board around does nothing. The connectors have no reaction either.

Could it just be a motherboard issue? Or could plastic from the tabs cause it from some sort of mis-connection? It is not simply a synch issue because I can see the image is frozen and does nothing when I hit test or any other buttons. The SD card being loose seems like a quick re-solder issue. Could THAT be causing the problem? The board is slightly warped, too, which worries me. Waiting for some carts to arrive so I can swap it into a cart to keep it protected. IF I can get it to work of course, lol.

I can see that bent pins from the tab removal have pieced the plastic on around the hole for the pin, too. I bought it brand new complete with pre modded F3 mother. I discovered the bent pins and straightened them out so that it was making proper connection.
 
The error only happens when I touch the back of the SD card slot. It feels like there is movement there. It is showing all the games correctly otherwise, and flashing them as far as I can tell. The light is coming on and the screen is deffinately changing.

I just have the games folder on the sd card. From Smoke Monster's pack.
 
Hmmmm, maybe. I have not looked at the back to see what the connection looks like. If it is just small solder holes to desolder and resolder, it should be fine. It just feels like it was not put in place properly when manufactured, when I take a look at it, I am hoping I can just desolder the back and resolder it into tye proper position. The reader seems fine, it is just not making proper contact. My problem at the moment is I have no damn tools. Very annoying. They were lost in packing when I moved and have not been found yet.
 
Head over to @xodaraPs house, he's a stand-up guy and will happily sort it out for you. It's what he does. :)
Haha, hell yeah, I won't be touching it. I just keep thinking it might be the mother. I don't see how the SD card can be set up incorrectly. It just has the "games" folder with files from Smoke Monster's pack. That rolling thing is just weird and far worse than being out of synch. Plus it was tested on 4 machines with the same result. I updated the firmware, too.
 
Are you using a MAC? Can you post a picture of how does the file structure look like?
 
No mac, windows. I will get a photo tomorrow. The card has the "games" folder and then each game folder inside that. I used the "pure MAME" folder so I could choose Japanese versions of games rather than all the re-named games in the "roll-up pack". Only difference I noticed was that the roll-up files used the folder name for each programme file, where as the MAME vetsions use "flash1", "flash2" etc.

I just unrared the file from Smoke, placed it on the card and deleted what I did not want.
 
I used the "pure MAME" folder
pure MAME, IIRC can only be used with MAME. The other romset is prepared to work with the multi.....
Okay, I will try the roll up pack. I did have a couple of those on the card with the MAME files as well and they gave the same result.

I thought the point of the mame folder was so other region games could be used?
 
Try it first simple. Put only 2-3 folders. Each folder should have inside several files with the exact name and extension from .01 to .14. Addiitonally there should be a file called NAME with the name to be displayed on the LCD.
 
I tried again with the "roll up" pack games, same result. Elevator Action Returns worked, I could hear the demo running, but tye s reen was the same.

I came across this video just now, and it shows EXACTLY what is happening with the F3. Please take a look at the 22:15 mark when the 19XX is tested, my F3 is doing the same thing. I have been wondering from the start if it is the board or the mother. Hopefully this will give you guys a clue.

Still no luck with the F3, I feel like DS thinks I am a dumb noob that does not know what they are doing, lol. I tried the "roll up" pack games and it is the same. I just saw a video that shows a 19XX being tested and it does exactly what my F3 does. Maybe it will give you a clue before I take it over. I still think it could be something to do with the mother, which is what I kept asking in the thread.

Take a look at the 22:15 mark of the below video:

 
Are you getting about 5.2v at the JAMMA edge? Try disconnecting the Fan (I never have mine plugged in, either the F3 or CPS2 and it is fine)

My Multi F3 did exactly the same when I swapped an F3 Motherboard, it seems to not want to sync up on screen and I could not get a picture no matter how much I adjusted the controls. I kept reattaching the JAMMA connector and it eventually started working again. I know it is not much of a solution!
 
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