246 No Display Signal

[Arcadia]

Have just picked up a 246 (Rev B) with Jamma interface board.

Did not come with any dongle or game disc, so thought would check system first before purchasing anything.

Powered up through Jamma interface (with my supergun) using my ATX power supply also used with Naomi/netdim setup, Jamma interface board has green light, main unit fan spinning also took lid off and checked voltages with a meter (all good) – no monitor display signal, changed dip switches to VGA and directly connected a VGA display, the same – no display signal. (tried with both dip switch for game/test both ways), coupled up audio leads but did not hear any beeps.

Also noticed the IDE cable to disc drive needed to be removed, to receive power to open close tray ?!?

So my question for 246 experts, do I have a none worker or will a 246 not post a display signal unless a dongle is inserted (then will let a game disc be put in) ?

 

[Mitsurugi-w]

Hard too tell but you won't really receive a signal until you insert a dongle and disk in most cases. It doesn't usually output until the game is loading.

 

[twistedsymphony]

Also noticed the IDE cable to disc drive needed to beremoved, to receive power to open close tray ?!?

I've noticed on my 256 the game board will ask the drive to check for a disc on boot, and it will ignore the tray open button until it's confirmed that there is indeed no disc in there (usually about 30-60 seconds).

by removing the IDE you've removed the PCB's ability to check for a disc.

 

[skate323k137]

Also noticed the IDE cable to disc drive needed to beremoved, to receive power to open close tray ?!?

I've noticed on my 256 the game board will ask the drive to check for a disc on boot, and it will ignore the tray open button until it's confirmed that there is indeed no disc in there (usually about 30-60 seconds).
by removing the IDE you've removed the PCB's ability to check for a disc.

I always just thought you couldn't open the drive, disc or no, for about 30-60 seconds. Boot files being on the dongle, I don't think you can eject till that initializes. I haven't noticed a difference in delay between no disc or just changing discs.

Anyway OP think of the dongle like your boot partition (or even BIOS) on your PC; without it you can't really do anything. Gundam games go really cheap on ebay if you want to make sure your system is working before you buy a more expensive game. I would not expect to get video without a dongle inserted, unless Defor or someone else with that level of knowedge knows of a way.

 

[Arcadia]

Many thanks to all for replies and information.

Going to pick up a cheap game/dongle to test it with.

 

[d123456]

Many thanks to all for replies and information.

Going to pick up a cheap game/dongle to test it with.

I concur (oh the arrogance ) with the tips given.
As a last tip. Make sure that the game you're getting specifically works on a Rack-B System 246. But you probably already know that.

 

[Jan]

open up the Motherboard, see if the internal av plug is connected. Looks like a PS2 AV connector. had the same Problem when my Tekken 4 arrived years ago.

 

[Arcadia]

Follow through update on this.

Picked up a Tekken 4 disc and dongle, everything all booted, when it got to the part where it looked like it needed to read the disc, it stopped with a blank screen.

Did a bit of research into this, and checked back on the compatibility list and it was marked as “Drive Specific”, basically Tekken would only boot on certain DVD-ROM drives, the drive that was already in the machine was a generic DVD/CD – RW which must have been working for none drive specific games.

Had a look on the 246 wiki for compatible drives and managed to pick up a SD-M1802 that was on the list, fitted this and bingo everything is good and have now been playing Tekken 4 !

On the lookout for additional 246 games now, Soul Calibur and Smash Court Tennis, these do not seem to come up as regular as the Tekken 4 and Gundam games.

Once again thanks to everybody that helped/contributed with information to this thread, very happy to have my 246 up and running now.

 

[Jan]

so do you get a Picture at all ?

if not , check the connector !!!

 

[Tytris]

Are you using the monitor on the cab or a VGA screen ?

I had issues on SC3:AE w/ no video (vga screen old arcade setup) anyway i have dip switch 1,2,3 on and 4 off works like a dream and I get to use the test/service panel the arcade installed.