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4 wire key soldering questions, plus red screen issue during install of DS Kit. (Solved)

Don't really have much else to report tonight. Just been reading through tons of forum posts trying to get ideas on what to do next. I'm pretty tired and worn out from this XD

I'm not really sure where to proceed at this point in terms of solutions to try but I'll keep thinking about it.
 
Where are you located?

One of the four key writing wires acts as a reset wire so no need for a fifth wire.

The fact that the multi says "NOW PLAYING. HAVE FUN" says it is working correctly. So your issue is that the program code is not being run by the B-board (or possibly A-board). Here are the things that would cause that:


Small program rom pcb not fully pushed in

Bad soldering on the program rom pcb (saw this just once)

Interconnect pcb not on all the way or on backwards

SD card incorrectly written or written on a MAC without cleanup

Wrong files used on the SD card

SD card is just plain bad

Reset wires installed incorrectly (If using encrypted roms)

Bad contact between A and B board

Faulty B-board

Faulty A-board


If one of the long pins on the main pcb were broken or making bad contact or one of the jumpers was wrong you would get distorted GFX or Sound but it would still boot and play.
 
@Mitsurugi-w

Hey. I live in central Florida.

-I tried applying a ~6 pound pressure to the smaller PCB and larger PCB during boot/writing just to really ensure a good connection but no difference. I feel like the connections check out too after doing the continuity test on all of the pins, but I could be wrong as I'm certainly still an amateur at this kind of thing.

-The 4 wires I soldered all seem to check out.

-I think the boards are okay because when I put the Street Fighter ROMs back in, it worked immediately.

There are a couple more things I can try with the SD cards for the heck of it. Otherwise I'm currently not sure what else to try.
 
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I decided to do a continuity check for between the DS boards. All check OK except 1.

Does anybody know where this pin goes to on the bottom PCB?

I uploaded 2 pictures. In the pictures I'm pointing to the point where I'm having trouble.

I don't know where that pin goes to on the bottom PCB.

https://imgur.com/a/1b5kZ


If somebody is able, could you please tell me where that pin goes? Just want to be sure.

*Edit*
On a side note. I didn't think it was all that important, but after thinking about it maybe it could be, but when the kit arrived some of the pins were bent. None broken from what I could see, so I just bent them back. Nothing seems to be loose though but I figured I should mention it.
 
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The moral of the story is: Careful not to drop solder on other components.

Well, lesson learned the hard way. Boy this has been a rough 72 hours for me. I just couldn't let it go. It's all I have been working on from wake to sleep. Hyper-focus to the max.

I'm so exhausted. I'm not even going to play tonight. Just rest, then sleep. Before I do that though I must give my thanks.

Guys, thank you all. Soooo much. Really, it means a lot to me. If there's anything you guys may need help with in the future and I can be of support, just let me know!

I wanted this so badly. Like making a dream come true kinda thing, ya know? I learned a lot from this experience about electronics, myself and all of you. It was a bit painful and undesirable of an experience at times, but overall I'm happy with the outcome and I'm so appreciative of the support from so many people.

Thanks again everyone.
@ekorz @Mitsurugi-w @MoppelTheWhale @zeruel85 @Blackfish @Jdurg @ShootTheCore

Now I'm going to get some food and then go to bed lol.

Good luck with your projects as well friends!
 
@Paranoid_Andy puh, thank god it's working again :thumbsup:

As i woke up today i remembered that you wrote somewhere in the thread that you dripped solder on the board and wanted to ask, i wish i remembered sooner :/

At least you can now rock the cps2 over the weekend - enjoy, you earned it!
 
Glad you got it worked out! Enjoy! :thumbup:
 
Thanks everybody :)

@Mitsurugi-w

Nah, but close. If you take a look at the first photo here, you can see I dropped it on what I think is a resistor? It's the 2nd wire in, from the left, with the component sitting between my solder and the ARM. The space between the component and my solder was actually clear so I thought it was okay having that tiny bit drip onto that component not realizing that I think I created a bridge.

https://imgur.com/a/vQwP7

Also, side question. Will my high scores and unlocked features be saved after changing games? If so, does it save to the memory card on some on board memory that will remain for a long time?
 
No it will not save high scores after you swap the game. Sorry.
 
Congratulations, I need to fix my 4 wirings myself sometime in the future, did you use gel like flux at all or did you tin both the wires and small 4 circles before soldering together?
 
@Greenalink

Hey Green. I don't know if it's the best route to go, but I did put a small dab of flux on the contacts on the PCB before soldering and I also tinned the ends of the wires as well. Then used a precision soldering tip. I also used an alligator clip to pin down the wire ahead of time to help me keep it in place when I applied the solder. Overall it went pretty smooth minus my little mistake of dripping solder onto another component XD

Also, do you speedrun by chance? That name sounds familiar from GDQ or something :P
 
Gotcha, I have been using this which is a tad too big for the contacts I am trying to solder. I do have a desoldering tool to remove old solder and will think about purchasing a more precise soldering iron and flux later this month after sorting out my room.
https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/aJEAAOSwHnFVozuW/s-l500.jpg
s-l500.jpg


That's right.
I'm a speedrunner from Awesome Games Done Quick 2013 and 2016 (and European Speedrunner Assembly 2014, 2016, 2017 and Winter 2018). Currently focusing on Streets of Rage 1 16-bit and possibly some good CPS2 games that are worth running in the future.
 
Ohhh okay. Thought it sounded familiar. Well pleasure to meet ya :)

I use this myself for soldering: https://www.zeny.us/products/zeny-s...welder-hot-air-gun-rework-station-accessories

I absolutely love it! The amount of control and different tips available have made it such a great tool.

For smaller solder applications is use stuff called '10-GM, 60/40, Rosin' solder. Works pretty nice so far. Kingbo & Uniflux seem pretty good too for flux, although I heard using a 'Flux Pen' is a pretty nice tool as well but never tried one.

Hope this helps and good luck :)
 
Flux pens, and flux in general, makes soldering sooooooooooooooooo much easier. When doing some very fine pitch soldering myself, I like to douse the area in flux and do some drag soldering. The flux ensure that the solder sticks where it should, and not where it shouldn't. I used to try to solder stuff without flux and risked lots of damage due to how long I had to hold the iron in the spot in order to get the solder to flow. A little bit of flux, and it's mere seconds and the joint is solid.
 
Plus once the solder dries out you can't control what it sticks to, Flux is heavenly. I use no clean flux for most things now but still use rosin flux for some applications. It sucks to clean it up but it just plain lasts longer without drying.
 
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