CPS2 project gone bad

[stt1]

This isn't yet anything about installing multi, and I'm not even sure if this ever will be... At least for these boards I have now. And I admit that I don't know enough about CPS2 stuff (yet) for figuring out what is wrong (with lower parts). Got first CPS2 parts ever at my hands just recently.

The main target with my friend was to get two working board sets and then buy a multi for both. Friend of mine started with buying two lower parts (colour black, EUROPE sticker on them) from Italian seller, another was claimed to be tested and working, another untested (yeah, you can already guess...). He recapped them and sent them over to me for testing with game boards. I bought two green upper parts from Japan (YAJ) - stated as junk. That went "great" as well, they were truly and totally junk (worst JUNK ever I have bought from Japan in 20 years). After cleaning only the plastic covers seems to be good to go. Game PCBs - maybe some chips can be reused by someone... Check the pics (taken before cleaning).

Now the lower parts: As I was out of any game to try with, I took the boards with me when I visited miisalo this weekend. He had one Phoenixed game PCB. Tried it out with both lower parts:

1st PCB: Boots to CAPCOM Phoenix -logo, but game does not start, just black screen. I can also enter test menu, change the region, play test music, but game does not start.

Arcade Otaku CPS2 Wiki says: "Blue - USA & European region boards. These are totally interchangeable with the Green Japanese region boards and vice-versa."

I'm missing something here? I used a green (Phoenixed) PCB with black European lower part... And yes, that game works fine when I connected to miisalo's lower part (which does not have any sticker in place for stating which region lower part it originally was).

Any ideas? Should there be something changed in the motherboard?


2nd PCB: I can get random colour screen (blue, red, purple, yellow, white, green, turquoise...) at first power-up. Power off and on -> just black screen. Connectors disconnected for a while and again some colour screen...

Apparently dead.

 

[suverman]

"Blue - USA & European region boards. These are totally interchangeable with the Green Japanese region boards and vice-versa." its true.


I can get random colour screen (blue, red, purple, yellow, white, green, turquoise...) - Green generally happens when the board suicides. White colour in my experience happens if the connection between the two boards isnt proper.

 

[djsheep]

Damn, they're some crusty CPS-2 boards right there. That sucks!

"Junk" in Japan used to be untested A-Grade stuff for the most part. It's a pity that some sellers have let go of the pride behind that ethos and started to actually sell junk as junk, it was bound to happen with the advent of the Internet though.

@xodaraP is a bit of a CPS-2 guru, so I'm sure he can lend a hand if/when he's awake if no one else has chimed in.

 

[stt1]

"Junk" in Japan used to be untested A-Grade stuff for the most part. It's a pity that some sellers have let go of the pride behind that ethos and started to actually sell junk as junk, it was bound to happen with the advent of the Internet though.

That has been the story so far for me. In other junk-cases the pics have at least revealed that no A, or even B-grade is sold. However even in those cases things haven't been totally beyond worth repairing.

What sucks more is that the seller might have known what disaster was inside. Batteries were removed...

 

[Psyko-M1]

It wouldn't hurt to get a soft bristle tooth brush, and get some contact cleaner in here.
I'd pull up each of those socketed chips one by one, scrub the contacts, and sockets.
Reseat carefully.

It's always worth a try.
I've seen crustier boards come alive with a little elbow grease, chemicals, and love.

 

[JoeAwesome]

The batteries did a lot of damage to the B green boards. This is the reason I avoid “unknown” B boards altogether. It takes people with much more skills and experience than me to attempt a repair.

Edit: neither B board will work in this state, regardless of acid damage, unless you phoenix the board or mod it otherwise. This is due to the now lack of batteries.

 

[stt1]

It wouldn't hurt to get a soft bristle tooth brush, and get some contact cleaner in here.
I'd pull up each of those socketed chips one by one, scrub the contacts, and sockets.
Reseat carefully.

It's always worth a try.
I've seen crustier boards come alive with a little elbow grease, chemicals, and love.

Unfortunately the metal has rusted as well, a steel wire brush or sanding paper would be more like it...

From another board about 10 pins from that connector vanished after soft brush + washing.

Quite many eprom sockets should be completely changed due to corrosion from both boards. I also trashed already about 10 of those large chips due to rusted out pins.

 

[stt1]

The batteries did a lot of damage to the B green boards. This is the reason I avoid “unknown” B boards altogether. It takes people with much more skills and experience than me to attempt a repair.

Edit: neither B board will work in this state, regardless of acid damage, unless you phoenix the board or mod it otherwise. This is due to the now lack of batteries.

Yes, I know. They are pretty ruined and suicided anyway.

That's why I took the A boards with me and used miisalo's Phoenixed (green) B board to test with A boards. But that test wasn't good news either.

 

[Psyko-M1]

Unfortunately the metal has rusted as well, a steel wire brush or sanding paper would be more like it...

From another board the about 10 pins from that connector vanished after soft brush + washing.

Quite many eprom sockets should be completely changed due to corrosion from both boards. I also trashed already about 10 of those large chips due to rusted out pins.

Put a fork in er.
Maybe clean the boards up enough to make framed wall-art with Street Fighter posters or something.
That sucks.

 

[Raph_friend]

RIP B board.

 

[xodaraP]

The B boards are definitely dead. Exploded batteries are possible to fix in some cases but that's a huge amount of damage and multiple customs are dead as a result.

They were listed as junk so that is always a risk. If you can't see photos of the boards inside, expect it probably is legitimately junk.

If you bought the A boards from eBay I'd be filing a PayPal claim for the one listed as tested and working. If you are not able to do that for whatever reason then start by checking for bent pins on the interconnects.

My experience is sellers from certain countries sell their broken stuff as working with photos of a working board etc. and I avoid those countries entirely unless I know the seller.

In almost all cases these have been connected incorrectly, to a cheap power supply or they didn't know what they were doing. The voltage has been turned up far too high and killed the board. The A boards may be fixable but will need work.

 

[stt1]

Actually no surprises here. Just confirmed what I was thinking...

Might be time to just forget the loss of money, trash the stuff (or sell for whatever anyone offers, if any at all) and get another set. Unfortunately I have no time in near future for debugging these especially as I don't have a working B board either.

Too much time passed for filing a claim as well.

 

[xodaraP]

Are there any Finnish members who may be able to attempt a repair? Or at least within Europe?

I would keep the B board shells, clean them up a bit and you can definitely sell those.

And hold onto the A boards or sell for parts (a CPS2 A board has both CPS1 customs on it so can revive both a faulty CPS1 A and C board)

Not a total loss by any means. I would recommend finding a seller closer to you who can help with a replacement and hopefully you can see it working.

 

[stt1]

I can think about one or two, and at least the first one in my mind has already way too huge pile of stuff to repair

Yeah, not tossing the shells at least. Came also to my mind that maybe someone would be willing to offer good B boards without shell. Good hint those CPS1 customs, thanks.

I'll see in coming weeks/months. Unfortunately this drained quite much of the cash I had reserved for this project. Takes some time before I can try again. Also I need to negotiate what my friend wants to do now. Abandon this CPS2 multi completely or try again...

 

[xodaraP]

It really sucks getting burned but it happens. I can tell you it's happened to me more than once and I don't think there's anyone in the hobby it hasn't happened to.

All I can suggest it take the experience on board, you now know what to look for and avoid. Even if it takes a bit longer you'll get there.

 

[stt1]

Yeah, it's always a risk with any collectible stuff, have had some falls earlier with other things... Trying to be positive here that I didn't get burned with the M72 PCB. That would have sucked even more.

 

[Raph_friend]

I do repairs on CPS2 that don't boot even on CPS2 suicide tester, but when it's have alot of physical damage i do explain to the client that the work is not worth it. If he still insists, I charge per hour worked, even if the repair don't solve the problems. In the end of the day, it's better/cheaper to get a new B board.

 

[JoeAwesome]

For the A board that was tested with miisalo's phonex'ed B board, did you try another known working B board?

I had heard once of an A board that worked with everything in the guy's collection except one specific B board, and that B board worked with any other A board he tried.

It's a very specific circumstance, but I ask because maybe the A board isn't as lost as these B boards.

 

[xodaraP]

1 of the A boards doesn't boot at all, but the other may still be ok

 

[stt1]

I do repairs on CPS2 that don't boot even on CPS2 suicide tester, but when it's have alot of physical damage i do explain to the client that the work is not worth it. If he still insists, I charge per hour worked, even if the repair don't solve the problems. In the end of the day, it's better/cheaper to get a new B board.

Yeah, these are well beyond that point. It's just not worth all the effort. Realised that as soon as I opened the B board shells.

For the A board that was tested with miisalo's phonex'ed B board, did you try another known working B board?

I had heard once of an A board that worked with everything in the guy's collection except one specific B board, and that B board worked with any other A board he tried.

It's a very specific circumstance, but I ask because maybe the A board isn't as lost as these B boards.

Nope, none other B board available at the moment. And afaik, none nearby either.