CPS3 with Darksoft UltraBIOS boot issues

[tDRG]

I have a CPS3 with the DarkSoft UltraBIOS, with a SCSI2SD 5.2 from inertial/rabbit hole. All but two of the Simms are original, the other 2 are AJE. The cartridge is an original CPS3 that's been modded. I'm testing on a Blast City that runs CPS2, MVS, and Naomi with no problems. On the first few attempts yesterday, the screen was black, even after setting the voltage to 5.00 and 3.33. When I connected it today, 3rd Strike started up without issues. Audio and video seemed fine, but I didn't try playing. I tried again later after playing some other games and I got the black screen again. I cleaned the contacts with q tips and alcohol, they were pretty dirty. When I tried again, I got to this screen:

I think it was frozen, though. There are some pixels that are off, and I couldn't get to the Darksoft menu. I tried a few times after this and it was back to the black screen.

Any ideas? Pins not making contact properly?

 

[GeeDee]

I used to have a set with an older SCSI2SD that would occasionally not get past the load screen and/or freeze mid-game because the SD card slot wasn't soldered into place very well from the factory, and apparently that was a pretty common issue. Just out of curiosity, try pressing and holding down on the SD card slot while you boot and see if that has any effect for you.

There's been a couple different revisions of the board now, but even though I've personally never had any issues, other users have reported power issues with using a SCSI2SD with a blast city. Reading/writing will cause the power to fluctuate iirc, so running it strictly on EXACTLY 5v may not be the best move with that board. Remember that you're powering that board by just the IDE cable and not the usual 5v/12v harness that the cps3 used with the og cd drive, so you may have to crank it just a little higher to compensate. I would read through the SCSI2SD thread to find out more about that.

Also yeah, pretty common practice to make sure you clean your Simms contacts, as well as the carts.

 

[tDRG]

Awesome, great suggestions, thanks GeeDee.

I used to have a set with an older SCSI2SD that would occasionally not get past the load screen and/or freeze mid-game because the SD card slot wasn't soldered into place very well from the factory, and apparently that was a pretty common issue. Just out of curiosity, try pressing and holding down on the SD card slot while you boot and see if that has any effect for you.

Yeah, I think I read about that and it was a more common issue with the ones from Italy or whatever. I'll certainly give it a shot with mine though.

There's been a couple different revisions of the board now, but even though I've personally never had any issues, other users have reported power issues with using a SCSI2SD with a blast city.

Yeah, I did see someone in the SCSI2SD thread have issues with the 5.2 on a Blast, but they fixed it by dialing in the voltages properly.

Reading/writing will cause the power to fluctuate iirc, so running it strictly on EXACTLY 5v may not be the best move with that board. Remember that you're powering that board by just the IDE cable and not the usual 5v/12v harness that the cps3 used with the og cd drive, so you may have to crank it just a little higher to compensate. I would read through the SCSI2SD thread to find out more about that.

I'll take another pass through that thread and see if I can find recommended levels and try upping them a bit.

Also yeah, pretty common practice to make sure you clean your Simms contacts, as well as the carts.

Yeah good plan, I'll give those a cleaning tomorrow.

 

[Anselmo]

I got a CD drive I can send you if you want to try the cd drive to rule out the scsi2sd. You'll just have to burn the cd image

 

[tDRG]

I got a CD drive I can send you if you want to try the cd drive to rule out the scsi2sd. You'll just have to burn the cd image

Thanks! I have a CD drive too though, I'll give it a try if a cleaning and messing with the SCSI2SD don't do the trick.

 

[tDRG]

Cleaned things up, still having problems with one of the 64 MB Simms. I cleaned the contacts on the UltraBIOS cart and it's booted fine every time since then. But every time it's booted, I get the "There is not enough memory installed on the PCB. Turn off power, and install more memory before restarting." error. I went into the Darksoft menu by holding 1P start at boot, then in Flash Memory, it only lists 5 Simms; Simm 2 is Intel/SHARP, and Simms 3-6 are FUJITSU. Nothing in Simm 1. I took them all out, cleaned the contacts, and reinserted them; same issue. I took Simms 1 and 2 out, cleaned them again, and same error when I put them back in. I took 1 & 2 out again, swapped them, and now Simm 2 isn't detected. So it has to be a problem with the Simm, right? Here it is:

Is there anything noticeably wrong with it? Are the original Capcom 64 MB Simms prone to dying? I don't think the SCSI2SD is causing any issues, it's loaded through the "Now reading the CD-ROM. Please wait..." screen every time on the way to the Darksoft menu. And when I try to write a new game, all of the games are listed, choosing one just throws the not enough memory error. It also gave the memory error when I tried booting with nothing attached to the SCSI port.

 

[tDRG]

Maybe it does detect the Simm. The values are constant, they don't fluctuate like they do in Onboard or Simm 7.

 

[kazuo]

Did you measure those voltages while under load? I get ~4.9V with a CD-ROM drive and it still plays perfectly fine for me. Makes me think something else is going on and it isn't the voltage unless you're seriously undervolted. Are you sure the SCSI2SD is configured properly? Try it with the CD-ROM and confirm you have ~5V, then try again. I don't think 3.3V matters for this board since it's JAMMA and not JVS.

If you keep having issues, buy a can of deoxit, bathe all the connectors and contacts, then try again. If you still have issues after that, most likely something is wrong with one of the SIMMs.

 

[nonosto]

what's this glue or cut way?

swap with the second 64mb simms and retry the test.

 

[kazuo]

Oh wow, nice catch, I completely missed that! Might be a bad trace under there.

 

[tDRG]

Did you measure those voltages while under load?

Yep.

I get ~4.9V with a CD-ROM drive and it still plays perfectly fine for me. Makes me think something else is going on and it isn't the voltage unless you're seriously undervolted.

Yeah, I agree.

Are you sure the SCSI2SD is configured properly?

I think so. I have the right version of the ROM set on the SD card. Would I be able to see the list of games if it was configured incorrectly? I can't load a new game because of the not enough memory error.

Try it with the CD-ROM and confirm you have ~5V, then try again.

Yeah, I haven't tried anything with the actual CD-ROM drive, I'll mess with it today.

If you keep having issues, buy a can of deoxit, bathe all the connectors and contacts, then try again. If you still have issues after that, most likely something is wrong with one of the SIMMs.

Sounds good, I'll keep cleaning. Does the Flash Memory status of that one Simm indicate that it's the one with the issue? Or is it normal to have one with no brand name?

what's this glue or cut way?

Yeah, I noticed that. It was on the Simm when I got it. It's a very thin layer of glue, I think. Here's a better picture:

I just cleaned it off, the traces underneath look fine:

swap with the second 64mb simms and retry the test.

Yes, I had tried that. Here's the original Flash Memory reading:

And here it is after I swapped Simm 1 with Simm 2:

I cleaned the Simm again, I'll try again now.

 

[BlinG]

If you're swapping the simms between slot 1 and 2 and the culprit simm keeps showing undetected, you probably have a bad 64mb simm and it needs to be replaced or repaired.

 

[GeeDee]

As much as it might seem like a pain in the ass to do, The traces on the simms aren't all that bad to eyeball and test continuity between. Always a chance one of the actual memory chips or components could be bad, but, still, just to rule out trace issues, would be worth it to break out the multimeter, grab a drink and go to town.

 

[tDRG]

As much as it might seem like a pain in the ass to do, The traces on the simms aren't all that bad to eyeball and test continuity between. Always a chance one of the actual memory chips or components could be bad, but, still, just to rule out trace issues, would be worth it to break out the multimeter, grab a drink and go to town.

Worth a shot! So on the back side, test continuity between the pins on the bottom and the holes that they lead to?

 

[GeeDee]

yup, though of course you wont be able to see the traces that lead underneath the memory, you can use This Post as a pinout reference for the 64mb simm. The 32/128 pinouts are different from the 64mbs.

 

[tDRG]

yup, though of course you wont be able to see the traces that lead underneath the memory, you can use This Post as a pinout reference for the 64mb simm. The 32/128 pinouts are different from the 64mbs.

awesome, thanks!

 

[nonosto]

I am sorry about this pain, when I played with it no issue, working perfectly. If you dont fix it say me for refund the dead simms (ask darksoft maybe have it.).

 

[tDRG]

I am sorry about this pain, when I played with it no issue, working perfectly. If you dont fix it say me for refund the dead simms (ask darksoft maybe have it.).

Thanks for the kind offer, but I think it's all set now . I cleaned the glue off the back of the Simm, and cleaned the contacts a few more times with a pencil eraser and more q-tips & alcohol. The Simm was detected, but when I booted the game, nothing loaded. I reflashed 3rd Strike from my SCSI2SD, and that worked with no problems. The game booted after that, and I played through to the end with no issues. Here's the memory check and the Simm check:

I ran both multiple times, and Simm 2 was only NG during the memory check, but Simm 1 was NG during both. Is that normal?

 

[GeeDee]

Glad you got it working. Yeah, I forget where the exact post was, but there's something about the darksoft bios that makes that first simm always come up as NG like in that last pic. It's normal

 

[psychopat]

Thanks for the kind offer, but I think it's all set now . I cleaned the glue off the back of the Simm, and cleaned the contacts a few more times with a pencil eraser and more q-tips & alcohol. The Simm was detected, but when I booted the game, nothing loaded. I reflashed 3rd Strike from my SCSI2SD, and that worked with no problems. The game booted after that, and I played through to the end with no issues. Here's the memory check and the Simm check:

I ran both multiple times, and Simm 2 was only NG during the memory check, but Simm 1 was NG during both. Is that normal?

Hi, I am having the same exact issue with the CPS3 Superbios standard SH-2. For 3rd strike loaded from my SCSI2SD I get the SIMM1 and SIMM2 NG in the memory check and the SIMM1 NG in the Simm Check menu. I played the game for a long time and everything seems to play normally.

Have you ever had any issues since then? I was afraid something was wrong with my 64m simms.

Thanks