Deco Multigame - Installation and Troubleshooting

[SCUBA King]

I cant even get the menu to come up, its not that the test tape doesnt work, I can't even get a menu to come up at all

@jacklick figured it out. I needed to double the bios image to run it on 2732.
Here is working ROM and BIOS for widel version testing.
Proven working on -8 slim stack.

 

[SCUBA King]

@jacklick figured it out. I needed to double the bios image to run it on 2732.
Here is working ROM and BIOS for widel version testing.
Proven working on -8 slim stack.

Now, being able to get the Widel code working, I could test my hardware.
I am still getting failure on Sound Test channels 1/2. i only get sounds from 3 and 4.
I swapped in another audio board and got the exact same results.
I am more confident that it is a hardware problem now, but do think it is weird that I have 2 sound boards that have the exact same failure, which makes me wonder if the failure is on a different board that is carrying over to the sound board.

Does anyone know where the sound test tape originates on the PCBs? I will get back into the shcematics soon.

Thanks for @jacklick help and everyone else who chimed in.
Will update as I find / figure out more.

 

[Darksoft]

Good news. If you want to teoubleshoot the peoblem, change all the PCBs one by one. You know it's not the sound PCB so try now a different one from the same type -3 or -8 and see how the test works out now. That's what I would do.

 

[SCUBA King]

Good news. If you want to teoubleshoot the peoblem, change all the PCBs one by one. You know it's not the sound PCB so try now a different one from the same type -3 or -8 and see how the test works out now. That's what I would do.

The only problem is, I have extra boards for 2 of them and already tried the switcharoo.

I am looking for an -8 slim BIO8 and a Mobo+cage to make a second stack.

 

[Darksoft]

The only problem is, I have extra boards for 2 of them and already tried the switcharoo.

I am looking for an -8 slim BIO8 and a Mobo+cage to make a second stack.

So you know that the problem in your setup is the BIO8, right?

 

[SCUBA King]

So you know that the problem in your setup is the BIO8, right?

I am 95.6% confident that is the case. I was going to look at BIO8 schematics and see WTF it could be for channel 1/2

 

[SCUBA King]

I am 95.6% confident that is the case. I was going to look at BIO8 schematics and see WTF it could be for channel 1/2

I just picked up an untested BIO8 PCB, will get it in, and see what happens. Will report back on success / failure once I can swap that last extra board into the mix and see if anything changes. (I am sure it will)

 

[SCUBA King]

Any chance anyone has done a repro on the Mobo for this -8 slimstack already? If not, I will prob do one so I can I get both these slim stacks running. Could prob 3-D print a pseudo-frame/cage for it also, will see what I come up with once I get the extra bio-8 to test.

 

[Darksoft]

Sounds promising....let us know how it goes.

 

[SCUBA King]

Picked up another bio8 slim.
Slapped it in with a couple shitty caps, got it to boot.

EXACTLY THE SAME PROBLEM. Missing 2 channels on test tape, audio test.

only things left imo are ribbon cable between boards or the mobo/interconnect board.

I shifted all boards up one slot (cage has 4, only need 3) to see if problem would travel, it did not.

I’ll tone out the ribbon and report back.

Any other ideas?

 

[jacklick]

I shifted all boards up one slot (cage has 4, only need 3) to see if problem would travel, it did not.

So after shifting boards up you were able to get all 4 sounds? If the problem did not travel doesn't that mean the problem went away? confused

 

[SCUBA King]

So after shifting boards up you were able to get all 4 sounds? If the problem did not travel doesn't that mean the problem went away? confused

Sorry. Problem did not move to different channels. Stayed the same.

 

[SCUBA King]

Sorry. Problem did not move to different channels. Stayed the same.

Here is the latest update on the Audio channels fiasco.
I have a slim stack, plays audio on 4/3 in test tape, silent on 1/2
I tracked down a second set of boards, same exact results.
I moved boards back one slot in cage, same exact results.

I helped another member get his slim stack running, he ran test, SAME EXACT RESULTS.

So in this video when dude gets audio in all 4 channels, (around 10:30) I think the only reasonable explanations are:
1. I am an idiot and am missing something simple on 3 stacks now
2. Dude in video has a problem with his rig (channel 1/2 sounds like error beeps to me, not game sounds)
3. **** Dude in video is running Phat stack and it plays test tape info differently than slim stack

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4FVJqwsqpY&t=4s



If anyone else has the DECO Multi running on a PHAT stack, if you can confirm all 4 channels are putting out audio it will help me stop buying up random, hard to find boards to do yet another test on what I now think, may be a fully operational deathstar.