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Different Behavior with 4.01 and 4.02 DIMM Firmware

notsonic

notsonic

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I've noticed some weird and annoying behavior with my two DIMMs. One has 4.01, and one has 4.02 firmware. I'm using a Naomi 2 with a multi bios I burned many years ago, and I'm sending the games with TransferGame.exe.

I have noticed that the different dimms want different regions set or I get the "game unacceptable by main board" error, which is incredibly annoying since you have to go through the transfer process all over again to find out what bios it wants.

I don't have particularly good notes, but one example is Lupin the Typing wants the JP bios with the 4.01 dimm and export bios with the 4.02 dimm.

Is this known/expected? Should I update my bios and dumps and go from there? Should I update the 4.01 dimm to 4.02?
 
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4.01 is the highest official DIMM firmware.

4.02 and 4.03 are both hacked/patched firmwares. technically speaking unless we know which firmware file you flashed we have no idea what these firmwares actually are because there is no "official" releases above 4.01, and people making these can number them however they want. However, for a long time there was a 4.02 version that most people used which was simply 4.01 but patched to allow CF booting from any CF card and not just the official Sega cards. So there's a good chance if you're using 4.02, that's what you're using.

I have no clue what your 4.03 firmware is, or what it has been modified to do.

if you're only net-booting and not running CF cards then there is no reason not to just use the official 4.01 firmware. Heck, I have a few NetDIMMs with 3.17 firmware which run just fine for NetBooting. I believe the only difference between 3.17 and 4.01 is the inclusion of CF boot support.
 
i think 4.03 has the MIL-CD patches from Dreamcast in it
 
I apologize, I'm off by .01. It's 4.01 and 4.02.

The 4.01 one I flashed myself quite a few years ago. 4.02 came from a Hong Kong ebay seller.
 
I think that changing the bios was a red herring and the only thing that was different was trying again.

I tried to boot Lupin the Shooting Typing 5 times on the 4.02 dimm, each time was a cold start to the checking network screen except otherwise noted. I have no battery in the dimm.
usa bios, error 31
jpn bios (booted with a memory check, then rebooted checking network) error 31
exp bios, error 31
jpn bios, good
exp bios, good

Voltages while running the game are 3.29, 5.04, and 12.10.
 
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IIRC Lupin the Shooting will normally only work on a JPN bios.

looking at my notes that game also requies that coin meters are connected or spoofed
 
I gotta pay more attention to what I'm typing. I meant Lupin the Typing, not Shooting.
I've definitely got the dips set to export and it's working. I'm gonna burn the newer multi bios once I remember how to use my burner again.

I do have both of my coin meter lines spoofed with 120ohm resistors, which I've confirmed works (Kof 13 wouldn't boot until I spoofed p1 and p2, I originally only had p1 spoofed.)
 
I burned the fixed bioses and now the 4.02 dimm sometimes gives me "error 32: dimm memory is not enough" on boot, like before even trying to send it a game.

I don't think this is necessarily tied to the bios, just coincidence. Seems like removing the ram and rebooting a bunch of times it eventually works. I'm gonna try to clean the ram slot and see if its more reliable.
 
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Low voltages, flaky motherboard or dimm would be my guesses.
 
nem said:
Low voltages, flaky motherboard or dimm would be my guesses.
Click to expand...
Are these low? 3.29, 5.04, and 12.10.

Mobo seems reliable with cart games, my other net dimm, and gd games with my non net dimm. Seems like the hong kong special dimm is the likely culprit.
 
Where are you measuring the voltages from? Ideally you would want to measure them from the DIMM. Carts sometimes have pads on the PCBs for measuring, I can't remember if the DIMM cart has them.
 
I was measuring at the JVS power connectors on the motherboard. I'll check the dimm pcb for reasonable spots.

Also I can't seem to get Rhythm Heaven to work. It reboots and gives the not enough memory error with both dimms. I've booted VF4 FT on both of these dimms so I'm not sure what the problem is.

Edit: just realized vf4 ft is only 256mb. I have a single 512mb stick in each and transfergame.exe is showing them as only 256mb. It never ends.

Edit 2: The 4.01 "good" dimm does only have a 256mb stick in it. The new 4.02 dimm has 512 but is the one giving me problems all along. I cleaned the stick and ram slots and now it's reporting 512mb. Rhythm Heaven looks like its working. So.. hopefully it was just dirty ram slots.

Edit 3: the 4.02 dimm is coming up with "error 32 dimm memory is not enough" again after leaving it off for a few hours.

Edit 4:
4.01 dimm continues to be reliable. 4.02 dimm continued to be flaky on cold starts.
I cleaned the ram with an eraser and the slot with Deoxit, so far so good! (but I'll update tomorrow after a cold start.)

Also, pro tip. I expected Deoxit to be like automotive brake cleaner where it blasts out at a gallon per second and then magically disappears like it never existed. Instead it's more like wd40 where its a bit oily and it doesn't evaporate right away. Also don't get it on your clothes.

And as a side note, I forgot to put in the zero pic, and the game I was testing (Dolphin Blue, so an Atomiswave game) booted just fine.

Edit 5: It seems to consistently fail the crc check on cold boot and for subsequent retries without power cycling. Next time it's in this state I'm going to try to do the ram test. I also bought new ram to try.
 
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what I did with the ram slots I simply changed them since the original memories that come in the dimm are a little thicker than the normal ones that one buys (Kingston, Nec, etc); They are loose, install a 512mb memory and that's it, it did not give me an insufficient memory error again, the other thing you can do apart from cleaning the slot, try to move the pins closed a little more and thus the memory is tighter

Pd: I took the SD-RAM socket from an old motherboard.
 
I ended up getting a new (to me) 512mb stick on eBay and it works first time every time. I didn't take note of the brand.

That's interesting about replacing the slots though.
 
do you have a link to the ebay item?
it may have a picture with the make & speed shown
 
I got the ram from this ebay listing, which is non specific: https://www.ebay.com/itm/330480793925

PXL_20220311_022557177 (1).jpgPXL_20220311_022549739 (1).jpg
 
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