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Help with SAMMY SETA VISCO (SSV) with 4 in 1 multi arcade board – garbled graphics, sound OK

HardAzRockz

HardAzRockz

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Hi all,





I recently purchased an SSV (Sammy / Seta / Visco) arcade board with 4 in 1 Multi from eBay (seller based in HK). Unfortunately, when I power it on, I’m getting garbled graphics on screen — however, sound and music are working fine.





Here’s what I’ve done so far to troubleshoot:





  • Re-seated the ROM board several times.
  • Removed, cleaned, and re-seated all socketed chips (including the DIP sockets).
  • Carefully inspected both boards — no visible damage or corrosion.
  • Noticed the system board has a slight sag in the middle. I lightly pressed on each chip while powered on to check for intermittent contact — no change.
  • Checked for obvious broken traces or bent pins — nothing found.







The seller claims the board was tested “multiple times” before shipping.





Questions:





  • Could this be an issue with the ROM board or the graphics-related custom chips?
  • Any recommended next steps before I request a return?
  • Is sagging on SSV boards common, and could it cause this kind of graphics corruption?







Any advice or things to check would be greatly appreciated before I go through the hassle of returning it.





Thanks in advance!

Here a link to a video demonstrating the issue.

View: https://youtu.be/FF0VvSIou8s?si=MLXfld99EQuIyiM3


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Last edited:
I tried pressing on several chips on the multi as well but not difference. I did notice the solder on the SMD chips was a little shoddy. I reflowed a couple that looked suspect but no change. The problem is that the system board was purchased in together with the multi and I cannot rule out that either. Any particular ICs I should focus on either board?
 
HardAzRockz said:
I tried pressing on several chips on the multi as well but not difference. I did notice the solder on the SMD chips was a little shoddy. I reflowed a couple that looked suspect but no change. The problem is that the system board was purchased in together with the multi and I cannot rule out that either. Any particular ICs I should focus on either board?
Click to expand...
Not sure on the mobo, I was using my working Storm Blade board at the time. But if you can't verify that your mobo is fully working, then there might be a deeper problem than the multi.
On the multi I reflowed all the surface mounted flash chips to fix mine.

1755107804887.png



I've since sold the multi that I fixed and returned my board back to the original Storm Blade.
 
the S# are for sound, and the ROM-P is the game program-code, the socketed chips are addressing logic so if it's running and has sound then those are all good.

the A# B# C# D# are the graphics ROMs, along with the logic ICs between them and the connectors... so if it's just graphics problems I'd start there.
 
Yeah you gotta verify if that mobo is fully working. Hard to determine what the issue is between the two boards.
 
There are two versions of the SSV motherboard I know of, STA-0001 and the later STA-0001B which had more RAM.

I don't know anything about the multi, but it's possible it was designed to only work on the B revision.
 
ProbablyBobably said:
STA-0001 and the later STA-0001B which had more RAM.
Click to expand...
both versions had the same amount of RAM. AFAIK only Twin Eagle II used more RAM (and Ultra-X-Weapon, though it was only released as a single PCB unit) the RAM chips are socketed so you can upgrade fairly easily.

That wouldn't be the case here, too little RAM would typically cause a no-boot scenario, not graphics problems. The multi tends to include upgrade RAM since it include Ultra-X-Weapon in the games list.

HardAzRockz said:
Reflowed every IC on the multi but no dice. If I had a known working rom board or system board I could narrow it down.
Click to expand...
Check the connectors as well, really it's just one and maybe part of a second that are used for graphics, should be pretty obvious from the traces.
solder joints on those and look over the pins to make sure nothing is out of alignment or broken.

if you have a friend with a working SSV game so you can swap mobos and confirm that yours works with their game board or your multi works with their mobo that would be ideal.

another thing you can do is if you have a logic tester you can check each of the data pins on the graphics roms to see if you get activity, if you find any that aren't moving that's a clue that can lead you to the culprit.
 
There is a compatibility issue between the boards, but my mistake if it's not a RAM issue.

https://github.com/mamedev/mame/blob/master/src/mame/seta/ssv.cpp

"There is an older main board STA-0001 which is not compatible with _some_ of the
newer games. The actual PCB will plug in, but the games will not boot up, instead displaying some
kind of debug screen full of numbers."

And you're right this doesn't appear to be what's described here.
 
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