Konami Cobra System Disassembly for Archive

[chacal231077]

Hi!

There, I finally found my Holy Grail after 25 years of searching

I said I would retire the day I found it, bet kept at 47 years old

Unfortunately, it is not functional, the Graphics Card BGA cracking PCB bending by heat.
To know that there is a 1 in 5 chance that it will work when you have one.

As there are very few high resolution photos on the NET, I decided to share an Album, to bring the Legend of this Dream System to life.

I join the Documentation and the Art Set later

Konami Cobra System Album

 

[chacal231077]

 

[chacal231077]

 

[chacal231077]

 

[chacal231077]

 

[ekorz]

To know that there is a 1 in 5 chance that it will work when you have one.

I would put that at 0 in 5 chance...

 

[chacal231077]

 

[chacal231077]

 

[chacal231077]

I would put that at 0 in 5 chance...

Yes also i think

 

[ShootTheCore]

Sounds like the same type of poor BGA solder that kills Sega Hikaru boards if anyone breathes on them. I hope someone eventually works out a cost-effective way of reballing and resoldering these boards.

 

[Hammy]

Wu-Shu 2?
I know you will dump this to be sure, this stuff on hard drives are always worth preservation

Hopefully Wu-Shu 1 gets found some day...

 

[chacal231077]

Hi! Hammy

I'm glad you reacted to my post,

I had the impression that everyone was making fun of it.
Wouinnnn!!!

Yet I am proud to put a real photographic face to this system of legend.

I don't Now ,but I think it's the first Wu-Shu see serial number

I would do a dump with dd on Ubuntu

I will scan the Japanese manual in PDF

I even updated a photo of the system on its Wikipedia

I would like to do the same thing on the Arcade Otaku Wiki

but I don't understand anything about the editing menu

 

[chacal231077]

Sounds like the same type of poor BGA solder that kills Sega Hikaru boards if anyone breathes on them. I hope someone eventually works out a cost-effective way of reballing and resoldering these boards.

Hi! ShootTheCore

Yes I hope so

Doing a Reflow on this type of hardware is not worth it, it's crap, it's a fragile system

Reflow on BGA technology is the work of the poor

You burn out too many small transistors and one day your repair will no longer hold.

Anyone who has done this for example on the PS3/Xbox 360 or even on the Namco System 357, sooner or later it will fail.

The only safest way to do this is complete reballing with real company equipment (not from Aliexpress) you have to combine 2 techniques, the hot air station & infrared (allows you not to burn out the transistors in the middle of the silicon chip), all this with temperature probes which monitor the work.

 

[Hammy]

Hi! Hammy

I'm glad you reacted to my post,

Yet I am proud to put a real photographic face to this system of legend.

I don't Now ,but I think it's the first Wu-Shu see serial number

I would do a dump with dd on Ubuntu

It's always nice to see rare hardware!
It is just nasty hardware to work with - i remember @ekorz having big issues with his ones...

"745" is not known?
"645" is Wu-Shu 2

I think it maybe something else?!?!? I would think Wu-Shu 1 would be an lower number?

Only 2 sets are dumped:
https://github.com/mamedev/mame/blob/master/src/mame/konami/cobra.cpp

I will scan the Japanese manual in PDF

What was the manual included?

 

[chacal231077]

The manual was not included I bought everything separately.


I was browsing Yahoo auctions for 2 months and almost burned my eyes out.
I bought all the goodies, sticker manual, etc.

 

[chacal231077]

It's always nice to see rare hardware!
It is just nasty hardware to work with - i remember @ekorz having big issues with his ones...

"745" is not known?
"645" is Wu-Shu 2

I think it maybe something else?!?!? I would think Wu-Shu 1 would be an lower number?

Only 2 sets are dumped:
https://github.com/mamedev/mame/blob/master/src/mame/konami/cobra.cpp


What was the manual included?

Maybe LIGHTNING LEGEND ~DAIGO NO DAIBOUKEN lol

 

[Hammy]

I don't think , but i guess we will know when it's dumped, it's at least a new revision

Also mame lists Wu-Shu 1 as 645 and Wu-Shu 2 as 645 , i don't think a PCB of Wu-Shu 1 has been seen so it can't be the same for both?

@ekorz maybe knows a bit more?

 

[ekorz]

I don't think , but i guess we will know when it's dumped, it's at least a new revision

Also mame lists Wu-Shu 1 as 645 and Wu-Shu 2 as 645 , i don't think a PCB of Wu-Shu 1 has been seen so it can't be the same for both?

@ekorz maybe knows a bit more?

I only know I won't be bidding on another one of these dumb boardsets unless one turns up local to me

 

[twistedsymphony]

Looking at these photos I'm seeing an RTC in addition to the HDD. first thing I'd try with getting this running is replacing both of those with known good working ones.

 

[WangDrum]

I have been thinking about making a BGA socket because of frequent failures of BGA chips on model 3 step2.0 graphics boards.
This may be fixed by socketing the Cobra board's BGA chips.

https://www.advanced.com/products/bga-socketing-systems/socket-adapter-systems