Need Help with Neo Geo AES 3-5 board - works only when lifting it from the second joypad port

[aarkay14]

Hi All,

May I ask you to help me out, my friend got this neo geo AES from Japan but it is not working, it only works when I lift the board just a little bit by holding the player 2 port. So basically, there is no sync in the output when I turn it on, the red LED glows and there is nothing, as soon as I lift the board holding the player 2 port it turns on and shows the pure white screen (UNIBios is installed with a socket). Its like there is no activity until I lift the board, once it shows the white screen then if I place it down and hit reset then the white screen is gone and there is no video output anymore until I lift it.

I checked all pins from the BIOS and the CPU and all of them beep and show continuity. Is there anything else that I can check, this can be due to some trace rot but I have checked so many traces on nearly all the chips and all of them show continuity. I am unable to find where is the issue. Please let me know what can I check.

I also tried posting on Neo-geo.com but I dont know what happened in 2020, they stopped sending me emails on my birthday and also I am not getting a password reset email anymore. Its like the world reset after Covid 19.

Kind regards,
Rama

 

[leonk]

Hi Rama. You should post this in the Neo Geo group and not arcade group.

I would guess that the problem is the BIOS. All AES BIOS chips are soldered to the PCB, and it has to be removed and and socket installed. The copper around the chips holes is very fragile compared to other systems of that era, and it's very common for someone who doesn't have the right equipment or knowledge to break them.

I'm guessing that you have a broken trace under the socket, or a trace that makes a beep but is not strong enough to pass the signal.

 

[aarkay14]

Hi Rama. You should post this in the Neo Geo group and not arcade group.

I would guess that the problem is the BIOS. All AES BIOS chips are soldered to the PCB, and it has to be removed and and socket installed. The copper around the chips holes is very fragile compared to other systems of that era, and it's very common for someone who doesn't have the right equipment or knowledge to break them.

I'm guessing that you have a broken trace under the socket, or a trace that makes a beep but is not strong enough to pass the signal.

Thank you Leon! I just came back to this after a long time again, I am going to add patch wires to this the BIOS socket one by one and see what happens! At this point I am not sure which trace is broken. Thank you again!