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Time Crisis 3 Repair Next Steps?

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twiggy140

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I came into possession of a Time Crisis 3 machine with a system 246 main board with dongle, lacking a drive and a working CRT. Has a screen but no main board. I did have on hand an arcade machine conversion board, to take the 15khz video to HDMI and figured before I invest too much into things I don't need yet. I would get the 246 to boot into the game and view it on a monitor.

I got no video signals out when powering up, and noticed that the DVD drive I purchased does not light up on power up. (It does work in a PC) I took an O-scope and measured the video cabling, and have no signals present. At this point I figure the game is not booting, as the main PS2 board is at least getting the power it needs. 12V and 5.1V measured as far as I can go down the line. I did notice the optical audio connection is glowing red, so the board is powered at least.

At this point I don't know how to proceed with troubleshooting. From what I've read in other threads, the main board, dongle, or secondary board with the VGA/serial ports and whatnot, could be bad. I believe I read that the dongle holds all of the boot information. So I'm wondering if I pull the dongle, should I expect to see any video signals? Even if it's just a black screen? If anyone has any ways for me to narrow this down I would appreciate the guidance. If not, would the recommendation to buy a new system 246 if it can be found?

Thank you!
 
Game will boot to error, or red screen, without dongle, if I remember correctly? It's been a sec.

With working board and dongle it should boot to black or blue screen and eventually come up with a "......... now loading" in the upper left corner.
DVD drive does not spin up when 246 starts...246 runs through boot process, and then calls for DVD...so if your mobo is bad, it's never getting to the point where it calls for the DVD drive, for it to flash.


Sys246 mobo's can certainly be found.

Regarding the monitor, the monitor in those are USUALLY Sanwas 27z21Cs. They have a cable that goes from 15pin DSub at the 246 motherboard, plus a power cable and degauss cable, to a 12pin connector at the chassis, complete with resistors built into the cabling at the connector. I believe those resistors are to adjust video voltage levels from the 246 to the monitor....but someone else may need to chime in there.

Hope that info helps.
 
bagheera369 said:
Game will boot to error, or red screen, without dongle, if I remember correctly? It's been a sec.

With working board and dongle it should boot to black or blue screen and eventually come up with a "......... now loading" in the upper left corner.
DVD drive does not spin up when 246 starts...246 runs through boot process, and then calls for DVD...so if your mobo is bad, it's never getting to the point where it calls for the DVD drive, for it to flash.


Sys246 mobo's can certainly be found.

Regarding the monitor, the monitor in those are USUALLY Sanwas 27z21Cs. They have a cable that goes from 15pin DSub at the 246 motherboard, plus a power cable and degauss cable, to a 12pin connector at the chassis, complete with resistors built into the cabling at the connector. I believe those resistors are to adjust video voltage levels from the 246 to the monitor....but someone else may need to chime in there.

Hope that info helps.
Click to expand...
This is helpful, for sure. I'm fairly confident then, that I'm looking at a dead mother board. I'll start searching for a new one, and then I'll have something to test against. Then I can see about repairing this one. I've brought back system 11 MPU's back from the trash pile before. So, it might be fun to see if I can dig in a bit deeper.

Thanks for the guidance! I appreciate it!
 
Hi, I have one 246 mobo for sale which I putted for sale on www.ukvac.com as I am UK located but if you are ok spending + 100$ for shipping to US and taxes, let me know. I will PM you link to the thread.
 
BilonFullHDemon said:
Hi, I have one 246 mobo for sale which I putted for sale on www.ukvac.com as I am UK located but if you are ok spending + 100$ for shipping to US and taxes, let me know. I will PM you link to the thread.
Click to expand...

@twiggy140 - Before you have to drop that 100$ for shipping/taxes, I probably have a spare working pcb.

I wish you luck with the repair. If I can chip in any other information, please give me a shout, and I will try to do so.

@BilonFullHDemon - Not trying to undercut you, that's just an asskicking to take for overseas shipment, if you can dodge it.
 
bagheera369 said:
@twiggy140 - Before you have to drop that 100$ for shipping/taxes, I probably have a spare working pcb.

I wish you luck with the repair. If I can chip in any other information, please give me a shout, and I will try to do so.

@BilonFullHDemon - Not trying to undercut you, that's just an asskicking to take for overseas shipment, if you can dodge it.
Click to expand...
No problem. Overseas posting prices SUCKS.
 
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