Virtua Fighter 3 oddities - test switch / backed up data

[jkage]

Hi, first time posting here, I'm hoping someone has some info/help on this issue

A while ago I snagged up a VF3 board in unknown condition which came with the filter board and a harness attached to home-made Jamma adapter. One capacitor was broken off the ROM board, which I replaced with one the same value as the 3 others. I also noticed on the middle board (near the battery) the super cap (?) had 1 leg detached - I soldered it back on. I also replaced the flat CR2032. After this, naturally, I tried booting it up like any other arcade board I had before and a few internet searches (including this very forum) later I realized I needed 3.3v. I didn't have a capable PSU so long story short I adapted an ATX psu to supply 3.3V, 5V and GND, wired P1 controls for a Neo Geo pad and managed to boot the game successfully. But things appeared a bit weird:

• Credits text is garbled
• When you enter a fight the music plays at normal speed but the movement speed is halved
• Lifebars are all red, first successful hit ends the round in a win, there are MANY rounds in a fight
• Coinup number high
• High Scores -1s

At this point I thought maybe the backed up memory might have been corrupted/lost so I tried entering the service/test menu but neither those button(s) on the board nor shorting the pins at the filter end worked (reset and pause switches worked fine). Tried this for a while thinking I must have been doing something wrong and then it suddently registered and I was in the test menu. I noticed if I cleared "Backup Data Clear" then it would reset to normal, I could coin up and play normally. From this point on, I could access the test menu just fine everytime by pressing the button on the CPU board. On turning the power off I would have to repeat the process (get garbled credits text, wait until Test menu button registers (could be after 15mins or more), clear backup data, play normally)...

It is clear there is an issue with backed up data not holding but as of right now I can no longer access the test menu, tapping the switch, bridging it from the filter board, does nothing, even after fiddling with it for an hour. I can only stare at the attract mode as it mocks me

I'm not sure how to proceed here. Maybe I could take out the CPU board and trace the test/service switches perhaps to cold joint somewhere what was making contact when the board warmed up? Recap everything?

Thanks to anyone taking the time to read this.

 

[stj]

remove the supercap incase it's internally shorted - they all fail eventually
check the cr2032 is still good.
you dont need the supercap

 

[jkage]

remove the supercap incase it's internally shorted - they all fail eventually
check the cr2032 is still good.
you dont need the supercap

Thanks for the suggestion. I lifted 1 leg of the supercap so it is no longer closing the connection, also put in a fresh 3v battery but the issue still remains unchanged

 

[stj]

then you need to trace the battery+ to the ram to see where it's being stopped - if it's being stopped.

 

[jkage]

Will do. Its worth mentioning also that when I was able to get into the test menu I ran all tests and all returned success (including the back up ram one).

 

[stj]

backup ram is supplied by the psu when the machine is on.

 

[PaulWoodpross3r]

I own a Virtua Fighter 3 myself that I bought untested about 3 and a half months ago; however it just boots with a "pop" screen of random colors and then back to a black screen. I had replaced the CPU Board once with a "working" one and it gave the same error as when I first bought the stack. Disassembling the stack, I found there was some solder flux from attempts to reflow one of the special Sega SMD chips in it.
When the board boots, only these LEDs light up and blink (excuse the poor image quality; it was archived in a Discord I shared it to).

Meanwhile, a guy sold me a Sega Bass Fishing/GetBass set for quite inexpensive so worst case scenario that oughta do me.

As side story: I may convert the GetBass ROM Board to VF3TB since I have no means of playing that game due to the complex controls, and wiring that would probably be a pain unless I had the original control panel, or ideally, the Blast City cabinet itself.

Edit: I did check my voltages and I'm roughly at 3.0V and 5.1V. It's very well confirmed I have either bad CPU or Video board, more than likely video since I replaced the CPU board twice.

 

[mattsoft]

I own a Virtua Fighter 3 myself that I bought untested about 3 and a half months ago; however it just boots with a "pop" screen of random colors and then back to a black screen. I had replaced the CPU Board once with a "working" one and it gave the same error as when I first bought the stack. Disassembling the stack, I found there was some solder flux from attempts to reflow one of the special Sega SMD chips in it.
When the board boots, only these LEDs light up and blink (excuse the poor image quality; it was archived in a Discord I shared it to).

Meanwhile, a guy sold me a Sega Bass Fishing/GetBass set for quite inexpensive so worst case scenario that oughta do me.

As side story: I may convert the GetBass ROM Board to VF3TB since I have no means of playing that game due to the complex controls, and wiring that would probably be a pain unless I had the original control panel, or ideally, the Blast City cabinet itself.

Edit: I did check my voltages and I'm roughly at 3.0V and 5.1V. It's very well confirmed I have either bad CPU or Video board, more than likely video since I replaced the CPU board twice.

Just took my previously working VF3 board out of storage to play and I have the same issue. those same 3 LEDs blink and I get garbled or sometimes a white screen. Test button doesn't work. Sadness.

 

[PaulWoodpross3r]

Just took my previously working VF3 board out of storage to play and I have the same issue. those same 3 LEDs blink and I get garbled or sometimes a white screen. Test button doesn't work. Sadness.

Odd. I'd start pulling the stack to inspect it, but if cleaning anything doesn't help I would call Ken. I have called the dude so many times and he will give you so much good info.
I cleaned a Digital Sound Board from a Super GT that had scratchy fade out sounds and no Expert music. Soaking it with Blow Off Electronics Cleaner and compressed air did the trick luckily. I wouldn't recommend rubbing alcohol in these though because it can leave flux residue.
Do you have your board in a cage? And what kind of power supply do you use? I would strongly recommend you not run Model 3s outside of the cage without fans because from what I was told, the BGAs (in Step 2s) and components will overheat and somehow disrupt the solder contacts, causing faults in graphics. Speaking from experience here.

 

[mattsoft]

Odd. I'd start pulling the stack to inspect it, but if cleaning anything doesn't help I would call Ken. I have called the dude so many times and he will give you so much good info.
I cleaned a Digital Sound Board from a Super GT that had scratchy fade out sounds and no Expert music. Soaking it with Blow Off Electronics Cleaner and compressed air did the trick luckily. I wouldn't recommend rubbing alcohol in these though because it can leave flux residue.
Do you have your board in a cage? And what kind of power supply do you use? I would strongly recommend you not run Model 3s outside of the cage without fans because from what I was told, the BGAs (in Step 2s) and components will overheat and somehow disrupt the solder contacts, causing faults in graphics. Speaking from experience here.

Ran it outside of a cage with an ATX PSU. Voltages are at steady at +5 and +3.1 when running. Ya, guess I'll need to call Ken.

 

[Das Muel]

Sorry to necro but I'm having exactly this issue on my Virtua Fighter 3 rev a board. Corrupt text which matches the first post almost exactly, and my test button isn't working. Did you find out anything from Ken by any chance?

 

[nem]

How are running the board? Are you sure the test button is wired in correctly and physical button for it is OK?

I had similar weird issues with a VIrtua Cop. The free play text would be overlaid over the in-game HUD and it would start out with 50+ lives instead of 3. It would pass all the tests in the test menu. I swapped the rom board over to a different motherboard and it still had those same issues, so it had to be the rom board.

So my guesses would be CPU or ROM board fault. CPU board is an easy-ish swap, you could try that first.

 

[Das Muel]

How are running the board? Are you sure the test button is wired in correctly and physical button for it is OK?

I had similar weird issues with a VIrtua Cop. The free play text would be overlaid over the in-game HUD and it would start out with 50+ lives instead of 3. It would pass all the tests in the test menu. I swapped the rom board over to a different motherboard and it still had those same issues, so it had to be the rom board.

So my guesses would be CPU or ROM board fault. CPU board is an easy-ish swap, you could try that first.

Thanks for the quick reply.
It's being run via a supergun, powered by a Mean well QP-150-3A. Voltages are all good. I've spent a good few hours playing it with no issues in the past using an ATX PSU, but this fault developed recently and I was hoping the mean well would solve it. No dice, unfortunately.
As with the OP, I was somehow able to get into the test menu once the other day (just once) and when I initialised everything, it ran perfectly for an hour or two until I powered it down. When I tried it again the next morning, the problem was there again.
It's a weird one because it's clear that the board is capable of running normally. Perhaps I'll have to try out some replacement boards.

 

[mattsoft]

Sorry to necro but I'm having exactly this issue on my Virtua Fighter 3 rev a board. Corrupt text which matches the first post almost exactly, and my test button isn't working. Did you find out anything from Ken by any chance?

I ended up getting rid of the boards.

 

[waiji]

The cause of this problem is corrosion caused by liquid leaking from the 'c200' supercap.
'PIN22' of IC22 - 'PIN9' of IC33 - 'PIN1' of IC84 All three points must be electrically connected, but if any one of them is disconnected, it will fail with the symptoms mentioned.
If you check the short circuits of the three points I mentioned and connect them all with wires, the problem will be resolved.

 

[Das Muel]

Many thanks for the suggestion. I tried connecting those points with wire and it didn't seem to have any effect. I gave up for a day or two, then came back to it this morning and fully removed the C200 cap, cleaned the area up with contact cleaner, and it now appears to be running perfectly! In fact it seems to be more stable than I've ever seen it, probably thanks to the Meanwell PSU I'm using now. Thank you so much for your suggestion - I wouldn't have considered the C200 cap otherwise. Very happy.