SNK Neo Geo MV4 5v Mod / Capacitors (Re-cap) / Backup RAM Fault / Headphone Sound Output Mod

[@TheHighlander71]

I keep reminding myself that you're working on the floor. I always find that extremely difficult. But t makes me appreciate your videos even more.

[@GadgetUK164]

Yeah, I have a table - just can't get out of that 'bedroom electronics' frame of working lol. Not the best way or best place but I guess I work that way due to habit. =D

[@TheHighlander71]

Haha...I always get fed up so quickly working on the ground. I must be made of rubber..haha

[@71dembonesTV]

5:49- I do the same when replacing caps; wiggle out one side at a time and don't be in too much of a hurry. I've had a special bit of frustration working with some newer circuit boards and lead free solder. makes you have a whole new appreciation for working on older electronics! And the all important ESR! Often overlooked but always important. It doesn't matter if you have proper capacitance if the resistance is sky high!!

[@GadgetUK164]

Yes, you are right =D One thing I have found time and again though - the ESR and capacitance are related, ie. when the capacitance is out, the ESR is too, and vice versa.

[@71dembonesTV]

+GadgetUK164 True, although it seems I've seen bad ESR on a cap that tested good capacitance-wise. but, perhaps it was flaky equipment or a flaky me at that moment in time! Now, I have a pair of those tweezers that test capacitance (plus a Diode test and a couple other handy features) and I usually track down the bad caps with that

[@71dembonesTV]

Lovely video! These arcade machines always fascinate me! My buddy has a single slot MVS cabinet with a decent quality multicart as well as some classic originals like Metal Slug 4. I popped open that MS 4 cartridge and just had to laugh when I saw that it had about as many ICs and as much surface area as 2 SNES' !!!!

[@GadgetUK164]

Hehe, yeah - the carts are a little insane lol. There's nothing else quite like MVS carts =D

[@boulderdashc6425]

Well done great work Gadgetuk.

[@discoHR]

I've recapped my C64 recently and used the "pull from the other side" method. One of the ground vias ended up being turned inside and blocking the hole, I guess I was pulling too soon and the solder wasn't completely melted. I could even hear the squeaking sound as I pulled the cap from the other side. After that, I couldn't clear the hole no matter what I did, even the wick didn't help. Then I purchased a desoldering gun and finally got a cleared hole using desoldering gun first and wicking afterwards.

[@GadgetUK164]

Yes, temperature is key when that happens! I did end up using my desoldering station for a couple of caps because the 15w iron just wasn't enough!

[@TheMcflyster]

Thank you for a great upload! Im always watching your videos and always looking forward to the next.

[@GadgetUK164]

Thanks =D Much appreciated!

[@FelipeBudinich]

The PCB on MVS boards is so thick that I haven't had a need for a desoldering station for these. I'll eventually get one just in case I ever need to remove a Mask ROM or any "many legged" component, but to remove caps it is not necessary. I use a flush cutter to cut the legs on caps from the component side, and then I use the iron on the component side and gently pull with tweezers from the other side to remove the legs, and finally I use a desoldering braid dipped in flux to remove excess solder.

[@FelipeBudinich]

By the way, I don't mean to imply that a desoldering station is not optimal. The aim of my comment is to encourage people getting started (or thinking about getting started) in electronics to just get going, it's obviously better to have all the nice tools, but you don't need to buy every tool on day one just to start learning and doing simple maintenance, mods or repair work. You can get started with less than 100 USD worth of equipment, you really just need a inexpensive multimeter to check for continuity, a solder gun with a fine tip (I use a battery powered one, the Hakko FX 901, with AA eneloops), flux paste, acid free solder and a wet rag to keep your solder gun tip clean. You can get better tools over time as you need them, and the great thing is that you can hand down your intro equipment to someone else that wants to get started.

[@GadgetUK164]

Yes, most of the stuff I tend to do on my channel is done with a cheap 15W iron and a manual desolder pump =D

[@FlashGordonMurr]

Man I just love your video's BRILLIANT! I learn so much watching them. Thx. :)

[@GadgetUK164]

Thanks, comments like this are what keep me doing them! If there's nothing useful in my videos there's little point doing them I guess! =D

[@volodimirkun]

Hey Man! I love this type of videos. they make me learn something each time... :)

[@GadgetUK164]

Thanks, much appreciated and glad you found something useful =D

[@71dembonesTV]

11:10 - I have attempted precisely this with varying results. At the moment, I have 3 N64 rumble paks that were freebies. All of them got bad battery corrosion and I've found multiple broken traces just before the connector pins. This method hasn't work so well on those; I think there's just too much of the original trace gone

[@GadgetUK164]

Yeah, I do tend to just use a proper bridge wire for those types of failure. I just got a little lazy with this one because it was such a small nick in the trace.

[@71dembonesTV]

+GadgetUK164 Seems like I'll have to do the same if I want to save those rumble paks. quite a bit of fidgety work to breathe new life into $25 worth of N64 accessories LOL

[@vashtanarada3294]

HAMEG FTW! :D

[@bray8916]

This is cool. I'm always interested on these Neo repair videos. I have a 4 slot somewhere, the smaller one with the controller ports. I have a 2 slot with I think a Z80 error, but I use it right now to size it for enclosures. Haha "untested" on ebay means its broke! Good stuff as always man!

[@GadgetUK164]

Thanks! Haha @ your EBAY comment! Check out Dave Currans blog (Tynemouth Software), and see his recent guide to EBAY - it will make you laugh!!!

[@RetroHQ]

Its interesting the difference working with 4 layer boards, the NeoGeo are the first I've really done anything on. Like you say, you notice the difference when removing caps etc, you do need more heat and I found solder sucker tools to be less effective. But then, the old MV1A board I have also seems to have very small through holes for caps etc. I don't know how much of this is related to wave soldered boards? Additional mechanical resistance to keep components in place during the wave solder process?

[@GadgetUK164]

Yes - I am sure you are right that its the 4 layers that absorb the heat! All MVS boards seem like that, needing more heat to remove components. I tend to find that my desolder station set to ~400 works best on these boards. I am not sure if they are wave soldered - how do you tell? They probably are I think, just not sure where the clues are, other than perhaps how the solder points look?

[@RetroHQ]

The little solder fins on the outer pins of the chips are the tell tale mark of wave soldering. These are solder thieving or robbing pads used to help stop bridging.

[@TheHighlander71]

Shoot...I typed that right before you explained that you measure them. Haha.

[@ArcadeMagician]

Very nice channel! Cheers!

[@Four_X]

My 6-slot won't even power up if the voltage is below 5.25v, it just keeps hammering the watchdog and resetting the CPU trying to kick the board into life. It's probably because there's a shed load of 5v TTL on the bottom and top boards and well you're going to get some voltage drop. I know exactly what you mean with the traces there unnecessarily thin just making them 0.2 of a mm thicker would of made so much more scene I mean it not like there isn't enough space on a 4 or 6-slot.

[@GadgetUK164]

Absolutely! Makes you wonder if it was based on cost or whether they wanted traces to fail over time?

[@jaczeldanilo]

Hi there, Nice stuff! I have a question... Would you use ceramic capacitors to recap the sound section of a board similar than this one?

[@GadgetUK164]

Personally - no! They don't behave the same way, and good quality electrolytics will last a long time.

[@RiotRetroGaming]

Gadget... do you kneel on your knees doing everything? lol your Wife must really love you doing all that on her carpet and not have a go 😂

[@GadgetUK164]

Haha, yes! Wife isn't bothered because that particular carpet is shot and has needed replacing for the last 2 years! I will replace it at some point, and then start working on table :o)

[@davidelvin1713]

This may sound a daft question, but what sort of brush do you use the clean the board? I'm just wary of possible damage!

[@GadgetUK164]

It really doesn't make any difference! I just use a nylon brush.

[@alkabroni3992]

I did the 5v mod on my 2 slot. I’m a using 5v 3Amp and works fine. Can the 4 slot use the same 3Amp or does it need a higher amp like the 8Amp you have for yours?

[@GadgetUK164]

You could try the 3A PSU and it might just work. A single slot board (MV1FZ pulls about 1.3 amps with a cart), so I would guess these 4 slots will pull 2.5 to 3 amps probably.

[@alkabroni3992]

GadgetUK164 - Retro Gaming Repairs & Mods Ok thanks for sharing the knowledge! I’ve learned a lot from watching you, thank you.

[@Charlie-Cat.]

Another outstanding video by the master himself! I posted this on the Neo-Geo thread on Atariage for you as usual kind sir. Its on page 130, post #3246. atariage.com/forums/topic/223548-the-official-neo-geo-thread/page-130 Thank you as always my good man! Come by the thread at anytime. I still have to say the popular uni's like Bath and Chester could use a talent man like your in their Engineering department instructing skillful students like yourself! Anthony...

[@GadgetUK164]

Thanks lol, but my skills aren't that good! =D.

[@TheHighlander71]

Removing caps I guess you learn by making mistakes. Some of those old caps you took off actually don't look bad by visual inspection. Do you ever measure them to check their condition?

[@GadgetUK164]

Yes, I always measure them as I don't like throwing working caps away! All the 4.7uF caps had correct ESR and all but 1 measured very close to 4.7uF. Yet all of the others had high ESR and most of them measured at 50% or less of their rated uF marking. eg. The 100uF caps were all measuring between 50 and 60uF, all the 22uF caps were around 13uF etc.

[@TheHighlander71]

so just going by how they look is not good enough. Makes sense probably.

[@pam8352]

have you ever repaired a mv1b without sound?

[@GadgetUK164]

Yes, I had a faulty Z80 on there. Swapped it out and got sound back.

[@pam8352]

@@GadgetUK164 i already swapped it with a TMPZ84C00AM-8 and with a game gear cpu but sound is still missing...

[@GadgetUK164]

Assuming the IC is good and fitted OK (no damaged traces), it's bad news as I believe one of the larger custom chips interfaces with the Z80. Double check all the connections, make sure the cart slot PCB has no broken traces either, and clean the interconnect connectors on the main board and the cart slot board.

[@pam8352]

@@GadgetUK164 i don't remember if i have already told you, there was a trace cutted on the b board near the ym2610, the chip legs was lifted and tinned with a wire to one of the cartridge slot. maybe the previous owner fried the ym2610 with a wrong solder?

[@HCKNEOBOOM]

Hi there, great videos on NEOGEO consolized boards. I recently bought a 4 slot MVS board that I want to consolized. Is it ok to get the +5V and Ground of the Jamma edge points as you did. Also I might have missed or you didn't show here but did you removed the power regulator to create a +5v line bridge between the primary and secondary +5v rails? And what gauge wire do you recommend for the +5V line. Finally, what power supply do you recomend for 4 slot boards? I read that the 4 slot uses almost 5.5A on the +5v line when fully loaded. does a 5V 6Amps be ok. www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01EAF4YNE/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[@GadgetUK164]

Yes, you can take the 5v and ground from the JAMMA edge, but try not to solder onto the JAMMA connector itself, solder onto the thick traces that lead into the JAMMA edge. You might have to scratch the green solder mask off carefully to expose the copper of the trace. I would personally use an 8A 5v PSU,. If it uses 5.5A, 6A is too close and the PSU will fail sooner rather than later. Make sure you run the 5v through an inline fuse holder too, and put a suitable fuse in there. Probably best to measure current across the fuse contacts without a fuse first, just to measure how much current its actually drawing. For wire - I've no idea on exact gauge, something like 23 AWG doubled up like I did is fine. You could use speaker wire or something like that, I am sure that's more than thick enough.

[@HCKNEOBOOM]

Thanks for the response! I realized after closer inspection that my MVS board is a different model: It is a (Mv4fs) and it has a different Battery and different 5V power regulator components. In your video at 16:04min, you created a +5v line bridge with a cut off the regulator. I not sure how to proceed to consolized this model because there are no tutorials on Jamma X or anywhere else. I need help with the +5V MOD and Battery Mod. Any suggestions! My MVS board Mv4fs: wiki.arcadeotaku.com/w/File:Mv4fs.jpg Here is a pic showing my board where the power regulator +5V area should be: www.flickr.com/photos/69518491@N02/32928196552/in/dateposted-public/ Here is the Battery area. There is no 470ohm resistor in this spot. Should I cut the 220? www.flickr.com/photos/69518491@N02/32702276040/in/dateposted-public/