SNK Neo Geo CD - Neo SD Loader Install & Review (Revised)

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A quick install and review of the Neo SD Loader from Furrtek!
If you would like to pre-order one, you can do so here:- furrtek.free.fr...
You can see Furrteks Patreon page here (updates on his reverse engineering of arcade boards) :- / posts
Neo Geo CD games with protection (boot or in-game) - wiki.neogeodev...
Another article explaining how the protection worked - www.racketboy....
#snk #neogeo #neosdloader

[@furrtek]

Thanks a lot for the very detailed installation and review. I'll send you the 500£ cheque as planned ;p Here are the few notes I took while watching: -Samurai Slowdown LOL -Had fun drawing the pixel-art instructions myself :) Glad that you enjoyed them even if I'm aware that pictures would certainly be clearer for most people. -I took note about making the CDDA connection instructions clearer. There's also another version of the CDA board which has different wire bundles. I'll also add a note about the two black screws behind the console, had totally forgot about those. -Sorry for the shitty fake Kynar wire which melts at 120°C... I bought a better quality spool a few months later. -18:24: Those areas just don't have any soldermask (bare FR4 material without copper), had them made like that to avoid the larger flanged screws leaving ugly marks on the soldermask. Not very useful, just a small detail that didn't cost anything to add. -I also took note that the SD card orientation isn't mentioned at all in the instructions ! -Nice hack about fitting the triangle board internally, never paid attention to those 4 posts on the shield there. It's hard to imagine how they would have used them with the existing drive. -Thanks for sharing infos about my chip RE projects, that's much appreciated. I'll have to add 100£ to the cheque :p -Noticed that the game list takes much longer to load on your system than mine. It may have something to do with the games having longer file names than those I have on my test SD card. I'll check that tout. -Added to the bug list: "Main menu shows letters but no games in list on some occasions". -Added to the bug list: "KOF97 doesn't like waiting and causes timeout errors during in-game loading, sometimes freezes". -"Furrtek engineering" is a lie, I'm not even an engineer ! -That sticky dirt bit on the CD drive gear... *sigh*

[@GadgetUK164]

Thanks for the detailed reply there (and for sending this device!!!)! The artwork is amazing on the website - love it! The kynar wire you provided was great!!! The melting bit made it super easy to use tbh! Nice strong wire but also fine enough to route easily! That dirt on the CD drive gear - LOL! No idea how I did that! It was a consequence of me having it assembled and then in bits over and over whilst working through things. I must have contaminated it at some point! And LOL @ the 500£ cheque - I wish!!!!

[@mdd4545]

@@GadgetUK164 About the KOF97 booting on sd loader, i tried many times booting the game with no errors. My iso is patched with copy protection removed.

[@KoSLoW27]

Tu m’envoi un sample ? 🙇🏻‍♂️😁

[@hadesmcc]

Perfect timing, I have one of these consoles in transit. I'm excited to get my hands on it.

[@retrojb101]

Great video fella! I’m currently on the preorder list waiting for my turn. Very much looking forward to giving the install a go.

[@captaincorleone7088]

Very nicely done and thanks for providing us with such an in-depth overview. One of my friends had the top-loader back in the 90s and I remember how excruciatingly slow the loading times were! That mod provides a tremendous boost for its usability and lessens the need for patience. :D

[@Muda_Muda_Muda_Muda__]

Nevermind about the copy protection I figured it out.

[@Null_Experis]

A neat trick I've learned for easily lifting those small pins from TSOP and PSOP packages like the BIOS chip is to get a thin solid copper wire, like kynar, loop it around the leg you want to lift and gently pull on it as you heat the solder joint. It will lift the leg up and sweep away some of the excess solder in one smooth motion.

[@thefifthdoctor6780]

I’ve added this into my collection. Great stuff

[@emmettturner9452]

Thanks for going through all this. I know you think most users won't have to be concerned with it but I also have the earlier revision... TWO in fact. Only reason I had not installed them already is because I also got two replacement lasers while I was waiting for my kits. ;)

[@Bleepdort]

Great video, it made for a nice Boxing Day gift! I finally sat down and installed my kit this week, and I ran into many of the same issues you encountered. The NGCD I installed it in was a different board revision, and the loader was oriented vertically instead of horizontally; the ribbon cable is still an issue, though. I'm going to order a longer cable, hopefully that will make it easier to connect and ultimately easier to get back into the console when the need arises. Looking forward to the RGB LED installation video. I've been mulling over how to do a proper install in place of the original LED, but if you have a better approach in keeping the original and installing the new LED elsewhere I'd be curious to see it!

[@DavideNastri]

Best kit I've ever bought. Pure jewellery.

[@GadgetUK164]

Agreed =D Lovely kit!

[@sinistermoon]

Super cool! Loading times were way faster! I have a 4 slot NeoGeo cabinet though, so I'm ok without this.

[@GadgetUK164]

If you would like to pre-order one, you can do so here:- furrtek.free.fr/sdloader/ You can see Furrteks Patreon page here (updates on his reverse engineering of arcade boards) :- www.patreon.com/furrtek/posts Neo Geo CD games with protection (boot or in-game) - wiki.neogeodev.org/index.php?title=Copy_protection Another article explaining how the protection worked - www.racketboy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=21732 EDIT: I sent a donation to Furrtek to the value of this kit last month, and I am still a Patreon of him =D I did that because he has Patreon setup in such a way he only takes pledges with each major update, and none have happened in the last 6 months. I very much appreciate him donating this to me though =D

[@brianwild4640]

@GadgetUK164 - Retro Gaming Repairs & Mods just a Quickey Do you know what is the best Atari ST floppy USB drive please UK here

[@GadgetUK164]

@@brianwild4640 I prefer the HxC, but its a bit fiddly to use. The Gotek is the most popular!

[@Muda_Muda_Muda_Muda__]

Meant to post my copy protection question here, wanted to know how to remove it from NeoCD games.

[@Muda_Muda_Muda_Muda__]

Can you make a tutorial on how to take the copy removed dumps from the internet and create a hybrid in merging the real dumps?

[@sistemaoctal]

neogeocd reborn , great work, I have one in my top loader, nogeo sd loader is wonderful

[@Larry]

Does this work on all Neo Geo CD models? I've got a front loader. Also can you load in AES or MVS ROMS into it too?

[@GadgetUK164]

EDIT: Correction - it's not working in the front loader atm - but it is planned!

[@GadgetUK164]

See my correction there - It's planned for front loader, not working atm!

[@SproutyPottedPlant]

@Devon Puzon It really didn't work!

[@zebular]

As of the new firmware, works on front loader now Larry

[@SparksNZeros]

devices like this are fantastic but im always so gutted when they don't easily allow you to continue using the disk drive along with it, as daft as it is I do like using my original discs (and even copies) instead of the SD loader from time to time so its nice knowing a version with that option exists.

[@RastaJediX]

This one let's you keep the drive! If you missed it from Furrtek, you can go to his website and find this reseller (as Furrtek isn't making them anymore): store.phenommod.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=64&product_id=64 if you have any questions, let me know!

[@MrWaalkman]

At the 59:00 minute mark, there shouldn't be any appreciable voltage drop because the load on the SD card should be negligible. As for noise, that's a different issue. :) We would have to know what the load on the card is to figure out the drop, but I can't imagine that it is much.

[@GadgetUK164]

Maybe voltage drop doesn't factor in here then, but some of these adapters just don't work with other peoples Neo SD Loaders. It could just be all about noise!

[@supermattymaker]

As ever Gadg, bloody mega video! Quick one, Ive the home cart-AES and CDZ as Im sure you no, my CDZ is my absolute love load times an all! With this optical drive emu you show and say its a no go for the CDZ is that a 'no go period' or 'at the mo'? Hope that makes sense? M

[@GadgetUK164]

Thanks again! It's a no go for the CDZ at the moment, Furrtek has made the project open source now. So other people could "pick up" the project and maybe get it working with the CDZ?!?

[@TobyRieper48]

I've got the latest revision of the SD loader ready to install... I also have 3, 2 slots to consolize. Not sure whether to keep this NeoCd or just get a Neo SD pro and sell off the CD and the other 2 slots

[@ryo_sakazaki_ngs8371]

Hello, can you explain what is the utility of add the 74HC125 please, i'm french so sorry for my poor english ^-^

[@GadgetUK164]

It buffers (with enable) the audio DAC connection, so the internal CD-ROM drive can be retained, along side the Neo SD Loader.

[@hoojchoons2258]

Re: the flat cable, normally these ribbons can be bent at right angles so it makes inserting easier?

[@leonardomeireles8634]

how to buy one of these nowadays? on the website they say that production has been discontinued... Please help me

[@GadgetUK164]

I am honestly not sure that anyone else is building and selling them yet!

[@tunkunrunk]

loading time is still there, despite the games are loaded from an SD card

[@GadgetUK164]

Yes, you still need to load the game in from SD card - there's no solution to that!

[@tunkunrunk]

@@GadgetUK164 once loaded from the SD card, the game still behaves as if it was on the CD, you still have "please wait", "now loading"

[@GadgetUK164]

@@tunkunrunk That's correct, but you have shorter load times vs CD...

[@tunkunrunk]

@@GadgetUK164 that's good to know

[@thepeller210]

Hi, huge fan of your channel. You do some great work. I have a faulty Japanese Megadrive (no sound) and a V1.0 Mega CD that is a pain. It freezes upon boot up. Is there any chance I could send it to you for repair? I'll obviously pay for the work.

[@GadgetUK164]

Thanks =D I cannot do customer repairs sorry =( You could try @A3rgan on Twitter.

[@Ace_of_DiscaL]

Have you encountered an crash issue with Aero Fighters 3 a.k.a. Aero Wings 3 at all? It's not copyright protected according to the internet.

[@GadgetUK164]

Not that I remember, but I might not have played that game for long - I will re-test when I get chance!

[@Ace_of_DiscaL]

@@GadgetUK164 Thank you, sir. I honestly thought that you would be the best person to ask because you do such great work modding and testing all kinds of NEO-GEOs. #Cheers

[@AntonioPontone]

hello, nice video, I instead blasted a track of the Mask 1 chip, I wanted to know if you have the datasheet of the neo geo cd to see how I can recover it. Thanks in advance

[@GadgetUK164]

There are no schematics I am aware of... The best thing to do would be work out where the trace is burned out and wire link over it. You may need to remove the IC with hot air first.

[@AntonioPontone]

@@GadgetUK164 Thanks!

[@PrawnCocktailBro]

Nice

[@SlobbyHill]

All I'm getting is 3 yellow lights and then it boots. All the website tells me is "Your console's BIOS version was not recognized" then gives me zero explanation. Which is useless. Any ideas on how to fix this issue?

[@GadgetUK164]

Check if it wrote anything to the SD card - is there a copy of the BIOS it read there? Maybe double check the wires to the mask ROM, if those havent been done correctly (and the correct pin lifted), it will not read the BIOS correctly.

[@SlobbyHill]

@@GadgetUK164 I appreciate the reply. I found the issue. The foam padding that was included in the kit was placed in the wrong place, so when I put the shield back on, it would press the chip down in the wrong place, causing it to become unseated. Once I moved the foam, it pressed down in the correct place and it stopped unseating the chip. All is fixed! So long story short, if you're getting the Your console's BIOS version was not recognized" (3 yellow lights) issue, then check to make sure the chip is fully seated.

[@otakumw]

@@GadgetUK164 When i unsoldered the pin the pad came off... Do you have any suggestion where this pin goes on the motherboard so i can solder the cable on elsewhere?

[@Muda_Muda_Muda_Muda__]

@GadgetUK164 - Retro Gaming Repairs & Mods Okay, now I'm seeing a different problem as it pertains to the audio. You see I've managed to fix/remove all copy protection to these Neo CD games. The issue is after playing these games after 15-30 minutes I get stuttering or scratchy audio. This isn't all games I've seen this on later Fatal Fury and all of the King of Fighters games. This is BEYOND frustrating. Meanwhile games like Breakers and Burning fight work perfectly after letting them run for over an hour. Are these games just fucked as far as the audio goes or is there a certain way to repackage them? I've tried everything btw ranging from different romsets for said problem games to playing with the copy protection intact and they still fuck-up the audio. There a fix to this? I would be grateful for any assistance you could provide on the matter. As a community of Neo Geo enthusiasts and retro gamers we owe it to ourselves to find a solution here.

[@GadgetUK164]

Maybe there's an issue with the DAC getting out of sync or something?!? Which firmware are you using?

[@Muda_Muda_Muda_Muda__]

@@GadgetUK164 I'm using firmware 8.0. I didn't do the mod myself retroasia did it. You thinking its a problem with my hardware? I dont have the soldering skill required. By any chance have you tried your KOF '95 for an hour and ran into the same issue? If it's a hardware problem then why are other games like Breakers and Burning Fight working property but not KOF 95? Appreciate the reply. :)

[@Muda_Muda_Muda_Muda__]

@@GadgetUK164 After double checking I can confirm I've updated to the latest firmware. All of my KOF '95 disc images have this problem. When you get the chance please test yours and see if you've got the same issue? If it's universal and effects everyone then Furrtek might provide a fix in the next firmware update.

[@voodoochild1239]

Hello GadgetUK164, I got my SD loader kit second hand. I have Revision E with the Triangular SD Card Reader. Installation went fine thanks to your video however, I am not getting any sound from my roms. The CD player works and I hear the sound efx from the roms but there is no music. My roms do not have any wav files just bin and cue files so I wonder if that is it. I also notice that you discussed the cd audio not being able to be heard if you wanted to keep the cd drive. Is there any chance you could build me that board with all the wires and I buy it from you? I think I may need that board. I tried ooking for contact info for you to document the work but I cant find it..Please let me know if that is something you would be open to doing...im so close to finishing this install!

[@GadgetUK164]

Try a different SD card - also make sure the SD card is FAT32 formatted.

[@voodoochild1239]

@@GadgetUK164 THANK YOU!! I will update once I try this!

[@worzysp1]

Where can you buy the sd card with all the games on?

[@GadgetUK164]

You can't - you would need to buy an SD card and download the games. Hit the Internet Archive website - most of them are probably archived on there. Else search Google for Neo CD .iso

[@worzysp1]

Yes I was lucky ive bought a neo geo cd with this neo sd loader built in to it in the air vents its brilliant but not all games work

[@DownUnder43]

First of all where can we buy this as I have been trying to acquire one and can't find any for sale. I don't understand why release a product and make it so limited. Makes no sense.

[@GadgetUK164]

You could try adding your name to the waiting list here:- furrtek.free.fr/sdloader/progress.php Since he still has the waiting list on his site, I suspect he may do another run of the boards at some point!

[@DownUnder43]

@@GadgetUK164 Hi thanks a lot but he is not selling the kits for Top Loaders anymore. Only for Front loaders. I don't understand why make it so limited when there's so much interest from the community.

[@78jonpaul]

I did this mod for a friend and after testing a few games I had a few issues. I could play the game for a few min and it would reset. I cut out some more of the shield as I though maybe it was touching the sd card slot. It worked fine. I sent it back to him and he said it displayed an error, which I can’t find anything on. I’ve tried two different cards and I can select the game when the menu pops up, but this error pops up and it’s a no go. I also updated the firmware to the latest when I got the console back. 0.9. Here’s the error code and the led is red even when I can select the game. 00-0800-0803 also below that this shows 38 M0008 U0008 Any info or guidance would be helpful. It’s a top loader. Thanks

[@GadgetUK164]

The only thing I can suggest is remove the mod, use a fibreglass pencil and clean the pins of the 68K CPU all around. Then refit the mod - maybe you have a bad connection. Then check the 2 wires that go to the ROM area of the PCB to make sure they are soldered well, and soldered well on the Neo SD Loader board.

[@78jonpaul]

Sorry for the late reply. I actually thought maybe it was the files themselves, so I used mostly all bin cue files and I added a few at a time and that worked. I did however play one game today and it was art of fighting 2 and it reset it self to the game selection screen after selecting the CPU character. I reloaded the game and it played fine. My friend told me when he got it back the first time I modded it, the thing would reset. I shook the console while playing and wiggled the video cables, power cable, and controller cable while playing and it didn’t reset. Not really sure why it would reset. Thanks

[@Arcade_Mania]

bro make a how to consolize a mvs mv-1fz pleeeeeeeeeease

[@worzysp1]

So how to do software updates?

[@GadgetUK164]

It's detailed on his website (linked above in the description I think). You basically name the update file appropriately and stick it in the root of the SD card, then power up.

[@jhonfreddymoreno3510]

Ten go que comprar una neo geo cd funciona sólo con este modelo en especial

[@panahpanah5314]

He sells only E model ?

[@GadgetUK164]

I don't think Furrtek sells them directly - there are links on his website to a couple of companies that do.

[@dedesixhela8270]

Yes my friend is it possible to send you my console and u fix it. Neo geo top loader.

[@GadgetUK164]

Sorry, I cannot do customer repairs!

[@Khinh-xq6lx]

samurai showdown 2 and kof97 = neo geo cd samsho2

[@frankiebhoyify]

Is there anywhere you can send a neo Geo cd to get this upgrade done?

[@GadgetUK164]

Simon Lock (twitter.com/A3rgan) would probably do the mod for you!

[@frankiebhoyify]

@@GadgetUK164 thanks man👍

[@arthurcollector4002]

my god this flat cable is a pain btw neo geo cd was oficially sold in brazil by neo geo of brazil

[@StanfordYell]

'CA' for common anode. Not at all to be confused with 'cathode'??

[@GadgetUK164]

Haha, yes - slip of the tongue!

[@jhonfreddymoreno3510]

Quiero comprar una sd

[@yllib2012]

Get a MiSTer FPGA in a nice case and never look back at original console hardware again. Yes FPGA really is that good.