SNK Neo Geo Repair-a-thon Ep. 1 - AES Trace Repair - Retro Console Restoration

Last week I unboxed a huge Neo Geo lot that I purchased from Japan containing 6 systems, 12 controllers and 5 games.
🕹 Huge Retro Console Splurge from Japan Auctions: • Huge Retro Console Spl...
In this week’s video I kick off the repair-a-thon and begin restoring these beauties back to their former glory. I decided to go in order of lowest to highest serial number, so I’m starting with the #55000 unit. This should help with the flow of the repair-a-thon series so that we can explore the evolution of the mainboard revisions with each new episode and how SNK changed the system over the course of its lifecycle.
This first unit turned out to be a 5V unit, and this is one of those times where I was patting myself on the back for going the extra mile and taking the system apart before plugging it in to test. Based on my research the consensus was NOT to trust the labels on the back of the unit due to disinformation online about the right power adapters, as well as numerous accounts of board swaps of older boards in newer cases and vise versa. The absence of the 5V voltage regulator and accompanying coil confirmed this was indeed a 5V, rather than a 9V unit.
I jerry-rigged a 5V power supply using an old monitor power adapter and a buck converter I had lying around from a purchase over a year ago for a DIY power supply project that never happened. The supply was rated for 2.4A, a little below the 3A minimum required on these older systems but enough for testing until I source some high quality power supplies.
The system powered on but displayed a green screen. With a cartridge inserted, the system glitched and displayed artifacts but still with a green background. I later discovered that this was a diagnostic color indicator indicating that the system has a “Palette RAM Error”. However, prior to realizing that the RAM was the culprit, I spent a fair amount of time performing a lengthy examination of the board and arriving at dead ends. Eventually, I discovered the broken traces between the CPU and the RAM.
This was an incredibly fun repair and the outcome was positive considering I have never worked on a Neo Geo before. I don’t think I’ve ever been this excited to start gaming on one of my repair projects.
1 system repaired, 5 more to go. Stay tuned!
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🛒 Specialty products I used in this project
Buck Converter: amzn.to/2WwSY9O
Plastic Restorer Sponge: amzn.to/3nwIEd8
🔧 Toolkit
Screwdriver Set: amzn.to/2X7s0Gj
Automatic Wire Stripper: amzn.to/30F5TJm
🖌 Soldering Essentials
TS100 Soldering Iron: amzn.to/2YIJZUR
No Clean Flux Syringe: amzn.to/2NFUZvQ
No Clean Solder: amzn.to/2NHEAqQ
Desoldering Braid: amzn.to/312Grws
🔍 Soldering Add-ons
Tip Tinner: amzn.to/31w2EF4
Helping Hands Soldering Aid: amzn.to/3ihgksP
🔥 Thermal Compounds
Arctic MX-4 Thermal Paste: amzn.to/2Ak2y8w
1.5MM Arctic Thermal Pads: amzn.to/2Vv1RQU
🖥 Composite and S-Video on my Mac
USB Capture Card: amzn.to/2YM4TT7
(Catalina 64-bit drivers can be found on the manufacturer's website)
🎵 Music
Sappheiros - Awake / sappheirosmusic
"Sappheiros - Awake" is under a Creative Commons license (CC BY 3.0)