Arcade & Retro Repairs & Mods, all new recipe, with no added MSG...

I sold a wwf wrestlefest for peanut a while back,
had it for sale here you should've said you were after it I would have given it to you!

Optimus Prime

Cool, sure ill see when it arrives, can you replace the amp?

Optimus Prime

urbanledge wrote: »

I sold a wwf wrestlefest for peanut a while back,
had it for sale here you should've said you were after it I would have given it to you!

Doh! I never seen it! this one cost me 16 including delivery so not too bad. it will give me something to try out the GQ-4X on. That arrived yesterday to parcel motel too, cant go wrong with 2 day delivery from the UK!

CathalDublin

keithgeo wrote: »

Cool, sure ill see when it arrives, can you replace the amp?

Yup, its only a 7 pins, easy enough
I assume yours is the dual layer board like this?

The Last Bandit

Make sure you download the latest software for the programmer, the included CD is probably out of date.

http://www.mcumall.com/comersus/store/mcumall_download.asp

Optimus Prime

CathalDublin wrote: »

Yup, its only a 7 pins, easy enough
I assume yours is the dual layer board

Yep, it looks exactly like that from the photos.

Optimus Prime

Here is a pic, has an adapter on the connection, are these boots not jamma?

CathalDublin

They not jamma and that's missing the -5V on the adapter, hence no sound

Optimus Prime

CathalDublin wrote: »

They not jamma and that's missing the -5V on the adapter, hence no sound

Ok coo,so could be an easy fix? is that adapter an adapter for Jamma, looks small or something to me.

I have a negatron at home for my mortal kombat 2 which had no sound either until i attatched that, should work on this board too?

CathalDublin

Yea that's definitely the 56pin JAMMA connector and missing the -5 from the parts side of the adapter, the perspective does make it seem small, but count the pins.
Looking at the auction the -5 looks to be connected on the bottom, but still maybe it needs to be connected on both sides, although the seller has quite a few arcade bits for sale so maybe they know what they are doing or could have just been a an oversight.
ref: http://www.mikesarcade.com/cgi-bin/spies.cgi?action=url&type=pinout&page=BubbleBobble_56.txt

The Last Bandit

You should be able to use an old headphone to probe the input of the audio amp to see if the board is generating any audio at all.

The amp needs the -5V but the logic generating the sound runs on 5V.

Optimus Prime

This is all currently above my level of knowledge, i honestly dont know what im looking at here.

Is the -5 from the board, wired to a different pin on the jamma adapter in the picture? and possible not wired correctly on one side?

CathalDublin

Optimus Prime

Ok thanks a lot for this, so..

the -5 on a jamma board is at pin 5, but on the bubble bobble board its pin 6. so run a wire from 6 on the board side to 5 on the jamma side.. is that right.

CathalDublin

keithgeo wrote: »

Ok thanks a lot for this, so..

the -5 on a jamma board is at pin 5, but on the bubble bobble board its pin 6. so run a wire from 6 on the board side to 5 on the jamma side.. is that right.

exactly, just make sure you double/tripple check when making/modding a harness
This side it appears to be connected

Optimus Prime

Thanks for you help on this!

Just one other quick one, the type of wire needed, will the same type of cable used in a jamma harness do, ive loads of wire for wiring up buttons etc. or do i need something better than that.

CathalDublin

I just use whatever I've spare, lately I've seen a few just use Kynar but I prefer use something a bit heaver, for the ones which carry power anyway.

KeRbDoG

o1s1n wrote: »

I've had a new 72 pin connector for my nes for 4 years now, but never got around to installing it due to not having any screwdrivers long enough to open the NES up.

That changed this evening.

Was in Aldi buying some cheapo beers and they were selling extra long screwdrivers. Finally! Time to get my NES going again.

Opened her up, popped the new 72 pin in. Really easy to do.

My advice would be, if your old 72 pin connector doesn't have any broken pins and isn't rusty, that you just look at a guide to bend the pins back into shape and once done, never slot a cart in and click it down.
The replacement connectors aren't great, I've bought from two different manufactures and they are both the same, they hold the cart too tight.

To others than have a NES, don't click your carts down - will extend the life of the 72 pin connector.

o1s1n

KeRbDoG wrote: »

My advice would be, if your old 72 pin connector doesn't have any broken pins and isn't rusty, that you just look at a guide to bend the pins back into shape and once done, never slot a cart in and click it down.
The replacement connectors aren't great, I've bought from two different manufactures and they are both the same, they hold the cart too tight.

To others than have a NES, don't click your carts down - will extend the life of the 72 pin connector.

Yep, that's exactly how this one is. Holds the carts far too tight. You have to reef them out with a crazy amount of force.

I may just fix the existing 72 pin as you said.

Myrddin

Same here also, replacement cart slot holds that cart far too tight. I read something ages ago about boiling it in water for a few mins then putting a cart through it, as the plastic will be pliable form the heat & the cart will reshape it...

The Last Bandit

I got around that issue by just inserting an Everdrive cart once

o1s1n

Sure you might as well just use an emulator... :pac:

Optimus Prime

CathalDublin wrote: »

I just use whatever I've spare, lately I've seen a few just use Kynar but I prefer use something a bit heaver, for the ones which carry power anyway.

Thanks a lot, cant wait for it to arrive now and see if thats the only problem!

The Last Bandit

o1s1n wrote: »

Sure you might as well just use an emulator... :pac:

I do that's why I bought one of these

Myrddin

The Last Bandit wrote: »

I do that's why I bought one of these

How do you find it for 16bit stuff etc?

The Last Bandit

Its excellent !! Plays all the SNES/MegaDrive/PCE stuff I've tried perfectly, 32X stuff isn't really playable yet though.

Arcade stuff is handled by FBA & Mame4all and works fine for stuff up to the mid 90's.

Myrddin

And what do you think of the screen quality?

The Last Bandit

Myrddin wrote: »

And what do you think of the screen quality?

Its fine for a console, its low res so compared to a phone its looks a bit pixely - which is the point of it I guess.
I've spent a fair few hours on it now plodding about in various RPG's and it looks great, colours are nice and vibrant, text is easy to read.

Nice backlight as well so you can actually see Gamegear games on it

Only annoyance is some of the emulator menus are vastly different to others, but there seems to be a bit of a push on to get a consistent look and feel across them all.

Optimus Prime

The Last Bandit wrote: »

Make sure you download the latest software for the programmer, the included CD is probably out of date.

http://www.mcumall.com/comersus/store/mcumall_download.asp

Hey,

Ive downloaded and installed the software, listed first on the link above. rebooted the pc and plugged in the GQ-4X. getting the below when i open the software.

Did not get response from programmer.
Demo only.

Does this normally come up if there is no chip in it or am i missing something, is the driver seperate to that software install?

Im on windows 8.1 64bit

CathalDublin

Does the green LED come on?
Have you tried a different usb cable?
You should get a response without a chip, in fact if you have a chip in it, it will tell you to remove it.