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Faulty Mega Drive games (original hardware) - black screen
#343172 - 07/30/15 01:13 PM
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Recently I've had a problem with two Mega Drive games - they will not work at all on any of my Mega Drive consoles, unless used with my Mega Key region converter. All they do is give a very brief flash for a split second when you hit the power button, then a black screen, just like when you power the console without a cartridge inserted - no licensing text or anything.
I have four Mega Drive IIs, all Australian PAL models, as well as a crappy AtGames Mega Drive clone where both the FM and PSG (square wave/"Master System") sound is lower pitched than normal and both are at different pitches, making everything sound horribly out of tune. The Mega Key does not work at all with the AtGames console. I don't have a Mega Drive 1 unfortunately.
The games which refuse to work are Columns and Arnold Palmer Tournament Golf; the contacts on the games are spotless (as with all of my games), as with the console pins, and every other game works without any issues. Both games used to work until Columns started going flaky and required me to insert the game at a slight angle before it gave up working entirely; Arnold Palmer Tournament Golf on the other hand simply decided not to work after being stored for a number of years, despite being in very good condition (Columns is well used). If I use the Mega Key, both games work perfectly without any issues whatsoever, so it's not like the ICs are fried or anything like that. There are no bad solder joints or traces either.
If I run these two games in the AtGames console, all I get is either a black screen, a garbled mess of pixels, or simply the game menu itself.
I also swapped out the original 47µF 16V cap (which read 1.2Ω on the ESR meter) in Arnold Palmer Tournament Golf, didn't make any difference (replacement cap was 0.5Ω), but it still didn't boot without the Mega Key.
My main question is, has anyone else had any similar trouble with Mega Drive or Genesis games?
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Re: Faulty Mega Drive games (original hardware) - black screen
[Re: Heihachi_73]
#343317 - 08/02/15 06:50 PM
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> Recently I've had a problem with two Mega Drive games - they will not work at all on
> any of my Mega Drive consoles, unless used with my Mega Key region converter. All
> they do is give a very brief flash for a split second when you hit the power button,
> then a black screen, just like when you power the console without a cartridge
> inserted - no licensing text or anything.
>
> I have four Mega Drive IIs, all Australian PAL models, as well as a crappy AtGames
> Mega Drive clone where both the FM and PSG (square wave/"Master System") sound is
> lower pitched than normal and both are at different pitches, making everything sound
> horribly out of tune. The Mega Key does not work at all with the AtGames console. I
> don't have a Mega Drive 1 unfortunately.
>
> The games which refuse to work are Columns and Arnold Palmer Tournament Golf; the
> contacts on the games are spotless (as with all of my games), as with the console
> pins, and every other game works without any issues. Both games used to work until
> Columns started going flaky and required me to insert the game at a slight angle
> before it gave up working entirely; Arnold Palmer Tournament Golf on the other hand
> simply decided not to work after being stored for a number of years, despite being in
> very good condition (Columns is well used). If I use the Mega Key, both games work
> perfectly without any issues whatsoever, so it's not like the ICs are fried or
> anything like that. There are no bad solder joints or traces either.
>
> If I run these two games in the AtGames console, all I get is either a black screen,
> a garbled mess of pixels, or simply the game menu itself.
>
> I also swapped out the original 47µF 16V cap (which read 1.2Ω on the ESR meter)
> in Arnold Palmer Tournament Golf, didn't make any difference (replacement cap was
> 0.5Ω, but it still didn't boot without the Mega Key.
>
> My main question is, has anyone else had any similar trouble with Mega Drive or
> Genesis games?
Could these two games be games which don't do the TMSS 'Unlock', so they will only work on pre-VA5 (or pre-VA6 for some regions) Megadrive/genesis mainboards? I don't know the list of 'official' games which don't do the TMSS unlock (and hence won't work on newer consoles).
LN
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"When life gives you zombies... *CHA-CHIK!* ...you make zombie-ade!"
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Re: Faulty Mega Drive games (original hardware) - black screen
[Re: Lord Nightmare]
#343374 - 08/03/15 03:55 PM
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> Could these two games be games which don't do the TMSS 'Unlock', so they will only
> work on pre-VA5 (or pre-VA6 for some regions) Megadrive/genesis mainboards? I don't
> know the list of 'official' games which don't do the TMSS unlock (and hence won't
> work on newer consoles).
>
> LN
The thing is, they used to work fine on all of my consoles, including that AtGames "thing" (I have never owned a model 1 MD/Genesis) - it's only during the last few years where they refused to work at all.
Columns: SEGA MPR-13286-T 5M62-15-D966 9227EAI JAPAN
APTG: SEGA MPR-12645F 834200A 0G6 BK 9104 Z02
Consoles:
PC BD MD2 VA1 PAL (PCB: 171-6534A-20, stamped 09C34; 68HC000 dated 9339)
PC BD MD2 VA1.8 PAL (PCB: 171-6534B-21, date stamped 17 NOV 1995; 68HC000 dated 9535)
PC BD MD2 VA0 PAL (PCB: 171-6349A-21, date stamped 26 AUG 1993; 68HC000 dated 9329)
PC BD MD2 VA1 PAL (PCB: 171-6534A-21, stamped 17K13; 68HC000 dated 9336)
The last console is the faulty one (blank/solid screen after showing "PRODUCED BY OR UNDER LICENSE FROM SEGA ENTERPRISES LTD.") - the two "bad" games fail to show the license screen at all on any console.
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Re: Faulty Mega Drive games (original hardware) - black screen
[Re: Heihachi_73]
#343403 - 08/04/15 12:58 AM
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I don't know anything about those, but sounds like they bit-rotted, or just broke. Ebay to the rescue.....
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Scifi frauds. SF illuminates.
_________________
Culture General Contact Unit (Eccentric)
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Re: Faulty Mega Drive games (original hardware) - black screen
[Re: Traso]
#347035 - 11/15/15 11:46 PM
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> I don't know anything about those, but sounds like they bit-rotted, or just broke.
> Ebay to the rescue.....
Fixed both cartridges - apparently it's a common problem with aging Mega Drive/Genesis games, and all it takes is a resistor in order to get them working again (make sure you have the same PCB and ROM types as the two in the links, as wiring the wrong pins together will most likely lead to a puff of magic smoke instead of a working game).
Columns PCB is 171-5927 (which was the same as the Flicky PCB in the first link)
APTG PCB is 171-5703 (which was the same as the Moonwalker PCB in the second link)
Now, if only I could find a non-working original Wily Wars for a few bucks... 
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