Category Archives: Repair

Repair

CD-i Earth Command Start Problems

What if your favourite CD-i game refuses to start or shows some weird behaviour? Most likely, this is to blame on a defective Timekeeper and/or laser. This topic has been covered years ago. There is another problem with the game The 7th Guest, which is completely unrelated to the problems mentioned above though.

Earth Command isn’t my favourite game. It makes some fun for a while, to tamper with the various settings and eventually watch the world burn, but it never got me hooked for a long time.

Then the reports of some people caught my attention. Some had trouble starting the game, as the screen just turned black after the intro, while others had no problems with the game at all. There was no common denominator to pin down the problem, as all the CD-i players they’ve used were of different revisions and generations.

Continue reading CD-i Earth Command Start Problems

Neo Geo MV1FZS 5V and Stereo Mod

When I finally fixed my consolized MV1FZS last month and was able to play some games again, I noticed that it outputs mono sound only. It is now time to make some additional modifications to it.

5V Mod

MVS boards need both 5V and 12V voltages, and 12V is used for the audio amp only. As I’m going to add a new stereo audio circuit, there is no need for the 12V feed anymore. This consolized MVS draws the 12V from the now obsolete XL6009E1 DC-DC converter:

XL6009E1 DC-DC converter
XL6009E1 DC-DC converter

Continue reading Neo Geo MV1FZS 5V and Stereo Mod

Neo Geo MV1FZS Battery and Backup RAM Error Fix

After having a great time with my MV2FS, I was looking for something more compact that I could use in the living room. I came across a pre-consolized MV1FZS and played the entire Neo Geo library with it.

Consolized MV1FZS
Consolized MV1FZS

Then it suddenly stopped working:
BACKUP RAM ERROR
ADDRESS WRITE READ
00D00000 5555 B255
Continue reading Neo Geo MV1FZS Battery and Backup RAM Error Fix

Neo Geo MV2FS at Home

Neo Geo games and hardware have been a part of my life for many years. As I was looking at store displays during the early 90s, I was amazed at how huge these game carts were in comparison with other consoles, such as the Nintendo GameBoy.

In the late 90s, the emulators NeoRAGE and NeoRAGEx introduced me to the world of Neo Geo and arcade emulation. At that time, MAME didn’t yet have the capacity to emulate those games properly and at a decent speed. Later on, when MAME finally became a useable Neo Geo emulator, it became quite easy to add new released games and dumps to the source code, and play them as well.
Continue reading Neo Geo MV2FS at Home

FM TOWNS II Fresh・E Battery Replacement

When my FM TOWNS II Fresh・E suddenly refused to boot from HDD and Towns OS (from CD) didn’t show the HDD anymore, my first thought was that the HDD has finally given up. It had sounded like an airplane engine lately (and still does). Then I noticed that date/time settings were lost too, meaning it was probably related to the BIOS battery. To access or replace the battery (3V CR2450), the whole unit needs to be disassembled.

FM TOWNS II Fresh・E
FM TOWNS II Fresh・E

Continue reading FM TOWNS II Fresh・E Battery Replacement

Atari Jaguar Power/Sound Fix and Rotary Controller

The other day I prepared my Atari Jaguar to build a rotary controller for Tempest 2000. I hadn’t used it in a while and accidentally picked the wrong power supply – smoke was rising from the console immediately.

The culprit was easily found, chip U38 (MC34163DW):

Toasted U38 (MC34163DW)
Toasted U38 (MC34163DW)

Continue reading Atari Jaguar Power/Sound Fix and Rotary Controller

Philips CDI 220/00 Mini MMC 60Hz Modification and Timekeeper Replacement

Recently I found a CDI 220/00 with Mini MMC mainboard. It’s a heavy and bulky unit that contains lot of PCBs, wires, screws and metal parts. It’s one of the first consumer CD-i players. Later models have all components on one single mainboard (Mono).

CDI220/00 inside
CDI220/00 inside

Continue reading Philips CDI 220/00 Mini MMC 60Hz Modification and Timekeeper Replacement