Rage Of The Dragons MVS Problem....

[tholly]

alright, i have a 4 slot mvs cab slot 1 has metal slug, slot 2 has rage of the dragons, slot 3 has ninja combat, and slot 4 has art of fighting 2 installed right now. all games were working fine the last time the cab was used. this time, when i turned it on, every game except rage of the dragons worked fine. nothing was changed since the last time it was working, but for some reason, when i go to play rotd, i get a black screen with red words warning me about offical roms. i bought this game brand new from the neo store and had no problems with it until today. anyone know what the problem could be. i could get the exact error message if needed.

[ClubNinja]

The exact message would certainly be helpful. In the meantime, have you tried re-seating the cartridges in the slots, cleaning their contacts again, and/or rearranging their locations in the slots? Even though nothing has changed since last time, these things can be picky.

[tholly]

rotd was in slot 2...i moved it to slot 3 and put the game from 3 in 2......the game in 2 now works and rotd in slot 3 still gives the same message....let me get a picture of the message and ill post a link to it in a few minutes

[tholly]

here is a pic of the msg i get....

http://home.ptd.net/~tholly/MVSRotdMsg.jpg

[DogP]

Hmm... I've never heard of that problem before, but what I'd check first is the voltage going to the chips on the PCB. You should have ~5V, ~5.1V is best. Sometimes with lower voltages, the games can act strangely, and possibly one of their ways of telling that you're using a bootleg cart is that there's a lower voltage or something, caused by a bootleg chip drawing more power than the original. Other than that, is the main PCB an official? I don't know if there are bootleg 4 slots, but that message sounds like it could mean that the cartridge is plugged into a bootleg. Also, that message isn't just a normal message that pops up when you first boot the game right? I guess I'm wondering if it's just locking up or something.

DogP

[tholly]

i didnt check the voltage...i have a 4 slot dedicated big red cab. the board is offical SNK hardware and the game is not a bootleg...purchased new from www.neo-geo.com this cart is the only cart that is giving me problems...and this is the first time it gave a problem...all my other games are working fine...this screen is not a normal screen, i have never seen it before

[Flack]

In the meantime, have you tried re-seating the cartridges in the slots, cleaning their contacts again, and/or rearranging their locations in the slots? Even though nothing has changed since last time, these things can be picky.

Probably not helpful, but I agree with this 100%. When I bought my original MVS 1 slot, I got a great deal because the sound wasn;t working. I reseated the cart and it fixed it. I also bought a Blazing Star that scrambles the screen in attract mode from time to time -- reseating it fixes it as well.

[tholly]

In the meantime, have you tried re-seating the cartridges in the slots, cleaning their contacts again, and/or rearranging their locations in the slots? Even though nothing has changed since last time, these things can be picky.

Probably not helpful, but I agree with this 100%. When I bought my original MVS 1 slot, I got a great deal because the sound wasn;t working. I reseated the cart and it fixed it. I also bought a Blazing Star that scrambles the screen in attract mode from time to time -- reseating it fixes it as well.

i took all the games out....changed the slots they were in and tried ROTD in different slots..i also tried just having ROTD in....when i get home from work ill have to try again.....its frustrating not knowing what is wrong, especially since the last time i used it it was fine

[Flack]

I don't know enough about it, but see if this helps:

http://lists.dhp.com/neogeo/1999/Jun/1366.html

[tholly]

I don't know enough about it, but see if this helps:

http://lists.dhp.com/neogeo/1999/Jun/1366.html

thanks, that is kinda whats happening, but my system is not modded, so i dont really know why this is happening

[ClubNinja]

What kind of BIOS do you have in the motherboard? It might be worth replacing it. Also, did you try checking the voltage as suggested above? While I'm not sure that's actually the problem, it couldn't hurt at all. I received all sorts of errors on my MVS when my original power supply started going.

[tholly]

What kind of BIOS do you have in the motherboard? It might be worth replacing it. Also, did you try checking the voltage as suggested above? While I'm not sure that's actually the problem, it couldn't hurt at all. I received all sorts of errors on my MVS when my original power supply started going.

the bios was not changed....its whatever it comes with originally.
i didnt try the voltage yet...i will have to try that today.
it just seems weird that one cart would mess up like that....you would think if it was the power supply it would affect everything (thank god everything wasnt affected)

[ClubNinja]

it just seems weird that one cart would mess up like that....you would think if it was the power supply it would affect everything (thank god everything wasnt affected)

Well, something to keep in mind here is that Rage of the Dragons isn't just any cart - it's a cart that's given many of its owners loads of trouble since day one. The game won't even work on 90% of 1-Slot boards, and I've even heard complaints about multi-slots and RotD. There's a fix for boards that helps (I did it to mine); but even still, it's one of the least reliable MVS carts that's ever been fully released.

I'd suggest that, unless it's a voltage problem, you consider a Uni-BIOS. That may solve this problem easily. I tried Googling the exact error message you get, and I only found two hits (one in French and the other Spanish.. I think). My French is rusty and my Spanish is non-existant, but there was some talk of a BIOS problem relating to your error in particular.

[tholly]

wow.....i sent this email to techsupport@snkneogeousaconsumer.com

Hello,

I am a home user that owns a Neo Geo MVS 4-Slot dedicated arcade
cabinet. This system has never been moddifed in any way. It is all
original SNK hardware. I also own the game cart, Rage of the Dragons.
I bought this cart brand new from www.neo-geo.com 's online store. This
game is an offical cart and is NOT a bootleg.

Everything was working fine with my system until the other day. I
booted up the system and the games in slots 1,3, and 4 were all working
fine, but, Rage of the Dragons in slot 2 was not working. It game me an
error screen. For the exact screen, follow this link:
http://home.ptd.net/~tholly/MVSRotdMsg.jpg

I have tried changing the slot in which the game is placed in. I have
tried reseating the game in the slot. I have used compressed air on the
cart's contacts. I have tried taking all the games out besides Rage of
the Dragons and have tried just having this one game in slot 1.

I don't know what else to do since all my other games work fine in any
slot they are put in. Please, I hope you can shed some light on this
error message and direct me to a way in which I can get my SNK system
working perfectly again.

Thanks for your help and I would appreciate a response,

Tony



.....and, this is the response I got back from the "SNK Answer Man":

We only handle home carts. You bought product from NEO-GEO.com...i
suggest that you contact them.


www.snkneogeousaconsumer.com



wow....you would think he could have said a little more than that....what a way to support your products.....


anyone have any contact information on Evoga, the copmany that developed ROTD....

[tholly]

alright, i got a multimeter and checked the voltage.....5 all the way around, so its not that.....im hoping that its just dirty contacts....im running to the rat shack tomorrow to pick up some contact cleaner with a built in brush.....hopefully that will fix my problem

[tholly]

well..i got contact cleaner...and it didnt work...so .. i decided to go into the hardware set up menu and play with that....well, i cleared the back up memory, played around for a couple seconds...tried the game, and it worked.....so, i guess if anyone ever gets into trouble with a neo geo mvs game, reset the backup memory and you should be good to go

[Videogamerdaryll]

well..i got contact cleaner...and it didnt work...so .. i decided to go into the hardware set up menu and play with that....well, i cleared the back up memory, played around for a couple seconds...tried the game, and it worked.....so, i guess if anyone ever gets into trouble with a neo geo mvs game, reset the backup memory and you should be good to go

reset the backup memory

Yup..That's it..

Though I'm too late to help..

Glad its all working..