AES with iffy sound

city41

Gal Ageise's Demon
10 Year Member
Joined
Dec 27, 2010
Posts
2,065
I bought a "junk" AES off ebay which was stated to not power on. It is a 5v system and powers on and works just fine. With the exception of sound. I haven't opened it up yet, but if anyone has any ideas on what to check I'm all ears.

Sound experience

Fatal Fury -- Completely silent
Crossed Swords -- Some music here and there, seems like most/all sound effects
Riding Hero -- Most music, all sound effects, no music during gameplay (just the engine sfx).

In Crossed Swords can hear a "static pop" which seems to correlate to music starting. FF has no pops at all, dead silent.

I compared to my main AES on the same cable/tv and sound on these games works just fine.
 

Neo Alec

Ned's Ninja Academy Dropout
20 Year Member
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Dec 7, 2000
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Have you given the carts slots a thorough cleaning? Especially with contact cleaner.
 

venchia3

n00b
Joined
Oct 19, 2003
Posts
43
If what Neo Alec suggests doesn’t work (try with some Deoxit) I would socket the Yamaha sound chip and replace it with another one you can find sold online (pretty easy to source). But go this route only if you have the right tools to desolder that IC, can be pretty annoying to remove without a soldering gun
 

BIG BEAR

SHOCKbox Developer,
20 Year Member
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Dec 14, 2001
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8,230
You probably need a cap kit and or need to check the tracks to and from the YM2610
BB
 

city41

Gal Ageise's Demon
10 Year Member
Joined
Dec 27, 2010
Posts
2,065
Thanks all. Contact cleaner made no difference and also no sound improvement out of the headphone jack. Looks like I will need to open it up.

I currently don't have the right setup for re-capping or socketing, but I will. I'm setting all that up.

This is a non modded Japanese system. When it first turns on it skips eyecatcher completely and goes straight to attract mode. If you hit the reset button you see a blip of the eyecatcher then it moves to attract mode. Other than sound nothing seems glitchy or incorrect. Do Japanese AES bioses just skip the eyecatcher? I plan to throw in a unibios.
 

venchia3

n00b
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Oct 19, 2003
Posts
43
Mmmh stock Japanese systems to my experience (had several on hands during the years) do play the intro when first switched on (or upon reset).

Also, I agree with BIG BEAR, my suggestion is a bit drastic before even have checked traces or attempting a recap!

But yeah, first and foremost opening the system and check the general condition for eventual signs of corrosion or messed up traces is the best practice really :)
 

Xian Xi

JammaNationX,
15 Year Member
Joined
Dec 1, 2005
Posts
27,748
You probably need a cap kit and or need to check the tracks to and from the YM2610
BB
Definitely this. Recap and broken traces as not all games use the same traces which is why some have sound and some are silent.
 
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