need help with a viewpoint mvs cart

[supergoose]

i got this cart a few days ago and can't get it to work. i cleaned the cart and tried it on four different mvs boards, but i always get the cross hatch screen only.

- the cart looks exactly the same as the one on mvs scans. it's not a boot.
- the contacts were cleaned with an eraser and an alcohol based contact cleaner.
- erased the memory on all 4 boards.
- i also went over all of the solder points to make sure that there is no cold solder spot. it still won't work.

is there anything else i can do?
if i was to move all of the rom chips to a different sac cart, then which game should i use? would super sidekicks 2 or 3 work?

i'd really love to fix the cart and not argue with the seller. but to be honest ... that cart is starting to piss me off and i didn't even get to fight the crab, yet.

 

[malignantpoodle]

I got a Viewpoint cart that was stubborn like this. I did all of the above as well and it would either present with crosshatch or glitches.

I washed mine in a sink with mild soap and water as a last resort. Gently scrubbed the back of the boards with a microfiber cloth. Then, let dry in the sun all day. After that, it has worked for me ever since. You could try that.

 

[Bean_Bandit]

Comedy solution: 1, 2, 3, 4 hit it!

 

[supergoose]

Comedy solution: 1, 2, 3, 4 hit it!

I washed mine in a sink with mild soap and water as a last resort.

i already did that. i usually clean the contacts first to try the game and then clean the cart inside and out to get rid of all the filth/smell.

 

[FalcomAdol]

Comedy solution: 1, 2, 3, 4 hit it!

R.I.P. MCA

Could give the cart boards another run through the dishwasher.

Have you tried cleaning the cart slots on the MVS motherboard?

 

[Xian Xi]

If you are getting a crosshatch it means it can't read the program roms. If the contacts on both the cart and slot are clean then the only thing left to do is pull the roms and verify them. Get a refund, unless you have means of reading the roms.

 

[supergoose]

The cart was less than 45€ shipped, which is why i'd like to keep it. I guess it's time to invest in that eprom programmer that you told me about, months ago.

 

[mjs256]

Hopefully the ROMs are okay and the problem is caused by one of the other ICs on the PROG board (or if you are really lucky a broken or shorted trace which is easy to fix). If needed you could get a replacement one of those other ICs from some other MVS cart. If the problem is in fact one if the ROMs then it might be a bit of a challenge because the original mask ROMs may be 64Mbit, and as far as I know they do not make EPROMs larger than 32Mbit, so you may need to replace a single 64Mbit mask ROM with two 32Mbit EPROMs, and that may require some jumper rearrangement and/or other modifications which can get complicated.

 

[supergoose]

i downloaded the rom to check the sizes and to me it looks like a 27C160 is the biggest one i need. if i'm not mistaken.

the other IC's legs do look like they could use a bit more solder on them, but i can't do much about that as i don't have the equipment to work on such small-ish parts.
i wanted to get a new programmer anyway and now i've got one more reason to actually buy one.