Neogeo Diagnostic bios - 1st draft of 3D printed case - feedback please

hatmoose

Kuroko's Training Dummy
Joined
Dec 3, 2021
Posts
79
Hi everyone;

I've been using the diagnostic bios and z80 test cart a lot recently.

in that time I have discovered these use cases
  • I forget what button+direction combo I need to run the z80 test on a particular slot
  • I take the stock/unibios bios out to fit the diag bios, put the old bios somewhere "safe" and forget where I put it.
  • I use a bare board for the Z80 test cart that is prone to misalignment
To solve these use cases I have done an initial draft of a 3D printed z80 test cart case designed specifically for this purpose.

The vision is
all the instructions will be on the front of the cart so I dont forget them
(inactive) dirt cheap 40 pin zif sockets from aliexpress at C1 and C2 for bios storage
(active) dirt cheap 32 pin zif socket from aliexpress at M1 just in case a wonderful person ever updates the M1 rom
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003196199947.html
holes in the back of the cart for tool-free access to zif sockets at M1, C1, C2

Feedback please on the wording and instructions, are these generic to make sense to other people?

Front
Screen Shot 2022-03-25 at 11.09.56 PM.png
Back
Screen Shot 2022-03-25 at 11.11.01 PM.png
 

ack

Ninja Combat Warrior
15 Year Member
Joined
Apr 9, 2009
Posts
538
MV-1B/1C is D+B, the wording in the bios message is misleading.

Be aware there are multiple CHA boards with different locations for chips, which will cause alignment issues with your holes.

Its likely not safe have the spare bios chips plugged into the C1/2 locations. While the C1/2 roms aren't used by the diag bios, when the board is plugged in its still going to feed power to those chips locations
 

hatmoose

Kuroko's Training Dummy
Joined
Dec 3, 2021
Posts
79
Thank you for the feedback - I've updated the wording and printed the front shell which looks like this, I'm amazed that my Ender 3 pro printed it so well.
IMG_0472.jpeg

The back shell is going to be a massive pain in the ass exactly as you predicted.

In my case; The CHA42G-1 my CHA boards look like actual proper genuine fakes. Not reproductions, proper fakes

This is a genuine one
Cha42g-1_mvs.jpg

This is what mine look like - the layout is wrong, but the SNK logo also looks a bit off. Weird
IMG_0471.jpeg

Anyhoo, here is the shell that I'll be printing for the back - but as you rightly say the holes on this wont line up on anything else...
Screen Shot 2022-04-08 at 2.16.04 PM.png
 

hatmoose

Kuroko's Training Dummy
Joined
Dec 3, 2021
Posts
79
Forgot about this one in my passive pile of half finished projects

I'm now pretty sure this CHA42G-1 board is not a fake - suspect it might be out of a neo print cart. That being the case I don't want to hack it up, But I was thinking I could cut the +5v pins (22 and 32) off the zif sockets to stop any power going through the spare bios chips

IMG_1257 (1).jpegIMG_1256 (1).jpeg

Will make some minor adjustments and post the finished shell to thingiverse
 

avramce

Kabuki Klasher
Joined
Sep 24, 2019
Posts
125
If you are up for it, why not populate the P1 and C1 slots with the monitor test tool? I did that on a custom NeoSD rom pack I made, pretty handy. If you have the neodiag rom, you use the M1 for Z80 testing, if you have a standard BIOS loaded, you get the monitor test tool:

 

hatmoose

Kuroko's Training Dummy
Joined
Dec 3, 2021
Posts
79
If you are up for it, why not populate the P1 and C1 slots with the monitor test tool? I did that on a custom NeoSD rom pack I made, pretty handy. If you have the neodiag rom, you use the M1 for Z80 testing, if you have a standard BIOS loaded, you get the monitor test tool:

This is the perfect solution! Thank you very much for thinking of it
 
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