My 4 slot has resetting problems

[K'DaSH]

Sorry if this is the wrong section, but couldn't see a tech. section.

Anyways here's my problem:
I start up my 4 slot today. When i start it up the screen is F'd up, its pink/green and shows all kinds of pixelated ugly stuff.
After a good 10 secs. screen goes to Neo Geo intro, plays normally except for some small intermittable sound skips.
So I'm playing a game on slot 1 and after a while the game would return to that pixelated screen and reset itself and bring me back to the intro screen. The games resets itself over ane over!! It keeps doing this
The 4 slot is unstable and can't play a game for too long. I'm getting frustrated b/c I can't figure out the source of this problem. To make things worse I'm a complete newb to this MVS thing. Anybody(Kaz my man ) please post what you think can be wrong. If ppl can help me remedy this OMG I would so appreciate this.

There's more problems with it, If I fill in all four slots wouldn't even play a single cart. I can't remember the other problems right now, but for those interested in helping I'll keep you guys posted.

Thanks
Keith

[K'DaSH]

Ok with help from other members from N-G.com they provided me with the idea that the SG can't keep providing the necessary voltage into the 4 slot. makes a lot of sense and the only thing I can think of as of right now. Hopefully I can solve this soon enough and finally gain a spot into the MVS community

[Harv]

Good luck dude, I'm getting a 4-slot soon so I hope I dont have any probs....................

[Kazuya_UK]

Yeah I was about to suggest power supply problems, that is a common problem. The only other thing I can suggest is to carefully clean all the contacts on your carts, and also to try and clean out the contacts on the MVS board itself. You'd be amazed at the amount of problems I had on both my 1 slot and 4 slot due to dirty contacts, MVS carts can be real fussy. Oh - another tip I can give you - I've had games that wouldn't work when pushed right down into the slot. What I would do for some games is gently push them right down, then carefully pull them back up a little bit, and quite often if the game wasn't booting up or if I got gfx glitches, it would work ok

www.hardmvs.com has some tutorials on cleaning carts and stuff like that - it's nice and easy to do, just need to take care while doing it so you don't break anything

Good luck man, I know how much of a pain it can be when you Neo isn't working properly

Kaz

[darkschneider]

Oh man, my Jaguar (atari) is THE WORST console for malfunctioning, esp if theres like the tiniest speck of dust or something on the cart.

Just thought I'd mention.

[K'DaSH]

harv2 said:

Good luck dude, I'm getting a 4-slot soon so I hope I dont have any probs....................

I cut the red wire feeding the blue LED on the SG. Hopefully that sacrifice will help supply the 4 slot.
I have one of the older 4 slots. If you get one of the newer and smaller 4 slots you shouldn't have any problems running it on a standard PSU.

Yeah I was about to suggest power supply problems, that is a common problem. The only other thing I can suggest is to carefully clean all the contacts on your carts, and also to try and clean out the contacts on the MVS board itself. You'd be amazed at the amount of problems I had on both my 1 slot and 4 slot due to dirty contacts, MVS carts can be real fussy. Oh - another tip I can give you - I've had games that wouldn't work when pushed right down into the slot. What I would do for some games is gently push them right down, then carefully pull them back up a little bit, and quite often if the game wasn't booting up or if I got gfx glitches, it would work ok :)www.hardmvs.com has some tutorials on cleaning carts and stuff like that - it's nice and easy to do, just need to take care while doing it so you don't break anything

Good luck man, I know how much of a pain it can be when you Neo isn't working properly [image]

Kaz

I tried cleaning the contacts on the board and carts with alcohol as a substitute. Unfortuantely I didn't have electronics cleaner so I resorted to this.
Most of the carts actually work fine, even though most are used and dirty. After the 10 sec. lag, the screen starts up and game plays fine up until the point the system resets itself. Except Kizuna Encounter which I'm having problems with. I need to give that cart a good clean!!

I'm going to make a trip to RShack now. I'll buy some cleaner among other things from there.

Thanks for all your replies ppl. Appreciate it a lot that I can turn to you guys for help.

I'll tell you how it goes when i test out the 4 slot today.

[K'DaSH]

Cleaned my 4 Slot inside/out, pin interfaces, all contacts with the electric cleaner I bought from RShack.
I even cleaned all my MVS carts. I made sure everything can be throughly cleaned as possible.

So I went to start it up but now it just doesn't play carts.
It used to have a garbled image, than transfer into NeoGeo screen. However now it just stays in the garbled screen and doesn't play anything. Does somebody have an idea what can be wrong?

I'm assuming it can be that I did apply some of the electronic cleaner on the boards(bottom and top) and that might of caused this. I believe this was an all purpose cleaner, so if I can clean contacts, I can clean just about anything on the board as well. A stupid mistake?

Somebody please help me out. I don't know to look anymore.

THanks anybody for your posts and tips.

[Kazuya_UK]

I'm really not sure cos I'm not an expert at electronics, but as I said above you do have to be careful with how you clean carts and board. The hardmvs.com has some good tutorials, so if you follow those you should be ok. Hopefully you've not done any damage to the board - if you were careful it should be ok. Have you tried that thing that I mentioned where you gently push the cart all the way in to the slot and then gently pull it back up by a couple of milimetres? Quite often my carts would either not boot or show garbled gfx unless I did that... MVS carts are just ridiculously fussy at times.

Really hope you manage to get this sorted out man!

Kaz

[K'DaSH]

Thanks for the reply Kaz. I can always count on you [image]And everybody else.

I tried what you said and I happen to finally insert SVC. OMG I thought I was going to break the PCB connectors at the bottom. I was waiting for a snap! when I was pressing down onto the cart, but eventually it sunk in the slot

I can't tell if that is the problem why my MVS won't start. I feel like I might of damaged something on the bottom board of the 4 slot that prevents it from reading the carts, and then transfering into the Neo screen. Don't know what part's function is this, but if anybody knows PLEASE POST!! :help:

Thanks for reading into my problem and post any of your thoughts.

[K'DaSH]

I got good news. I finally operated the 4 slot! And is operating fine. After hrs and hrs of disassembling the board, cleaning, cutting some wires to preserve power for the MVS; I finally got around tweaking the voltage on the PSU.
Recommended by a fellow N-G.com member(dogtoy) I opened the PSU and played with the small white scew on the bottom.
I experimented first by turning it clock-wise assuming it will increase the volts w/o load. But that led to no avail, and I continued frantically cleaning all the contacts, around chips, and even cut teh LED wire to preserve power towards teh MVS. Feeling frustrated and open for new ideas, I played with
the small screw and turned it counter-clock-wise and decided to give the SG a go. ALLeLuYah!! The MVS got powered up and played MD3. It was also finally capable of playing bigger games like SVC and KOF2003 with no problems, except for the intermittable sound skips in the Neo intro, buts thats about it.
OMG I spent the whole freaking night playing all my MVS carts and I haven't slept a wink . Blazing Star is so FreaKin awesom!!! I can't believe I've beeing missing out.

Thank you everybody in this forum for taking the time to look into my problems and help. You've all done me a great service. I can tell you my MVS won't be running today if it wasn't for the help of all the fellow Neo members to help me out. I am so greateful to everybody who helpmed me out. I'm proud to be a member from one of the most welcoming communites in the world.

[Kazuya_UK]

Awesome man, I'm SO glad you got this problem sorted out!!!

One thing that is good about having problems with new hardware: when you finally get the problem sorted out it is like a massive weight off your shoulders, and it makes the games feel just that little bit sweeter! ;D

Kaz

[K'DaSH]

OMG so true Kaz. You have no idea how much I luv LB1&LB2
Yes! I'm finally part of the MVS community!

[Kazuya_UK]

I do... cos I probably love them just as much... not quite as much as SS2 though, not that many would agree with me ;D

Once again, glad you got it sorted out man, have fun!

Kaz