2 x Mario RPG PAL doesnt work

2 x Mario RPG PAL doesnt work
by Cali on 2009-04-03 (#45115)

hi guyz... i have a little problem by building 2 Mario RPG Pal Cartridge.

as donor boards i used 2 x Mario RPG JAP.

i have soldered due to this shematics: http://www.ultimate-console.fr/index.ph ... &Itemid=98

after that, i replaced the sram batteries for 2 panasonic japan 2032 batteries.

and the last modification was: pin 127 of the SA-1 lifting from board. and leave it floating.

now, both cart´s boot up, but crashes after 5 - 10 min. sometimes 5 min... sometimes 2 min...

is this a problem of the sa-1? it is better to put +5 on pin 127? or leave it floating?
i have double checked all soldered wires, and there was no error.

anyone has a hint for me, whats the error could be?

thx a lot!

by cybertron on 2009-04-03 (#45117)

I am not familiar with this mod, but will give it a shot

So you soldered on a new ROM and it boots up fine? Thats good news, if any pins were missing or wrong it wouldn't work

How did you attach 2 batteries? I don't really like this idea, one battery lasts over 10 years anyways, and 2 has the possibility of going wrong and dying sooner.

Pin 127 sets the region right? Leaving it floating is defiantly a bad idea, always attach unused pins to a voltage source. Use some really thin wire-wrapping wire then glue it down.

by Cali on 2009-04-03 (#45118)

hi,

i have soldered 2 batteries, one to each one

sorry! i forgot to write it ^^

i have soldered to the mario rpg jap pcb a M27C322 eprom with 4 mbits of space... now it contains a german mario rpg.. it boot up with no problems.. but crashes with graphical errors.

i will test it, to solder the 127 pin to a vcc source.

i will reply when its done

EDIT---

i have testet now the 2 pcb´s with in action replay 3 without a cart on the back... and the 2 pcb´s running perfect!

is this a good or a bad sign?

without action replay --- crash
with action replay --- fine!

any idea why this works with arp?

EDIT EDIT---

now i have soldered pin 127 of the SA-1 to vcc and nothing happens.
the game allways gives me a blackscreen (no bootup).
only then i left the pin floating, it boots.. i dont get it, what is the problem? ^^

i have build many other games, but only mario rpg makes such annoying things.

any ideas?

by Jeroen on 2009-04-03 (#45122)

Soldering a new battery to a dead battery isnt such a bright idea....better to get rid of that config.

edit: the action replay thing suggests the problem is with the lockout. Try putting 5v on that floating pin.

by Cali on 2009-04-03 (#45125)

i desoldered the dead battery before... theres only one new battery of each pcb...

i have soldered the 127 pin to +5 but then it will not boot up.. everytime a blackscreen.

i guess the pin works so:

Pin to +5 (PAL)
Pin to GND (NTSC)
Pin Floating (???)

right?

is there a difference between the jap and the us SA-1?

maybe by the JAP PCB is a difference...

i only find the tutorials for mario rpg US version... in no tutorial is the jap pcb as a donor.

by Jeroen on 2009-04-03 (#45128)

I think I read that leaving it floating either makes it work only on snesses with enabled lockouts (wether it be pal or ntsc) and connecting it to 5v makes it only work on disabled lockouts or the other way around.

edit: did you 60 hz mod your snes? I recall reading the game needs to be running in 60 hz or it'll complain. (but only on some carts iirc)

by cybertron on 2009-04-05 (#45198)

Your battery is fine, ignore what I said. You are making 2 game boards

Have you read this forum? http://nfggames.com/forum2/index.php?topic=1382.0

Also, what sort of graphical glitches were there? Do they happen at the same place?

The best mod would be to get 2 CIC chips. One NTSC master to keep the SA1 chip happy, and one PAL slave to keep the SNES happy. What a pain

by Cali on 2009-04-06 (#45218)

mmhhh i think i got it.

i didnt deleted the sram before i have soldered the new eprom(s).

maybe this has caused the errors.

a friend told me, that mario rpg uses the sram as ram... but
there was other data in it.. garbage data i think. then mario rpg now
trying to access the sram .. it crashes. there is resist data
in it.

after i put it on my action replay... the arp deleted the sram.

and now it works fine, without the action replay in it.

allways remember! delete sram!

sorry for bad english... its not really my lang

by cybertron on 2009-04-06 (#45237)

So you fixed it?

Interesting, changing the battery would have deleted the SRAM too

by Cali on 2009-04-06 (#45239)

it works nice now... 15 hours of play and no crash.

the sram will not completely deleted when you change the battery.
i have changed the battery of 10 - 15 games... and not all savesgames
are deleted.

mystic quest legend (for example), has saved the savegames without
battery over 5 mins!
all savegames after 5 min are fine
none of them are lost.

i need 2 minutes (max) to replace a battery, so the sram wouldnt be deleted.