couple genesis games just died

[bohoki]

weird thing i was going through my games and i cant get a couple to work i'm sure i tested them before i put them in my holder now they just wont go

 

they are generations lost and red zone just black screen they both have the same time warner logo on them

 

i have cleaned the contacts and tried them in 3 different consoles and taken the board out of the shell to make sure the boards are marked tengen 93

 

anybody experience spontanious cart failure?

[+-^CrossBow^-]

Are you saying the PCBs on the carts are marked 'Tengen 93' on them? If so, that is likely the issue. Tengen PCBs suffer from rotting within the traces. I didn't know Generations Lost and Red Zone used Tengen boards in them. But depending on the size of the ROMs those games use, there is more than likely a Sega PCB that can be used from another much more common game and used as a donor PCB.

 

I have personally resurrected two Gauntlet IV carts, a Storm Grinder, and I think 2 Dragon's Reveng carts by desoldering the ROMs off them and transplanting them onto the following Sega made PCBs as donors:

 

G-Loc

Batman Returns

Pit-Figther (This one is strange as Pit-Fighter is a Tengen published game, but the PCBs are Sega made)

 

I know there are others that can be used as donors, but the three above I've used myself and can confirm. Again it depends on ROM sizes, but you might give it a try.

[IrishNinja]

yeah, that is weird - im assuming you've already tried alcohol, brasso etc. can you maybe test on another system?

[Emehr]

I have personally resurrected two Gauntlet IV carts

 

 

My Gauntlet IV cart is now dead as a doornail. I used to be able to get it to work occasionally but it would glitch during gameplay. Good to hear it's probably the PCB and not the ROM. What should I look for in donor PCBs?

[+-^CrossBow^-]

 

 

My Gauntlet IV cart is now dead as a doornail. I used to be able to get it to work occasionally but it would glitch during gameplay. Good to hear it's probably the PCB and not the ROM. What should I look for in donor PCBs?

 

 

As I stated just below this sentence these are the carts I've used for both Gauntlet IV, Dragon's Revenge, and Storm Grinder as donors:

 

G-Loc

Batman Returns

Pit-Fighter

 

I suspect there are others, but these are the ones I can remember off the top of my head that are also common and fairly cheap to find in the wild. Especially Pit-Fighter in which the PCB that game is on is worth more than the game itself.

[bohoki]

i checked them out and the though holeboard connections of a few points were not conducting but after fixing them they still wont go possibly i blew the chip with my ohm meter on tone mode

[19rsn007]

I've had the same thing happening to 2 of my sonic the hedgehog carts....1 I socketed and got an altered beast maskrom from a friend of mine and the other is waiting for me to decide what to do with it.

[mmertes]

Reading this stuff terrifies me that I have ticking time bombs on my shelf, just waiting to stop working.

[+Gemintronic]

There are easy ways to back up your carts. That's what I do. Avoiding wear and tear is a must.

[Atariboy]

Being Tengen releases, this possibly will sound like a stupid question, but are RoadBlasters and Formula One safe to purchase without fear that this curse will strike (i.e., are they known to use the problematic Tengen board that isn't aging well?)?

 

Been wanting to acquire them for a year or two, but this topic and several others have kept me away although I've never seen these two mentioned as having failed.

[Atariboy]

Partly answered my own question. Roadblasters sounds to be a ticking time bomb, alas. So I'll just stick with my Everdrive for this one.

 

http://www.sega-16.com/forum/showthread.php?30544-Roadblasters-Issue

 

http://nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=5&threadid=94491

 

Any hope for Formula One? It's a 3rd party title that Tengen only published in North America, which possibly is a fact in its favor (Although I imagine it also utilizes a Tengen board).

Edited August 30, 2016 by Atariboy

[+-^CrossBow^-]

Keep in mind that Tengen also published Pit-Fighter on the Genesis. However, Pit-Fighter actually uses a Sega branded PCB on it. That is why I use it a good donor for more valuable and certainly more enjoyable games to play. Point being that just because Tengen published the games isn't a sure sign that the game will have the problematic Tengen pcb in it.

 

I have also tried to correct these games by reflowing solder and even replacing the small capacitor that is frequently found in them. No...go. Only fix was to completely desolder the rom off the PCB and place into a different PCB.

[exo]

My Golden Axe II died in the strangest way. I think that it has bit rot or something, because all of the buttons are mapped to the wrong inputs (something like start for right, left for a, b for up, something weird like that). Also, my Ex-Mutants that I got from a yard sale never worked. But luckily, those are the only two duds in my Genny collection.

[icemanxp300]

You can use practically any genesis board as a donor. The only difference is what needs rewired "mainly for bigger chips". There are plenty of direct fit boards depending on the chips used.

[Asaki]

I have a copy of Battletech where some of the sprites are missing pixels =|

 

Doesn't sound like these Tengen games should be too hard to fix.