SUICIDE CPS2 GAME BOARD TESTER, (c) Razoola, www.cps2shock.com -------------------------------------------------------------- How to identify a suicided CPS2 board ------------------------------------- In most cases a suicide CPS2 game will present you to a bluey/green colored blank screen and do nothing more. Sometimes the screen may be a different color or black but this is quite rare. Finally on games that have a coin counter attached it's been known for the counter to keep adding credits to itsself or add a single credit on suicide boards. There is however a fault that can make a board look like it has suicided when it has not. This mainly happens with the older games that do not show the RAM test at power on. Basically all games sit in a wait loop waiting for the Qsound to initilise. If this does not happen it can look like the board has suicided. The main cause for this is either a currupted 01 or 02 (if the board has it) ROM or either or these ROMs not sitting in their sockets correctly. For this reason I would always advise that if the battery is still showing power but the board looks like it has suicided to always check the 01 and 02 (if the board has it) ROMs first. If either has a problem fix the issue and try the game again before going any further as its possible your game will now fully work. Using the included tester program --------------------------------- The included binary image needs to be programmed onto a 27C4096 type EPROM. The purpose of this tool is to easily test if a CPS-2 game board has suicided. Basically place your programmed EPROM into SOCKET 03 on the game PCB (after removing the ROM that was already there) and power on the system once it's correctly attached to a working CPS-2 motherboard. If the game board has fully suicided you will be greeted with a screen that will show the results of some basic RAM tests and let you know if the board is ok based on the results. It will also play the games first stored Q-Sound tune. If there is a battery on the lower right side of the P.C.B remove it after you have powered off the test. This will remove any possibility of lithium leakage over the P.C.B in the future. If you are still greeted with nothing first rule out a badly programmed EPROM. Then follow these steps as the protected encryption data may still be in place but corrupted; - Remove the Battery located in the lower right corner of the game P.C.B - Look at the solder side of the P.C.B and locate position 'EXC1'. It is positioned a little above the 03 to 10 ROM sockets. - Using a multi meter or small piece of wire short the 3 solder points of 'EXC1' together for a few seconds. Following these steps should remove any power left in the P.C.B that was keeping the corrupted data in place. Try the board again and see if you see something now. If the board still does nothing try these steps again. If it still dosn't work then there is a separate fault on the PCB. NOTES ----- If the 'SOUND INIT' test fails check the 01 and 02 (if the board has it) ROMs. If either of these are currupted or sitting in their sockets incorrectly it will cause this error. The font you see on screen may look wrong, this is because there is no default font and this program is using a set palette. It does not mean the board is faulty. It's posible the the sound you here may be quiet or somehow distorted. Again this is because the program is using default Q sound settings and is nothing to worry about. Included Files - suicide-test.bin (crc32 4d5eea90) - screenshot.png - readme.txt