Arcade machine flashing Color test bars

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YoSteven1
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Arcade machine flashing Color test bars

Post by YoSteven1 » Thu Jun 14, 2018 1:08 pm

I have an Arcade DDR 8th Mix / Extreme and it works for about 1 minute after title screen then:

*Screen goes blank
*Screen shows color bars
*Repeat

I am unable to find information on this issue and dont know how to get it fixed.

example image at this link: https://imgur.com/a/azHIzs7 . ignore the diagonal black bars, thats an issue from the phone camera.
--edit--
i've also noticed that the fan in the back has stopped working so i added a box fan to blow on the amp and 573 incase they were getting too hot.. but they were always cool when this issue happens.

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MonMotha
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Re: Arcade machine flashing Color test bars

Post by MonMotha » Fri Jun 15, 2018 1:24 pm

Sounds like you have a Korean cabinet? Japanese cabinets only have one fan, and it's down in the box of power supplies at the bottom.

Check that your power supplies are all stable. That's the only thing I can think of off-hand that would cause it to get that far before crashing.

You might also check that your boot ROM/bootleg mod board is secure in the socket inside the system 573. That will cause that sort of behavior immediately on powerup normally (the game won't boot at all), but perhaps you have a thermal issue causing it to work until it heats up just a little bit.
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Re: Arcade machine flashing Color test bars

Post by YoSteven1 » Fri Jun 15, 2018 2:46 pm

Thanks MonMontha for the reply. Yes its Korean cab with a modboard bootrom running Megamix :x . I also have the 605 Ram error but can bypass it by hitting test in the back.

Based on your hunch its power, I did some testing with a stopwatch.
5min 6 seconds before the colored bars appeared, hitting test as soon as possible to bypass 605 RTC-Ram error
12+ min on the 605 ram error

This seems to point that it is a power supply issue. I imagine its working harder powering all the lights, speakers, cdrom, etc. I dont currently have a voltage meter. So I found a guide and it talks about only replacing the rails that get low in power. Are they talking about just replacing the wiring for those? https://gamerepair.info/hardware/1_system_573

Any suggestions?

--edit--
There is a silver box if you are behind the cab, then its on the right side on the floor of the subwoofer portion. that silver box looks like a standard ATX computer power supply and its in bad shape. Rusty and fan doesnt work.

From the gamerepair.info website, it recommends checking the 5v and 12 rails which i found as the box under where the Jamma board is. 5v has nothing plugged into it and no loose wires. Maybe some cabs use 5v and others dont?

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Re: Arcade machine flashing Color test bars

Post by MonMotha » Fri Jun 15, 2018 5:52 pm

The 573 definitely uses the 5V. In fact, it only uses the 12V for the CD-ROM drive and parts of the audio output AFAIK. Almost everything else is powered straight off the 5V at the JAMMA connector.

There's usually one 5V supply and two 12V supplies in the cabinet. One of the 12V supplies is used for the audio and the other is used for everything else.

I'd suspect an issue with the 5V supply before a 12V issue given the issue here.

The box you refer to is not actually an ATX power supply though it may look similar. Unlike a PC supply, it's designed to deliver most of its power on the 5V output. In fact, it may ONLY have 5V on it (the 12V supplies being separate). I don't remember how the Korean cabinets are set up (and they may be different).

A multimeter is really the only way to really toubleshoot this. You'll want to ideally measure it right up at the JAMMA connector. You can get a cheap multimeter that will suffice for this at any auto parts store or hardware store for $10-$20. Harbor Freight has even been known to give them away for free with coupon, with other purchase.

The JAMMA connector itself on Korean cabinets is also pretty suspect. It will heat up slightly due to the current flow across it and may start making intermittent or poor contact. Re-seating it would usually help with this. Just make sure nothing is shorting since those stupid connectors are brittle, and there's often no insulation on some or all of the wires hooked up to it. The Japanese cabinets are much, much nicer in this respect.
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Re: Arcade machine flashing Color test bars

Post by YoSteven1 » Fri Jun 15, 2018 6:38 pm

Thanks. I'll get a meter to test tonight. I have a basic understanding of how to use it. On the silver box on the right it has 12v and 5v wires. I'll follow them and test where they connect to jamma and look for any power dips.

--edit--
Multimeter set to DC, black cord to ground on jamma, then red to test the 5V+, and 5V-?

Assuming I see a dip, what's the next step?

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Re: Arcade machine flashing Color test bars

Post by YoSteven1 » Fri Jun 15, 2018 10:17 pm

I haven't done the multimeter yet because i am trying to verify that i will be doing it right. Im starting to think it might be music related. If let it stay on the title screen and it stays for a long time. But once you get to the point where it has to load music to show the song list, that's when the colored bars appear. Everytime, no matter how slow or fast I get to that point. If I don't insert credits it plays the demo. The demo plays properly. At the end of the demo, it tries to load a song and colored bars show.

I have a legit 7th blue cartridge and 7th CD. I'm wondering if I should try to downgrade since I have the bootrom mod.

I also went into operator mode and did all the tests.

The only ones that failed were part of the Flash ROM Check
31M
31H
27M
27H
Card = Bad

Checksum data error
Sector 1024 is bad

--edit--

I've checked both 5V rails and they never dip below 5.0v, from boot to "crash"

On the hunch it's music related, I removed the Megamix play disc and inserted the Megamix install disc and powered it up. Error 152, which seems to be the 32mb PCMCIA linear flash card error. The flash card is stock Fujitsu. I've removed and put it back in and same error. I also verified that write protection was turned off. When I switch back to Megamix play disc it goes past that point and eventually end up where it can't play music. I tried to downgrade to 7th Mix using an official CD, but I get the same Error 152.

---Edit 2---
I found an old post by MonMotha advising which flash to buy to fix error 152. It's all covered here: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=4191

Also, I noticed I am not getting the announcers voice, title screen announcement and others.
I though it's because I'm on Megamix and those were stripped out. It still could be but I researched it anyways and found this also! viewtopic.php?f=6&t=4110&start=30

MonMothas quote "Check the cable that runs from the IO board in the 573 to the "CDDA Audio In" on the 573 mainboard."
I would love to but I checked all the cords on the 573 and didn't see anything listed as CDDA audio in and couldn't find anything like that on the jamma board either.

I'm so screwed

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Re: Arcade machine flashing Color test bars

Post by MonMotha » Sat Jun 16, 2018 3:49 pm

If you've forced the system to re-write the flash card from the installation data and it still says it's bad and won't proceed, then your card might actually be bad. I've never seen a bootleg that failed on the flash card check, but then Megamix was "special" since they hacked up all the graphics and whatnot and those do live on the flash card. As I recall, they patched the game to expect the new checksum, though, so the bootup check still passed.

If you haven't already, from the test menu, use the "initialize card" option to re-write the flash card. It should say if it has a problem at that point.

Regarding the announcer and crowd sounds, those are generated from the "main" audio system on the System 573 board which is in fact just the audio system you would otherwise find on a Playstation. The music comes from a separate board which also has all of the light outputs on it. That board includes, among other things, a hardware MP3 decoder that's used to decode the game audio since the main CPU can't do it while still running the game (remember, this thing is OLD! It's an original Playstation with some extras). That audio is then fed back down into the audio output coming off the 573's line level outputs using a cable that plugs in to where the audio from the CD-ROM drive would go if they were using red book CD audio (which is what 1st-2nd mix did). It's labeled "CDDA IN" on the System 573 mainboard.

So, if you have game music but not crowd or announcer sounds, that cable is fine, and the issue is actually with the sound system on the mainboard. I can't really provide any suggestions for how one might fix that. I'd honestly probably just swap the motherboard out. They're relatively easy to come by since that platform was used by Konami for a TON of games back in the late 90s.
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Re: Arcade machine flashing Color test bars

Post by YoSteven1 » Sat Jun 16, 2018 6:02 pm

Thanks a ton for the reply. I really appreciate this and have made great progress thanks to you. I'd like to donate to you for your assistance and for this wonderful website that has helped me troubleshoot so far.

Incase others find this post via google, i'm outlining what I did

I found the secret menu on Extreme by entering Operators Mode, selecting Game Options, then holding down the down arrow on player 1, then pressing the service credit or test button. I forgot which button worked. Then I selected Initialize, and followed the prompts. I did initialize the card and it says "initialized" however the card still fails the Flash Rom testing. I put in the Megamix install CD and i get error 152 which asks to check if the flash card is inserted. I tried again with 7th mix and the 7th mix security cassette (blue cartridge), but still error 152. So, this appears to be a bad PCMCIA flash card. I've ordered a replacement one on eBay that says it was tested in a DDR machine and it worked.

So, if you have game music but not crowd or announcer sounds, that cable is fine, and the issue is actually with the sound system on the mainboard.
So I found this youtube video of Megamix in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuhwsiV38XE&t=4s The video you can hear the announcer and button confirmations, however for me I do not hear them. The only music I get is from the 10 second demonstration. So I am missing something. i'll reseat all the internal cables on the 573 before looking for a replacement.



viewtopic.php?f=6&t=4505#p100980 Based on that link, I have a DanceManiaX (DMX) machine that was converted to DDR. My 571 has the faceplate for 6 input cords, though 2 are empty on the right and the left side when going from top to bottom is White, Orange, Red, with the small 2 wire one was converted to a larger middle connection. Just like that guy did, I had UP/Right being held on player 2. Swapping the red/orange cords fixed it. I am guessing that DMX does not have the CDDA IN labeled which is why i cannot find it or I am blind.

According to this post: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=4505#p101011 the 2nd image shows an 8th mix 573. When I compare that to mine, I am missing #2 & #7 in that image. The images I took were too big for the forum to attach, so I just uploaded them here instead: https://imgur.com/a/YvM5if1 -- Are these missing cords somehow related?

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Re: Arcade machine flashing Color test bars

Post by YoSteven1 » Sat Jun 16, 2018 10:21 pm

Thanks a ton for the reply. I really appreciate this and have made great progress thanks to you. I'd like to donate to you for your assistance and for this wonderful website that has helped me troubleshoot so far.

Incase others find this post via google, i'm outlining what I did

I found the secret menu on Extreme by entering Operators Mode, selecting Game Options, then holding down the down arrow on player 1, then pressing the service credit or test button. I forgot which button worked. Then I selected Initialize, and followed the prompts. I did initialize the card and it says "initialized" however the card still fails the Flash Rom testing. I put in the Megamix install CD and i get error 152 which asks to check if the flash card is inserted. I tried again with 7th mix and the 7th mix security cassette (blue cartridge), but still error 152. So, this appears to be a bad PCMCIA flash card. I've ordered a replacement one on eBay that says it was tested in a DDR machine and it worked.

So, if you have game music but not crowd or announcer sounds, that cable is fine, and the issue is actually with the sound system on the mainboard.
So I found this youtube video of Megamix in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuhwsiV38XE&t=4s The video you can hear the announcer and button confirmations, however for me I do not hear them. The only music I get is from the 10 second demonstration. So I am missing something. i'll reseat all the internal cables on the 573 before looking for a replacement.



viewtopic.php?f=6&t=4505#p100980 Based on that link, I have a DanceManiaX (DMX) machine that was converted to DDR. My 571 has the faceplate for 6 input cords, though 2 are empty on the right and the left side when going from top to bottom is White, Orange, Red, with the small 2 wire one was converted to a larger middle connection. Just like that guy did, I had UP/Right being held on player 2. Swapping the red/orange cords fixed it. I am guessing that DMX does not have the CDDA IN labeled which is why i cannot find it or I am blind.

According to this post: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=4505#p101011 the 2nd image shows an 8th mix 573. When I compare that to mine, I am missing cables in #2 & #7 in that image. The images I took were too big for the forum to attach, so I just uploaded them here instead: https://imgur.com/a/YvM5if1 -- Are these missing cords somehow related to the music issue? I checked my 573 vs. ChannelBeats, and they appear to only have 4 cords connected. https://www.channelbeat.com/screenshots/140.html though, they have a cord plugged in to #2, which i appear to be missing.


--edit--
So, if you have game music but not crowd or announcer sounds, that cable is fine, and the issue is actually with the sound system on the mainboard. I can't really provide any suggestions for how one might fix that. I'd honestly probably just swap the motherboard out. They're relatively easy to come by since that platform was used by Konami for a TON of games back in the late 90s.
This motherboard your talking about is the Jamma board? If I replace that, then I would need to move the ModEEPROM? I read I can get a thin flathead and slowly pry it up from both sides. Though I am worried about breaking one of its legs. If that happens I can replace with a DDR EEPROM from eBay. I suppose if that happens with a legit EEPROM and a working Flashcard I should be able to downgrade back to legit 7th mix in a worst case scenario. Is that correct?


to do:
recheck the 573 cables
verify if I am missing #2 and #7 cables as mentioned above (Will worry about this later if I still have an issue after the new flash card arrives)

--edit--
found the CD-DA IN you asked about. As you mentioned its the only cable that goes from the top motherboard (System 573 digital) to the bottom motherboard (Jamma). I reseated both ends of the cable, and still no sound effects. I did the sound test, and sound test 1 is silent, but sound test 2 is the same song as the demo song. I turned off the machine popped out the flash card and tried again. passes sound test 2, but fails sound test 1. So i'm guessing that sound test 1 relies upon installed data from the flash card that i'm missing from my bad flash card. I suppose it makes sense, keep all the streaming audio on the CD and sound effects on the card.

I also noticed that the CD Drive inside is one that is not found on any replacement guides. Its a Sony CDU-5221

Also found an ISO to DDR Extreme Pro 2, and tried it. It fails during the installation portion complaining about error 152.

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Re: Arcade machine flashing Color test bars

Post by YoSteven1 » Sat Jun 23, 2018 10:33 am

Found a Dance Dance Revolution Disney disc and it works. Since no flash is required for that version I can successfully install. After installation I can hear songs and sound effects.

Purchased a generic Linear flash that was 100% supposed with work with DDR. Seems to be made by Hitatchi Maxwell, though i cant get more info about it because it has no label and no serial numbers. The only info i have is from my Windows XP laptop with a PCMCIA port when it reads the card. Windows XP seems to see it and identify it properly but wont let me use it as an actual flash drive b/c of a windows error so im unable to test reading/writing. When I put the card in the DDR machine it does not fit in as deep as my Fujitsu card and the system still says error 152.

Ugh, dont know if its a flash card issue or a the GX700 mainboard issue.

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Re: Arcade machine flashing Color test bars

Post by MonMotha » Sat Jun 23, 2018 7:46 pm

Windows can't talk to linear flash cards without special software. They are not usable as normal flash drives like ATA flash cards are.

If it doesn't go in all the way, check that it's keyed the same as the original card. PCMCIA cards can be keyed for 3V, 5V, or universal operation. There's also a separate keying for 32-bit Cardbus-only operation, though I can't imagine any linear flash cards were ever made in the style. I would assume the System 573 is 5V.
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Re: Arcade machine flashing Color test bars

Post by YoSteven1 » Mon Jun 25, 2018 12:44 pm

I don't know what happened. I've taken the card and whole system out and re-inserted over 5 times in the bottom slot and it never worked. This time I was frustrated and just put the new card in the bottom and my existing card in the top slot and push hard to ensure they were solidly inserted, then added the DDR Extreme Pro v2 disc and it successfully installed! Looks like everything is working great right now. Now just to finish doing the foam tape pad mods.

Thanks a ton MonMotha for your assistance!

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Re: Arcade machine flashing Color test bars

Post by MonMotha » Mon Jun 25, 2018 10:30 pm

Soooo...DDR expects the card to be in slot 2. I don't remember whether that's the top or the bottom.

Other games on that platform using a flash card (DM, GF) expect the card to be in slot 1 as you might otherwise expect.
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Re: Arcade machine flashing Color test bars

Post by YoSteven1 » Wed Jun 27, 2018 9:04 pm

Yeah, all previous attempts were on slot 2 (bottom), just this time i added an additional card + pushing hard to ensure a secure connection.

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