SYSTEM246 DEAD

PCB problems and fixes
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VIDEOTRONICS
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SYSTEM246 DEAD

Post by VIDEOTRONICS »

can some one revive dead NAMCO system 246


i had battery dead on test mode

i changed cr2032 battery (3 boards)


realised after (spoke to namco) killed all boards
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Re: SYSTEM246 DEAD

Post by purplec »

I thought that battery was for only scores?

I didn't know 246 could suicide
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Re: SYSTEM246 DEAD

Post by VIDEOTRONICS »

purplec wrote:I thought that battery was for only scores?

I didn't know 246 could suicide

thats what namco said

they even cant repair, said send back to japan

i changed battery on 3 boards hoping i was refurbing them
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Re: SYSTEM246 DEAD

Post by purplec »

so they were working and you swapped the battery out and it killed the board?

Was the board off at the time?
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Re: SYSTEM246 DEAD

Post by VIDEOTRONICS »

Yes removed boards cleaned changed battery killed it

Tried again and again killed 3 boards damm

Same here I had no idea a simple battery kill the board
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Re: SYSTEM246 DEAD

Post by grantspain »

that's weird as i have changed a few without issue
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Re: SYSTEM246 DEAD

Post by leonardoliveira »

I have a 246 with Tekken 4 (TEF1 REVC) and it works fine even with a flat battery.

Are you sure you replaced the two flat cables which connect the PS2 board (COH-30000) to the NAMCO board correctly ? :roll:

Yes System 246 is not afflicted with suicide battery.

Power the unit on, connect a PS2 AV cable to it and connect the audio cables to a amplifier. Turn it on with the dongle NOT CONNECTED and see if you hear a "beep beep beep" sound on the amplifier (it's the PS2 motherboard heartbeat sound, meant to allow a technician to diagnose if it's booting or not). The NAMCO board cuts the sound and video while the COH-30000 is booting, but if you could see it on the TV it would be a blue screen with debug messages about the "DANGLE" detection and program boot up.

You should check if you broke anything while disassembling for clean up.

Edit: This is the video you get from the COH-30000 board while the game isn't started yet (notice that you have to connect the COH-30000 straight to a RGB monitor to see this as the NAMCO board does block this from appearing...)

Image
Image
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Re: SYSTEM246 DEAD

Post by dion »

VIDEOTRONICS wrote:can some one revive dead NAMCO system 246


i had battery dead on test mode

i changed cr2032 battery (3 boards)


realised after (spoke to namco) killed all boards
afaik system246 only have 2 battery. one in psu board, one in base board. where's the 3rd?

and no, change battery won't kill the board. you must made a mistake back then.
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Re: SYSTEM246 DEAD

Post by chacal »

Change IDE Ribbon ;) ant adjust +5V
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Re: SYSTEM246 DEAD

Post by VIDEOTRONICS »

3 boards dead same machine?
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Re: SYSTEM246 DEAD

Post by VIDEOTRONICS »

leonardoliveira wrote:I have a 246 with Tekken 4 (TEF1 REVC) and it works fine even with a flat battery.

Are you sure you replaced the two flat cables which connect the PS2 board (COH-30000) to the NAMCO board correctly ? :roll:

Yes System 246 is not afflicted with suicide battery.

Power the unit on, connect a PS2 AV cable to it and connect the audio cables to a amplifier. Turn it on with the dongle NOT CONNECTED and see if you hear a "beep beep beep" sound on the amplifier (it's the PS2 motherboard heartbeat sound, meant to allow a technician to diagnose if it's booting or not). The NAMCO board cuts the sound and video while the COH-30000 is booting, but if you could see it on the TV it would be a blue screen with debug messages about the "DANGLE" detection and program boot up.

You should check if you broke anything while disassembling for clean up.

Edit: This is the video you get from the COH-30000 board while the game isn't started yet (notice that you have to connect the COH-30000 straight to a RGB monitor to see this as the NAMCO board does block this from appearing...)

Image
#
hi

im getting that video screen on 1 of the boards, tried many correct dvd and dongle still get boot file error, dvd and dongle fine on another board?
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Re: SYSTEM246 DEAD

Post by leonardoliveira »

VIDEOTRONICS wrote: #
hi

im getting that video screen on 1 of the boards, tried many correct dvd and dongle still get boot file error, dvd and dongle fine on another board?

Check the PS2 controller port connector, the flatcable and the connectors throughly.

The "Dongle" is not really a dongle. It's a special/custom PS2 memory card with 8MB of flash memory. Inside there's the whole game program and firmware for the ALTERA chip on the NAMCO board. The DVD disc has all of the game data but nothing of the game program.


If the system can't read the memory card the game won't boot ever.
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Re: SYSTEM246 DEAD

Post by VIDEOTRONICS »

checked all


blank screen and get that re occuring alarm noise

other is boot failure

maybe its corrupted the dongle?
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Re: SYSTEM246 DEAD

Post by subbie »

Small question. Are you messing with a model A, B or C unit?
Namco System 246/256/357 Software List
******** Help Fill in the blanks *******
http://www.smalllinks.com/P60" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Re: SYSTEM246 DEAD

Post by VIDEOTRONICS »

subbie wrote:Small question. Are you messing with a model A, B or C unit?

RACK B units
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Re: SYSTEM246 DEAD

Post by leonardoliveira »

Can you post picture of the COH-30000 board that boots ? (the bottom side)

I only have one early unit (Sony board is of GH-006 type) and I don't know how the other types look like.
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Re: SYSTEM246 DEAD

Post by andygeezer »

Pretty sure namco added something to time crisis 3. You can't simply use the CD and dongle on another rack. Knowing namco they probably use some key held in CMOS. Hence removing the cr2032 killed it.

Battle gear 4 games suffer from a similar issue.
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Re: SYSTEM246 DEAD

Post by subbie »

So what 3 batteries did you replace? I can only think of possibly 2 (one on the ps2 board, the one on the underside namco board), I know rack A units have an extra ram(?) interface pcb that can have a battery on it but most B racks don't have this (BR3 pcb http://www.libblerabble.com/images/arca ... 6/pcb2.jpg")

The on on the namco one should be replaceable with out breaking. =/ (this on http://newastrocity.files.wordpress.com ... m246-6.png")

Sadly I have no rack B anymore to check this out my self.
andygeezer wrote:Pretty sure namco added something to time crisis 3. You can't simply use the CD and dongle on another rack. Knowing namco they probably use some key held in CMOS. Hence removing the cr2032 killed it.

Battle gear 4 games suffer from a similar issue.
I've booted a TC3 on different racks. :eh: Sure it's not just a DVD incompatibility issue? Lots of early 246 games are very finicky on the DVD drives (with some not being compatible with 256 units, again due to some change in the drive interface as they hang on loads)
Namco System 246/256/357 Software List
******** Help Fill in the blanks *******
http://www.smalllinks.com/P60" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Re: SYSTEM246 DEAD

Post by VIDEOTRONICS »

cr2032 battery i changed

boards blank screen


ive used tekken 4 rack b in past on time crisis 3 worked fine

rack b are ok for tc3

preety sure the battery changed has killed them


namco also confirmed this?
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Re: SYSTEM246 DEAD

Post by subbie »

So you replaced the battery on the underside of the unit (on the namco pcb). I still don't think that should kill it as others have changed it with out issue.

Have you tried what was suggested and plug a PS2/PS3 video cable directly into the ps2 pcb and to a tv to see what it logs?

Also if you don't mind me asking, what game were you using on the 246? (gonna take a guess it's tekken4?)

=/ If I still had a 246b sitting around I'd try this my self to prove it should be ok but I only have C racks and 256.
Namco System 246/256/357 Software List
******** Help Fill in the blanks *******
http://www.smalllinks.com/P60" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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