De-Suicding SSF2T USA Blue Board

PCB problems and fixes
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Re: De-Suicding SSF2T USA Blue Board

Post by NoAffinity »

I checked continuity and got the following results:

CN2 DL-1827 (decryption controller)
A32 pin 131
A31 pin 69
A30 pin 132
A29 pin 151 and 156

I followed the trace for pin 151 back to the edge of CN2, wherein it disappears underneath the connector and I can't tell where it is supposed go. Unlikely there's a short underneath the connector. The trace for pin 156 apparently travels underneath DL-1827, and I cannot follow it...at least not without desoldering DL-1827, which I'm not prepared to do just yet.

Does the pinouts appear correct?

:edit: I gave the board a thorough once over under the magnifiers, and found a couple places with some minor damage. Traces are exposed, but I was able to get continuity across the damage. Nothing requiring immediate repair that I could find.

I also burned a set of SSF2X roms and tried programming the SSF2X encryption key. Same result - no joy.

Just for shirts and goggles, I probed for voltage on DL-1827, and found it at all four corners - one pin carrying 3.34V on each row of legs.
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Re: De-Suicding SSF2T USA Blue Board

Post by leonardoliveira »

The important chip is DL-1525 (SPA). DL-1827 (CIF) is not related to the encryption. The data passes through it as a mean of trying to confuse people reverse engineering the board.

The data is forwarded from CIF to SPA through some "concealed" traces. Anyway if you can't make that particular board work encrypted you may able to unencrypted. So I don't know if it's really worth the hassle. You may be able to source another B board to run your encrypted copy of SSF2T...
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Re: De-Suicding SSF2T USA Blue Board

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leonardoliveira wrote:The important chip is DL-1525 (SPA). DL-1827 (CIF) is not related to the encryption. The data passes through it as a mean of trying to confuse people reverse engineering the board.

The data is forwarded from CIF to SPA through some "concealed" traces. Anyway if you can't make that particular board work encrypted you may able to unencrypted. So I don't know if it's really worth the hassle. You may be able to source another B board to run your encrypted copy of SSF2T...
CPS2 Shock shows DL-1827 as the decryption controller. Is that not accurate, or am I just misunderstanding what the real purpose of DL-1827 is?

There was no continuity from CN2 pins 29 - 32 to any of the other QFP's.

The board will run decrypted sets no problem. Last night, I started thinking more about depopulating that spare X-men vs SF board I have and moving all of the ST chips to it. This apparently non-encryptable board may end up being a good candidate for a darksoft kit, mehtinks. :shifty:
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Re: De-Suicding SSF2T USA Blue Board

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Well I pulled my spare xvsf board and found it to be a rev -3 with only one connector for a daughterboard, not the 2 that are needed for the ST daughterboard. So I pulled out my original xvsf and found it is a rev -4. Bit the bullet and swapped all socketed chips from the st board to the xvsf board. The xvsf was running original battery (tested good). Tried programming the st key - no good. Swapped everything back, tried programming the xvsf key - no good. I now have 2 semi bricked rev -4's.

So, I gave my arduino a once over. Reflowed all solder joints that looked even remotely questionable, not there really were any. Have tried programming the xvsf key about 10 times now. Doing it with the board installed on the A board. No joy.

I have checked the arduino for basic power on indications that it is good. The LCD screen operates like it's supposed to with the arcade hacker sketch loaded. Anybody know much about the arduino, and how to check that there isn't some issue with it?
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Re: De-Suicding SSF2T USA Blue Board

Post by VectorGlow »

Did you contact Eduardo Cruz via jammaplus? If there's a consistent problem with reviving rev -4 boards then he needs to know and can no doubt resolve the issue. He's your best bet I think given all the work that he has put into the method using the Arduino Uno.
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Re: De-Suicding SSF2T USA Blue Board

Post by copados33 »

You are not alone in this, and it could be something related to PAL-F games perhaps.?
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Re: De-Suicding SSF2T USA Blue Board

Post by leonardoliveira »

Seems like programming of CN2 boards only works for me? Maybe the pinout is wrong? Have you tried swapping the wires around?

How about you take a board with CN9 and trace how the IC pins connect to the arduino? Mimic that on the CN2 board. (Measure connections between the actual chip and the arduino pins).

It's proven (by Arcadehacker's work) that the information on CPS2Shock about the board chips is bogus.

Finally, the Arduino can't verify anything. It just spits the bitstream and hopes for the best. It only says it has finished it's job.
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Re: De-Suicding SSF2T USA Blue Board

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leonardoliveira wrote:Seems like programming of CN2 boards only works for me? Maybe the pinout is wrong? Have you tried swapping the wires around?

How about you take a board with CN9 and trace how the IC pins connect to the arduino? Mimic that on the CN2 board. (Measure connections between the actual chip and the arduino pins).
Good idea. New update. Took a board w/ CN2 (rev -3) that I had de-suicided, programmed it with the wrong key, confirmed it wasn't booting properly, attempted to program the correct key - no go. (3) CN2 boards now "dead", including one that I had previously programmed successfully. :problem:

That's a good thought on the pin tracing, I will give that a go. I'm obviously getting desperate at this point. Also looking at my arduino as a likely source of the issues. Going to pick up a replacement from the local electronics store today. Thankfully, they're pretty inexpensive. I'm also questioning the power supply that I use to power the arduino...possibly it's not giving good power and causing the arduino to spit out garbage. No stone unturned, at this point.
leonardoliveira wrote:It's proven (by Arcadehacker's work) that the information on CPS2Shock about the board chips is bogus.
Good to know. That is unfortunate.
leonardoliveira wrote:Finally, the Arduino can't verify anything. It just spits the bitstream and hopes for the best. It only says it has finished it's job.
Yeah, I figured that much. Would be nice if it could, and if you could even extract the key from a working board before doing anything that could potentially bugger it. Would also be nice if there was a way to validate what the arduino is spitting out, possibly with a second arduino acting as the critical components of the CPS2. I'm sure those are just pipe dreams tho, and certainly outside of my realm of expertise as a lowly tech/tinkerer.
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Re: De-Suicding SSF2T USA Blue Board

Post by VectorGlow »

@NoAffinity - sorry to repeat this question, but:

Did you contact Eduardo Cruz via jammaplus? If there's a consistent problem with reviving rev -4 boards then he needs to know and can no doubt resolve the issue. He's your best bet I think given all the work that he has put into the method using the Arduino Uno.

:D
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Re: De-Suicding SSF2T USA Blue Board

Post by NoAffinity »

VectorGlow wrote:@NoAffinity - sorry to repeat this question, but:

Did you contact Eduardo Cruz via jammaplus? If there's a consistent problem with reviving rev -4 boards then he needs to know and can no doubt resolve the issue. He's your best bet I think given all the work that he has put into the method using the Arduino Uno.

:D
I haven't yet because I now have a problem board that was previously revived, so it's putting my setup in question. I need to do some additional checks before pinging Eduardo.
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Re: De-Suicding SSF2T USA Blue Board

Post by VectorGlow »

Fair enough, good luck. :)
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Re: De-Suicding SSF2T USA Blue Board

Post by leonardoliveira »

Connect four leds to the wires coming from the arduino and see if they toggle as the thing works through the key writing
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Re: De-Suicding SSF2T USA Blue Board

Post by NoAffinity »

I will give that a try.

Some more bad news, followed by some light off in the distance, finally. Pinning out a CN9 board (SF Zero 3), I managed to kill that board. :sick:

But I was able to reprogram the encryption key and bring it back to life. :slowclap:

So, there is some hope. I don't think anything useful was learned from the pinout, but I'm about to cross reference. I did find that pin 12 of the Arduino, which corresponds to A29 of CN2, is continuous to DL-1727 pin 62. No other Arduino pins have continuity to any other the other QFP's, other than those I already identified at DL-1827.
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Re: De-Suicding SSF2T USA Blue Board

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Success at last! It was the MF'ing power supply powering the Arduino. :palm: Although, it really doesn't make logical sense, I will take the win.

I was using a power supply rated for 7.5V DC @ 1A (1000mA), via the DC jack. It was outputting 12V DC. The Arduino is rated for 6V - 20V, but is recommended for 7V - 12V. Should be good with a power supply outputting 12V, right? :think:

Well, I started testing any power supply in my possession that would physically plug into the Arduino. I first tried a Ninentdo official power supply - 9V @ 1.5A - should've been within spec. It would power the Arduino, but the Arcade Hacker Program text would never appear on the LCD screen. I then pulled a different power supply, rated at 5V and 4A. It measures at 5.17V DC output when powered. This should be outside of Arduino spec. This is the one that worked. :palm: :palm:

At this point, I don't even care why. All I know is my (3) boards are resurrected, the last of which was the most joyous of the successes - Super SF2 Turbo.

Thank you all for the help and for riding out the nightmare with a fellow collector. :) I think something has been gained here - a recommendation to others who are having problems programming their CN2 boards. I have also gained a bit of knowledge on ensuring a proper setup when reviving CPS2's.

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Re: De-Suicding SSF2T USA Blue Board

Post by VectorGlow »

Very well done! :D

Curious about the power supply though as have never had that issue because I power my Arduino via the USB cable plugged into my PC, however you have to remember about the current draw - obviously 1.5A wasn't enough from one of your PSUs but 4A was.

Here's the specs for the Uno:

https://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/arduinoBoardUno/

As you also know, the Arduino on its own cannot power the B board which is why you power that separately. I use my JAMMA PSU (which I use for my arcade board repairs).
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Re: De-Suicding SSF2T USA Blue Board

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VectorGlow wrote:Very well done! :D

Curious about the power supply though as have never had that issue because I power my Arduino via the USB cable plugged into my PC, however you have to remember about the current draw - obviously 1.5A wasn't enough from one of your PSUs but 4A was.

Here's the specs for the Uno:

https://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/arduinoBoardUno/

As you also know, the Arduino on its own cannot power the B board which is why you power that separately. I use my JAMMA PSU (which I use for my arcade board repairs).
Well aware of power needed from an external source, to power the board. I have dedicated lines run to the switching PS that powers my test rig. I always check voltage at one of the program roms before hooking up the Arduino, as well.

It says the voltage requirements pretty clearly at that link:

Input Voltage (recommended) 7-12V
Input Voltage (limit) 6-20V

It also goes on to say:
The board can operate on an external supply from 6 to 20 volts. If supplied with less than 7V, however, the 5V pin may supply less than five volts and the board may become unstable. If using more than 12V, the voltage regulator may overheat and damage the board. The recommended range is 7 to 12 volts.

A 5V power supply should be out of spec. Everything I've dug up on the power current requirements says 500mA - 1000mA are recommended....1000 mA if you're powering a motor off the board or 20 LED's or something crazy. I can't find any useful information on the power draw of the LCD screen, but I can't imagine it would be a significant drain that is greater than a motor. :penser:
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Re: De-Suicding SSF2T USA Blue Board

Post by VectorGlow »

Very curious. Maybe some Arduino afficianados would be able to state why you had problems based on your findings? I'm guessing there is a decent Arduino messageboard out there (I've never looked).
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Re: De-Suicding SSF2T USA Blue Board

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I refuse to believe that this is the only problem with this whole proccess, since I have been swapping parts, (tried with different arduino boards), and yes, I changed the p.supply (I was also using a 9v and 12v units ) also tried the A board power method and none of that worked, so something fishy may have happened in between all the steps you took in before you achieved success, in the meantime I'll just stick to phoenixing my dead boards and avoid dealing with licking batteries, I don't care for game presrervation, being able to play the pcbs is enough for me :awe: .
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Re: De-Suicding SSF2T USA Blue Board

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copados33 wrote:I refuse to believe that this is the only problem with this whole proccess, since I have been swapping parts, (tried with different arduino boards), and yes, I changed the p.supply (I was also using a 9v and 12v units ) also tried the A board power method and none of that worked, so something fishy may have happened in between all the steps you took in before you achieved success, in the meantime I'll just stick to phoenixing my dead boards and avoid dealing with licking batteries, I don't care for game presrervation, being able to play the pcbs is enough for me :awe: .
I hear ya man. After endless frustration, there comes a time to throw in the towel and go with a known solution.

I can confidently say that nothing else changed. I was even messing with the arduino sketch code to some very small degrees last night - clock timings, and just a silly thing, but causing the "Unlocking" message to display for a quarter second rather than just blipping on and off the screen. I went back to the original code this morning (which had been uploaded to the Arduino multiple times over the last week). I tried the stock setup again a couple times this morning before swapping the power supply. First try on Xmen vs SF board #1 with the 5V power supply and board connected to A board (no external power through CN7) - no luck. Pulled XVSF #1 off the A board, powered it through CN7 and the 5V power supply on the Arduino, first try - board was revivied. I then tried XVSF board #2, with the board installed on the A board and no external power through CN7, 5V power supply on Arduino - no go. I removed XVSF #2 from the A board, and first try with the 5V power supply and removed from the A board - the board was revived.

I then swapped original SSF2T roms onto that board, hooked everything up with the board not connected to the A board. First try with the 5V power supply on the arduino - the board was revived.

These are boards that I had shot an encryption key into, each of them, countless times. First try with 5V power supply and board not installed on the A board, each one immediately came back to life. I can confidently say, no question in my mind, it was the Arduino power supply.

It is also worth mentioning that the SFZ3 board that I kiled yesterday and brought back to life, I first tried reviving that one with it connected to the A board and it didn't work. I removed it from the A board and powered it externally, and it revived on the first try after being removed from the A board (that was with the 7.5V power supply outputting 12V). I can also confidently say that trying to program the encryption key with the B board connected to the A board and being powered by the A board did not work for me. Voltages were tested at program roms on every attempt - confimred in the range of 5.05V - 5.1V. I could've been doing something wrong, voltage not just right, or who knows, for the A+B board method, but I'm not chasing that rabbit. I've invested way too much time into this effort already. :problem: :cry: I'm just happy things are working how I want them, again.
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Re: De-Suicding SSF2T USA Blue Board

Post by leonardoliveira »

Have the CPS2 power the arduino and all your problems will be gone in an instant. That's probably why I have 100% success in this stuff. :awe:

Having the A board connected or not doesn't matter because the system is kept held down by reset signal being asserted. If you have the A board connected you can power the B board properly by the supergun which will make your life a lot easier. Even more if you leech power from the CPS2 B board to power up the Arduino.
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