Seibu SPI Region errors?

[The_Chosen_One]

I've got a couple carts that I'm unsure if they are working or not, but I believe they are the wrong region for my mobo. I have a US motherboard, and when I put in Raiden Fighters it gives me some Japanese text and a number (can't remember right now) and when I put on a Viper Phase 1 it does the same with the number 7100 I believe.

So basically I'm hoping the carts work but are Japanese carts. Any info would be appreciated

If anyone can test and confirm these errors on working carts (if you happen to have both region mobo's) that would be ace.

[Ed Oscuro]

I think the update process might fix this...but as I'm still working on getting my lone SPI motherboard + cart combo stable I'd suggest to wait until somebody posts the answer. I think it may be as simple as flipping the JP1, booting, letting it do the dance tune, then flipping again. But then again maybe not so be careful. Worst news would be if it turns out like Skykid's deaded SPI motherboard (although that is fixable).

[The_Chosen_One]

I think the update process might fix this...but as I'm still working on getting my lone SPI motherboard + cart combo stable I'd suggest to wait until somebody posts the answer. I think it may be as simple as flipping the JP1, booting, letting it do the dance tune, then flipping again. But then again maybe not so be careful. Worst news would be if it turns out like Skykid's deaded SPI motherboard (although that is fixable).

Well I know for sure my US mobo works 100% as I have a US Raiden Fighters that works perfectly. The problem is the 2 carts I just received are untested etc, so I'm hoping they just aren't working because they are Jap carts.

But yea, I'll hold off a bit on the JP1 updating stuff until I hear something

[Ed Oscuro]

I believe you just have to update the motherboard for each cart. I suppose that means that highscores and other game settings are saved on the motherboard's flash RAM. It's too bad that process takes so long and has to be done for each game you put on it. But, as you said...

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Actually, it does take less than 10 minutes to update a newly installed SP1 cart on a SP1 mobo. I timed it once on my stopwatch. It's sure nice to have both JPN & USA region SP1 mobos on hand for them different region SP1 carts.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[The_Chosen_One]

Actually, it does take less than 10 minutes to update a newly installed SP1 cart on a SP1 mobo. I timed it once on my stopwatch. It's sure nice to have both JPN & USA region SP1 mobos on hand for them different region SP1 carts.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

Alright I can't update the carts because it just goes to the error and that's all I get. Any chance you know what error you'd get if you put the wrong region cart on a mobo?

[Dave_K.]

US mobo can't load JPN carts. You'd need a JPN region mobo.

I'd assume from the error you got at least you know those carts aren't 100% dead.

[RetroRepair]

They are giving you a checksum error because they are from the wrong region. Moveing JP1 won't do anything.

You either need a JPN motherboard or you can swap roms 1-4 (or 1-3 if there is no 4) for EPROMs with USA code on them.

[The_Chosen_One]

They are giving you a checksum error because they are from the wrong region. Moveing JP1 won't do anything.

You either need a JPN motherboard or you can swap roms 1-4 (or 1-3 if there is no 4) for EPROMs with USA code on them.

Awesome, this is good info. Thanks a lot guys, I'll see if a local gentleman I know with an Eprom burner can help me out with that (unless someone has a spare Jap mobo?).

[IronGiant]

If I may resurrect this thread - when the 'Check Sum Error' message appears due to a cart/motherboard region mismatch, does it ONLY say:

Check Sum Error

or is the above message followed by a four digit number?

I ask as I have a Raiden Fighters that is giving a:

Check Sum Error
1086


Changing the code on the cartridge (for Asia, Austria, Italy, Australia, etc) just produces the same error with a different four digit number.

So I'm wondering if this perhaps is NOT a region mismatch?

[IronGiant]

Any thoughts please?

[channelmaniac]

Necro bump...

I have a mobo here that was brought back from the dead... "Hardware error 82" by reflowing the CPU and the custom ICs. The error was fixed when the Yamaha sound IC and the custom SEI155 in the sound section were reflowed... but now it is giving me a Checksum Error.

I have a Raiden Fighters 2 cart for it, in US, but cannot get it to work on this motherboard. I've downloaded all the MAME dumps for the versions listed in mamest.com: rdft2, rdft2u, rdft2j, rdft2j2, rdft2a, rdft2a2, and rdft2t and have burned a crapload of EPROMs with the different program ROM versions, but still get a Checksum Error.

Any thoughts? I've already gone over the board 2x looking for solder bridges or poor solder joints. I've even reflowed the flash memory chips just in case.

Thanks!

RJ

[Dave_K.]

RJ, you'll want to read this thread.

in short:

If you can do SMD rework, desolder u1053, change the first byte
to the same as the last byte in ROM1 on the cart and you should
be good to go.

[channelmaniac]

Now to see if my local shop has a 40 pin TSSOP/TSOP socket that I can use to build a programming adapter tomorrow.

Thanks!

RJ

[channelmaniac]

Unfortunately the 2 shops nearby do not have it and nobody had one at work. I have one coming from an eBay seller in Taiwan.

If I can get this board fixed then that'll be another repair service I can offer.

[channelmaniac]

OK... Adapter came in... and it didn't work.

The TSSOP adapter had pin 1 in the middle of one side of the chip instead of at the corner so I had to rewire the adapter. Urg... What a PITA.

Pulled the chip from the board, read it, changed the first memory location to be 10h (it was 00h) then rewrote the data back to it. After soldering it in Raiden Fighters 2 came right up.

I put Raiden Fighters on the board to see if it would rewrite the flash properly. It did.

Next is to put RF2 back on it and let it reprogram again since I already have an older motherboard for the RF cart.

w00t!

Another system brought back to life.

RJ

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Fasinating to hear that a SP1 mobo can be revived from the dead, channelmaniac.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[channelmaniac]

Fasinating to hear that a SP1 mobo can be revived from the dead, channelmaniac.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

Thanks!

I had no issues putting RF2 back on it and letting it reflash the board.

This board was in a box of boards I'm in the middle of doing a trade on. The RF was in there too but it was a much easier repair as the flash wasn't corrupt. It just had a bad Z80, broken resistor pack, and some bad solder joints on the surface mount customs. Oh, and it was the C board, not the D like the RF2 came with.

RJ

[channelmaniac]

Fixed 2 more SPI boards tonight. One was a dead board (reflow surface mount chips & patch one damaged trace) and the other was a Checksum Error on a Taiwan board. Took me awhile to figure out the region info, but I got it.

Seems the region code is kept in the last byte of the PRG0 ROM.

The ones I've figured out so far are:
0x01 = Japan
0x10 = USA
0x20 = Taiwan

Since the Checksum Error was caused by the board freezing when writing to the flash, I reprogrammed U1053 with the region code then reflowed the other Flash ROM, the Yamaha sound IC, and the custom system controller IC next to the CPU.

I logged the repairs to my NLG repair logs, but thought I'd share the info here.

Raymond

[IronGiant]

Nice find, thanks for the info.

[emphatic]

Any chance of making a mobo region free?

[channelmaniac]

Sorry, I'm a repair junkie and not a programmer.

[trap15]

How much interest is there in such a thing? I'll look into it if people want.

[rtw]

How much interest is there in such a thing? I'll look into it if people want.

There is interest, but due to the nature of the carts one would need to make a "Region creator" cart which would inject the desired region into the motherboard. I'm travelling just now so I don't have access to my notes. Back in a week.

[trap15]

Yeah, I'm not super familiar with how SPI works, so I'm not really sure how feasible it would be. I'll probably message you next week if I think I want to give it a shot.

[channelmaniac]

Yeah, I'm not super familiar with how SPI works, so I'm not really sure how feasible it would be. I'll probably message you next week if I think I want to give it a shot.

32-bit CPU so the code will be split across 4 ROMs. You'll need a menuing system and input controls that would allow a user to set the desired region code into the Flash ROMs.

More documentation on the different region codes would be needed to finish filling out the list (Hong Kong and other regions)...

[rtw]

http://www.world-of-arcades.net/seibu_spi/

all this info was on the old woa

this is how it works IIRC

check region code in flash against last byte in program code
erase flash
copy sound data to flash
write back region code to flash

Simplest fix would be to:
Skip region check
Erase Flash
Skip Write
Allow correct region to be written based on last byte.

Of course the cart to do this on would have to be an old type where all ROMs are socketed.

[trap15]

Yeah, it seems like a "conversion cart" would probably be the easiest fix then; would just have to let the user select a region to write, then change just the region code in the flash.

[channelmaniac]

No need to erase the whole flash chip... Just change the one byte. It'll reload the data anyway.

[channelmaniac]

http://www.world-of-arcades.net/seibu_spi/

all this info was on the old woa

this is how it works IIRC

check region code in flash against last byte in program code
erase flash
copy sound data to flash
write back region code to flash

Simplest fix would be to:
Skip region check
Erase Flash
Skip Write
Allow correct region to be written based on last byte.

Of course the cart to do this on would have to be an old type where all ROMs are socketed.

Tried to email them about the 0x20 code being for Taiwan, but got this when emailing:

<sheep@world-of-arcades.com>:
No MX or A records for world-of-arcades.com