Konami Hornet Terraburst RTC Error

[DynamiteSJ]

Hi..

I just bought this game today and when i brought it home it doesnt work. I tested it before i purchased it and it worked at its location. When i got it home, powered it up.. it goes through all the roms with an "OK" and the next screen comes an error - RTC Self Check Error

After that the system resets and continues the cycle.

Ive been reading on this forum and found a Gradius 4 pcb which is the same Hornet setup. They had the error "RTC CHECKSUM ERROR! REINITIALIZING RTC"

They came to find out their problem was the lithum battery and the timekeeper ram. But the thing is.. they had a different error than what i have... Will their solution work for my problem?! It sounds similar

[dieKatze88]

First post!

I own a Gradius IV PCB. The one that used to be at TGA.

Try holding your test switch while applying power to the machine. For what its worth, that works on nearly any Konami board.

Don't try it while the board resets after that error comes up. You have to do it while power is being applied. The boards are picky like that.

note that this will also reset your EEPROM which will erase many things, high scores, operator settings. Stuff like that.

[DynamiteSJ]

Well.. that didnt work. Same error and same cycle.

I took some pics of the starting screen and PCB... anyone got any clues?






Also... if that M48t58Y-70PC1 nvram batt/chip is bad... does it need to be programmed with a programmer or just be installed?

[dieKatze88]

well I'm living on borrowed time on mine. my RTC doesn't hold a charge and is headed like a freight train to the problem you have now.

I hate to be the one to tell you this, but you have to replace your RTC. This requires a soldering iron and a ridiculous amount of skill. I remember reading about someone on these boards having it done/having the skill required to do it. If you find that person, let me know.

[dpful]

Yeah, search for the gradius IV thread (that I posted in, if it helps the search) to learn about how and who fixed mine. Every once and awhile, mine comes up with an RTC error and then powers up with default setting, or crashes, and it magically goes back to normal after I wiggle/adjust/tighten the jamma harness (the jamma adapter board- if you use one), perhaps implying that the way the board takes power is very touchy- maybe check your voltages? Especially if it worked before you brought it home (your battery didn't die that afternoon). --anyways, I'd never had a board give errors because of bad connection or voltage (rather than just not working) but this one does.

Besides, a dead battery (on gradius IV) deosn't shut down the game, it just loads up factory settings everytime.

[dieKatze88]

Yeah, search for the gradius IV thread (that I posted in, if it helps the search) to learn about how and who fixed mine. Every once and awhile, mine comes up with an RTC error and then powers up with default setting, or crashes, and it magically goes back to normal after I wiggle/adjust/tighten the jamma harness (the jamma adapter board- if you use one), perhaps implying that the way the board takes power is very touchy- maybe check your voltages? Especially if it worked before you brought it home (your battery didn't die that afternoon). --anyways, I'd never had a board give errors because of bad connection or voltage (rather than just not working) but this one does.

Besides, a dead battery (on gradius IV) deosn't shut down the game, it just loads up factory settings everytime.

I don't think its my voltages, I got a Sexy Paro from someone idiotic enough to ship it in styrofoam, and it killed the GX. He claimed I was a liar and I jumped through a few hoops for him (which included checking my voltages >_>) until he admited that the GX was dead and refunded me (I took another GX and put the SubPCB on it and got it working) but I know my voltages are Dead-on-balls accurate running both the Hornet and the various GX systems that are floating around my house.

I haven't played G4 in a while, and I recently spent time cleaning the edge connectors on the adapter board and the GX's I own. Maybe it'll be happier now, but I doubt my battery is going to come back, it was dead for a year at TGA before I bought the thing

To be fair to the Hornet, its not surprising at all that the thing has problems. Gradius IV was a test game. this hardware was built to do one thing, and one thing only, and that's run Silent Scope. Everything else was testing, using the crap Konami had around to do things that they wanted to do. It's not as durable as older hardware, and it wasn't really built to be part of a "Shove me into a random cabinet" situation, so it doesn't surprise me at all.

Have you considered hooking yours up with JVS and seeing if that eliminates some of your boot woes?

[DynamiteSJ]

I have two PCBs and they both do the same thing... One is what it came with and the other is a jamma cabinet conversion kit which was bought back when it was new and never touched. I unplugged and reconnected it tons of times, hold the test at start up, and anything i can try... i am sure the timekeeper rom is bad on both.

Now anyone know a good programmer that isnt too expensive to program the timekeeper nvram chip?

Thanks