I bought a Nostra while away travelling and came back to test it. Originally it was sold with the following condition:
"-Face Nostradamus PCB.................................100.00
Let me clear about this PCB and the reason I am selling it for cheap... the PCB 8 times out of 10 plays just fine. However once in awhile it boots up to garbage on screen. Seems that gently flexing the PCB and a restart fixes the issue rightly and its back to business. I imagine its some dry solder joints somewhere on there and Im sure the right person could easily remedy that and have themselves a nice cheapy. Anyways, if the price is too high for its condition please let me know and I will change it to reflect this. Most importantly I want the buyer to know what they are buying and be happy with the purchase. But I dont want it to seem that its a garbage board because I played it for quite some time like this with rarely an issue."
I have not had it boot to a garbage screen at any point, or at least it goes from what appears to be a video test garbage screen to the RAM test. The RAM test has 'Sprite = Error" while all other parameters (Work/Color/BGI/BGO) are fine.
Probably bad sprite RAM (or bad connections on the sprite RAM). Might want to get someone to repair it, unless you feel confident in finding the sprite RAM and replacing it
Good chance it's cracked solder on a SMT chip given the original description and the observed fault. It needs to be sent for repair or sold as-is if you don't have soldering skills and equipment. Quite a lot of money to have paid for one with an even intermittent (allegedly) fault!
Bought stuff while away, came back to find two non-working PCB'S and a bunch of games below par compared to the description.
Feel a bit gutted since I'm bloody broke currently.
I bought Nostra in good faith since I dealt with Tigercranefist nefore several times and the same fault was acknowledged by PC Engine Fan x who owned it previously. Trouble is I have no trouble booting it, but the sprite error renders it unplayable.
Making matters even more enjoyable, there are no socketed chips on the board.
A bit of board flex remedies my slight sprite graphics corruption issue with the Nostradamus PCB and it plays 100% with sound working 100% as well. Considering that it's a Korean region Nostradamus PCB, it's still quite a fun arcade STG nevertheless. Gotta love the James Dean pic tribute on the selection menu screen.
