Carnival

Carnival on a Gremlin / Sega Vic Dual PCB.

Just had blue bars on screen, although probing the Z80 showed it was trying to run code.

Using a logic probe I discovered that the /WRITE signal of the ram chips was always high. This signal comes from a 74LS10 at U77. Checked this chip and one of the inputs – WG (pin 4) was always low, so the NAND output was always high. WG signal is generated from the 74LS175 at U19 and sure enough, Q and /Q were static.

Replacing this chip returned the write signal to normal, and fixed the game.

Similar Posts

  • Missile Command

    The board originally failed to get into the game, instead resetting just after drawing the ‘MISSILE COMMAND’ logo. Test mode faired a little better, managing to report RAM OK, MAP OK and ROM OK before resetting. Ram and Rom checked out OK using the Fluke. Measuring various CPU signals revealed that the interrupt seemed very…

  • Frogger (Sega)

    Missing Chip. This was a converted moon cresta board. The IC at 1.2S (shoehorned in sideways between rows 1 and 2 by the sprite ram) was missing. This was not featured on any schematics I had, so I traced the connections to see what it could be. It basically takes the output from the sprite…

  • The Invaders – Zaccaria

    Totally dead, no screen display (blank white screen).  For this I used the Fluke Z80-S2650 adapter to check out the ram and rom, and located two errors. The rom mapping was incorrect, with a large range of locations returning random values. Examining the board (since I have no schematics), all of the chip select lines meet up…

  • Neo Geo

    6 Slot – Memory test on power up giving error  Address    Write Read  00008000 5555 55FF Checking with Mame, the memory chips in question were only small, so looking at the board revealed two DIL 5814’s. Chip select signals to these were toggling as expected, so I needed to identify which ram chip was which….

  • Gallag

    Ran through self test OK, came up with chequer board screen and then reset most of the time. Occasionally would start game, but with credit noise continually playing and credits rapidly counting upwards. This is caused by CPU 4 (E5) not running properly. checked the eprom and ram (C5,D5 and E5) and ram was faulty….

  • Hantarex MTC9000/A

    No picture, Hole blown through LOPT. Had problems tracking down replacement – little tip given to me by Hantarex engineer – you can use the LOPT from an MTC9000 as long as you cut pin 2 off. (If you leave it connected, you will get a direct short to GND)