SEGA Mega-Tech repair log #2

Got K1ngarth3r’s Mega-Tech PCB here.

On these boards there is a daughterboard present which houses the Z80 used for the menu.

This daughterboard is used for book keeping and isn’t really required so to save space I fitted the Z80 directly into the slot the daughterboard previously occupied.

The fault was the board didn’t see slots 4, 6 or 7 as shown in the picture he sent

Initial inspection showed the EPROM for the menu was fitted upside down but it wasn’t dead and the menu wouldn’t work at all if this were the actual fault.

Using the partial schematics I made a few years ago I could quickly pinpoint an area to start checking from.

Using my latest favorite tool, Slice, I could easily see that for some reason the 3 aforementioned cartridge slots were never being addressed.

This is a bit weird as on initial look at the disassembled code it seemed that it just counted through the slots.
A bit more code scrutinizing revealed that the CXD1095 chips are read back between slot addressing.
Using the Fluke 9010 I could now see that at certain output configuration on the CXD1095’s would lock up the chip and skip whatever it was doing.
I wasn’t really surprised at this because every single Mega-Tech PCB I’ve looked at has had issues with these chips.
I ordered a couple of these chips up and waited….. and waited……… and waited until I got hit with a lovely little letter from Royal Mail telling me I owed them money for customs fee’s.
I paid this and a couple of days later I received my items.
I removed the old and fitted the new

Pleased to say this board is now working again