Eckhart or Mitch what do you make of this?

[+-^CrossBow^-]

Okay this file is a dump of a Scrapyard cart I just picked up at a flea market here locally. The game will only give me the title screen and the screen thereafter showing the kidnappers letter regarding my dog. After than...I get a blank black screen and a locked up 7800. Sometimes the music at the beginning will also be accompanied by a very loud and high pitch sound...as if there is about to be some disaster message displayed on a TV.

 

Either way, can you see what it going on with this cart? I have dumped it and there are many many differences between this dump and the one on the web which works. I am suspecting that is Scrapyard is a pal version.

 

CB's odd Scrapyard cart dump...

 

This is a raw file and doesn't have the header yet. I wanted to give you the raw bin so you can compare it more easily. I did add a header to it..and all it does it just scroll the Atari Logo fuji in the current version of Mess32 forever...

 

Let me Know!!!

 

Thanks!!!

[Eckhard Stolberg]

It's not a PAL version, it's a bad dump. Did you try to dump it a couple of times in a row to see, if you would get different results each time?

 

Anyway, comparing the ROMs shows that the differences are only in the higher bits of the bytes. This means either some dirty contacts or a timing problem when accessing the ROM, I think.

 

 

Ciao, Eckhard Stolberg

[+-^CrossBow^-]

Yeah...I dumped it three times...and this is the result I get each time...with those differences in the same spots. Therefore, I appear to have the unthinkable. I have a bad cart. My dumps of Commando came out fine so I don't think it is that. I will dump it again to be sure...but I typed this all three times I dumped it so far to be sure:

 

7800ctrl -tTEST Scrap1.bin (through Scrap3.bin)

 

It detected as a 78SG with the usual 512 pages being grabbed. As for the contacts...I have scrubbed this thing all over. I am suspecting that either this cart is bad...or...that there is a true incompatibility with the 84 model units and Scrapyard dog...just like the rumor that Dark Chambers won't work on the original 84 models either.

 

I will get that done later and let you know what I find. Thanks for looking!!!

[+Mitch]

Cro§Bow, it's hard to tell from your description, but it sounds like you have a bad cart. Maybe you could send to Atari and ask for a refund!

 

quote

or...that there is a true incompatibility with the 84 model units and Scrapyard dog...just like the rumor that Dark Chambers won't work on the original 84 models either.

 

I doubt it's an incompatibility issue, but you could try it on an another 7800 and see if it has a problem. BTW, it's the 2600 Dark Chambers that has an issue with some 7800's, not the 7800 version.

 

Mitch

http://atari7800.atari.org

[+-^CrossBow^-]

Okay Mitch, Eckhart,

 

I dumped it three more times today and all three compare with each other just fine. Then if I add the header to one of them and compare it again with the released dump...all I get in Mess32 is the Atari Logo scroller which loops and doesn't get past that point. Comparing the files at that point shows numerous differences between my dumps and the released rom. So my questions are...is it possible a component on the cart has gone bad? There are at least three caps and about 4 resistors on this cart. Could one of them going bad cause the condition this dump lists?

 

Keep in mind that when I pop this into my 7800, I do get the title screen for Scrap Yard dog...but most of the time while the music is playing I am also getting this really high pitch sound as well. Now if I let the game alone...it will eventually go to a black screen and that's it. This would be during the demo mode. If I start a game on the other hand I do get the first screen with your dog at the top and the letter stating they kidnappers have your dog and to pick up the phone at the end of the level. Then when it would actually switch over to the game, I get the same black screen. No sound...no nothing..just a black screen.

 

Since I am getting the title screen and that beginning screen I feel the rom is probably okay but wanted a second or third opinions. I would post the rom images I did today..but they are exactly the same as the one I already posted.

 

Also notice that the errors in the hi bits are spaced evenly throughout the whole rom image. Interesting. Too bad it would appear this rom isn't working...here I was wanting a Scrapyard dog...oh well.

[Eckhard Stolberg]

quote:

---

Originally posted by -^Cro§Bow^-:

Also notice that the errors in the hi bits are spaced evenly throughout the whole rom image. Interesting. Too bad it would appear this rom isn't working...here I was wanting a Scrapyard dog...oh well.

---

 

Very strange indeed. It could be a problem with overspeaking between some of the address lines and one of the data lines. Maybe you should check all the solder joints and the connections.

 

BTW, what board does this game use and how are the jumpers (labeled W#) set? And this is a used game, that has been working before, right? I'm asking because I once traded a shrikwrapped copy of Crossbow from a guy in Denmark which didn't work. The guy was nice enough to find me another copy of that game, which showed the same problems. So I opened one of the carts up, and it turned out that they soldered the wrong jumper close, so that the bankswitching wouldn't work and I was getting the graphics all messed up. After fixing the jumpers the game now works nicely.

 

 

Ciao, Eckhard Stolberg

[+-^CrossBow^-]

I just happen to have brought the cart up with me today...I will provide some scans...

 

Here is the top of the board:

 

Scrapyard Dog's PCB Top

 

and here is the bottom of the board:

 

Scrapyard Dog's PCB Bottom

 

the nicks etc that you see were actually on the board when I first saw it. the label had not yet been broken until I did it...so these were done at the factory. Perhaps you can shed some light off these scans. I will try to answer any further questions you may have.

 

Thanks!!!

[+Mitch]

Hmm, the 74LS08 looks somewhat suspicious at one end but it could be just the lighting in the scan. Does it look cooked at all to you?

Other than that, I didn't notice anything else odd on it.

 

Mitch

http://atari7800.atari.org

[+-^CrossBow^-]

Mitch...it is just the lighting..that SL chip is made by Hitachi where the others are Goldstar. The Hitachi has a shiny finish on the ceramic that the other two do not. Hence it refelected back more than it absorbed in the scan. Thanks for looking though. I am gonna meter out the stuff on it..and then retouch all the soldier joints and see what happens.

[DanBoris]

First question, are you putting the correct header information on the image once you have dumped it? The most important bytes are 53 and 54 which determine which type of cart it is.

 

The looping of the Atari logo indicates that the cart isn't passing the validation test. If it was passing the validation, but crashing when the cart started you probably wouldn't get the looping.

 

 

"Since I am getting the title screen and that beginning screen I feel the rom is probably okay but wanted "

 

This is not necessarily true. The bad sections of the ROM may be in the gameplay area not in the section of the code that displays the title page, etc. Since the real cart is getting through the validation test, at least the first bank of the ROM must be ok, but the validation check doesn't check anything beyond the first bank.

 

Dan

[+-^CrossBow^-]

Thanks Dan for the reply..

 

But as for the validation bit...I do think the cart wouldn't work...simply because My 7800 is modded with Eckhard's DevOS. So the encryption isn't checked for anymore. As for using the correct header...I simply copy and pasted the header from the released rom to the dump I made to check it. I copied from the beginning to the first real Cart rom data. Can't remember right off hand which offset that is. I did notice that at about every 100 byets of code the hi-bit is wrong. I took the cart apart already and noticed it has the main rom and three srams? Plus there are about 3 caps and 3 resistors for each. That is what led me to believe one of the components could be bad. Anyway, I thought it unlikely the rom could be bad as I have only had one bad cart ever and it was a Genesis game. Oh well, the RGVC guys joked stating that nothing was wrong with the cart but that my 7800 was simply too smart to allow a game like Scrapyard to run..hehhe...

 

Thanks again!