Chrono Trigger Japanese to English

If it's the rom from me, the contents is confirmed working and the chip is tested as ok too.

 

Thanks, that is good to know.

As BadAd84 confirms, there should be no issues with the rom. It is Chrono Trigger, the retranslation.

I am in pal-land, but I use a Super famicom, so no CIC issues. No pads were lifted, I use a cheap chinese solder sucker, but it works pretty well, IC's drop right out after using it. All the pads looked good after removing the original mask rom.
Of course, I can't rule out any user errors, in desoldering/soldering, but I have done such things as install a nesrgb, and a ps2 modchip recently, so this should be a walk in the park, comparatively.
That so many mask rom pins had no connection to the cart connector without any visible damage to the board, even under a magnifying glass is a bit baffling to me.

 

I've never had problems with Bad_Ad84's chips
It's quite unusual yeah, best of luck with the other donor

 

Thanks! I've given up on this one. Beats me what happened to it, but somehow some vias have become damaged.

 

So, tried yet another donor, same type though. Checked and double checked that every mask rom pin has a connection to the cart connector, and....nothing.
Experience so far:
1:The vias on these boards are brittle as all get out.
2: Desoldering the mask rom from a donor cart will result in a genocide of pads.

Probably won't try it again until I can get a clean pcb with a zif socket to use as a test cart.

 

Hm, so the second donor is SHVC-BJ3M-20 as well?
It takes some practise to get it right, I use braid

 

Yes, I have no real statistiscs, but I've seen 3 Chrono trigger carts, all using that pcb, so If I was to guess I'd say it's the more common one.

And just to be clear, I don't mean the original mask rom. Those are easy to remove without damaging the pads. But the flash rom adapter has thick pin headers, which complicates the process if using a desolder gun. The biggest nozzle I have barely fit over, and this really doesn't work out well for the pads.
I should order some solder braid, the only kind I can buy locally is very low quality.

 

I don't think I understand, you are having troubles desoldering the flash rom from the non-working donor?
Removing the Mask ROM should really be the hardest part (if your flash is already soldered to the adapter)
Also, next time just get the SHVC-1J3M-20, don't get the one with 2 Mask ROMs

 

Yes, it's removing the flash rom that damages the pads.
I have a SHVC-1J3M-20 on the way. Think I might install a zif socket in it an use as a test cart.

 

But realistically you don't need to remove the flash rom, if properly soldered in the first place which should be really easy if you haven't lifted anything during the mask rom removal. Those pin headers are a breeze to solder

 

I agree that they are a breeze to solder. And yes, not lifting pads is also easy. Yet, as I said, some vias on this particular pcb are finicky. With no visible damage to the board, I've had the via from cart connector 45 to mask rom pin 1 stop working after desoldering the original mask rom. That was something I was able to fix though.
And realistically a confirmed working flash rom with all pins connected to the correct cart connector pins *should* work, yet here I am.

 

Got a pic of the flash rom board?

 

Here you go https://i.imgur.com/ULl08pY.jpg
Sorry about the flash lighting (pun not intended), best I could do right now.

 

Ok, so jumpers are correctly soldered.

Not sure what the issue is, other than an install problem. The tsop chips are fitted to the adapter and then programmed - confirming the chips are attached to the boards OK. The rom is verified working, as have provided them before.

 

Yes, I have no reason to distrust you in regards to the rom, although at this point it would be nice to blame something else than my install

Waiting for some blank PCB's from a seller relatively near me to become available, then I can test a clean install.

Say, a bit off topic, but I had an idea for a dual tsop adapter, to avoid the frankenstein installs seen in some dual rom setups. Is this something that already exists perhaps?

 

What do you mean by dual tsop adapter?

 

I mean that instead of using two tsop adapters, where one is loose, and connected via wires, they are both on the same board. Mind you, for all I know those installs I saw are old, and all this might be an obsolete way to to things anyway.

 

Only time I had to use two flash chips was for Tales of Phantasia. You would solder in the first one the normal way and the second flash would go on the other side of the pcb soldered onto the pin headers of the first adapter like a sandwich. The Mad1 chip needs to be desoldered and rewired. You can google it. Haven't really tried multi rom carts bigger than 32mbit

 

You don't even have to remove the maskrom honestly. Just cut leg 31 for 32-pin maskroms and cut leg 33 for 36-pin maskroms. Bend it over to pin 32/34 and solder them together. This ties the /OE line on the ROM to +5V, i.e. permanently disables the maskrom. No need for desoldering them which is always risking loss of pads if not using proper equipment/technique.

If there's 2 maskroms with a MAD-1 you can solder the adapter to either. Just make sure the A21 signal comes from edge 46 (hirom) or 47 (lorom). If it's a 16-mbit ROM also check that ROM A20 connects to edge 45 (hirom) or edge 46 (lorom). Normally you will find A20 and A21 signals on the MAD-1 pins as well. Finally the ROM /OE line is very important.

 

Thanks for the suggestion!