Neo Geo:Chip Replacements

Some chips on Neo Geo motherboards or cartridges can go bad. Luckily, there are some drop-in replacements for these chips.

Symptoms

NEO-BUF

NEO-BUF replacement chip.

• Random reboots during gameplay, particularly on a 161-in-1 cart.
• Green screen on boot, and it's not a typical calendar error.

NEO-ZMC2

NEO-ZMC2 replacement chip.

• Vertical stripes to appear on sprites.
• Completely missing audio on MVS systems

NEO-257

NEO-257 replacement chip.

?

NEO-273

NEO-273 replacement chip.

Graphics (sprites and text) glitches.

NEO-D0

NEO-D0 replacement chip.

?

NEO-E0

NEO-E0 replacement chip.

A faulty NEO-E0 chip prevents the system or specific slots (on multi-slot systems) from booting.

NEO-G0

NEO-G0 replacement chip.

?

BA10324

Replace with a JRC 2058D chip.

• Scratchy or terrible audio for some instruments. (example)

PCM Chip (Game Cartridge)

PCM Chip replacement chip.

A faulty PCM chip may cause audio issues on a single game cartrige.

Installation

1. Remove the faulty chip with hot air.
2. Remove the remaining solder on the PCB pads with solder braid if the surface isn't perfectly flat.
3. Clean up the eventual flux residue with IPA.
4. Place the NEO-BUF replacement board in the right orientation (see pin 1 mark), align it precisely, and solder the 4 corners using a generous amount of flux.
5. Drag-solder all the sides or solder each pin individually. The small castellated contacts will "attract" solder by capillary action. Make sure none of the contacts are bridged.