Neo Geo:Chip Replacements
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The NEO-BUF chip on some motherboards can go bad. There is a drop-in replacement for these chips by furrtek found on Tindie.
Symptoms
- Random reboots during gameplay, particularly on a 161-in-1 cart.
- Green screen on boot, and it's not a typical calendar error.
Installation
- Remove the faulty NEO-BUF chip with hot air.
- Remove the remaining solder on the PCB pads with solder braid if the surface isn't perfectly flat.
- Clean up the eventual flux residue with IPA.
- 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.
- 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.