Neo Geo:Chip Replacements
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Some chips on Neo Geo motherboards or cartridges can go bad. Luckily, there are some drop-in replacements for these chips.
Symptoms
NEO-BUF
- 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
- Vertical stripes to appear on sprites.
- Completely missing audio on MVS systems
NEO-257
?
NEO-273
Graphics (sprites and text) glitches.
NEO-D0
?
NEO-E0
A faulty NEO-E0 chip prevents the system or specific slots (on multi-slot systems) from booting.
NEO-G0
?
BA10324
Replace with a JRC 2058D chip.
- Scratchy or terrible audio for some instruments. (example)
PCM Chip (Game Cartridge)
A faulty PCM chip may cause audio issues on a single game cartrige.
Installation
- Remove the faulty 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.