Repair Journey - Neo Geo CD

Last year I was offered a Neo Geo CD toploader which was in good cosmetical condition but it was unknown wheter it worked or not.


As I was so cheap I decided to purchase the unit, as I always regret selling my Neo Geo in 2011.

The console was loose. First thing I had to do was to pick up a PSU, a pad or stick and games to test the unit. (Gladly I knew that I could use my Mega Drive RGB cable with it) I played with the idea to convert a Laptop PSU to work with the console but decided to look around first.

I went to various sources and found a private seller in Germany who offered me the PSU and Garou Densetsu Special for a very reasonable price of around 25€.

Genuine PSU

In the meantime I got lucky on an auction on the e commerce bay and managed to score a Neo Geo Stick for around 70€. (I almost cried when I remembered that I sold my CIB Stick for I think 40€ back then)

After everything arrived I decided to give it ago. Of course I did not expect the unit to work flawlessy and was greeted with a black screen when I powered the unit on - BUT - I could hear the sound that was playing when the console boots.

After researching the topic on the WWW I found out that a few conductors often die and cause the issue.
After opening the console I had to get familar with the innerts. There is not too much going on in there.

The conductors where easily found and I started checking continuity of the conductors with my multimeter. L5 was faulty and had no continuity. I wasn't able to track down a replacement and just soldered a 0 Ohm bridge.

Find the bridge next to the big capacitor

Tadaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. From now on the black screen was gone and I had a beautiful crisp picture.

Black screen magically disappeared

Next I targeted the language as the menu was all in japanese. Not that it's really necessary to read the whole menu but I thought it would be nice and soldered another 0 Ohm bridge at JN1 to toggle the system into US mode.

How convienient! You can look up the jumper to bridge right in the system.

JN1 bridge

 
After that was done I tested the system. Of course the CD wouldn't move.
So I ordered a replacement laser from the big bay.

H8147AF is the parts number and it is originally produced by SHARP.

Order the right one, not the left one! (Says SHARP)

Of course the cheap shit wouldn't work. I wondered if there was a solder bridge I had to desolder but there was none. I just pushed my luck and started experimenting with the spindle height as the laser diode was definitly moving up and down.

After lots of experimenting with the height the disc finally started to spin.
And guess what? - The Neo Geo CD refused to read the disc. After some unnecessary pot measuring and fine tuning I realized that the laser diode wasn't capable enough to read anything.

No luck here

 

So beware of cheap aftermarket laser pickups that don't have SHARP written on them.

In the meantime I ordered an "original" SHARP pickup from ali in china which was more expensive than the first one andI managed to break the spindle of the Neo Geo CD. After trying to glue it back together I threw it in the bin as it was impossible that this would ever work again.

Next step was to go back online and order a replacement spindle. Naturally, there is none!
So I went with Playstation spindles from China. They came and they fitted perfect, at first! (more about that later...)

Doing the Frankenstein!

 
Then I had an idea. Before I adjusted the spindle height I took out the old laser pickup and replaced it with the new one.

Maybe the old one would work properly? Mounted the original laser in place and adjusted all pots. All of them were incorrect value.

I found a superb thread with sample pot values for orientation at neo geo board:
http://www.neo-geo.com/forums/showthread.php?248264-neo-geo-cd-toploader-fixes-and-things


OMG, I can't believe that it is finally working. 

Reading the CD

Push Start says that it reads the game properly!

It worked really well for a few weeks when I decided that I need more games.

So I bought Metal Slug 2, Art Of Fighting, King Of Fighters etc.

After playing through the first stage of Metal Slug the system would give me soft error 2.
Fine! Glad that a laser is on it's way already. Seemed like the old one finally gave up.

But after realising that KOF 99 would hang right at the main menu I thought why not mess with the spindle again? For sure... I was'nt able to find the right position and absolutely nothing would boot again from there on. I broke the damn thing in the process and was back at ordering new Playstation spindles on the big bay.

The perfect fit!

Brand new glued in spindle almost ready to run KOF 99

When they finally arrived I would not go through the process of ever adjusting the spindle again and glued it in place. I installed the new "original" laser pickup and still.... nothing would work! At this point I almost gave up! OK, I checked what it's problem was and realised that if I wiggle (c'mon you know the big wiggle) the main ribbon cable that there's a bit of sound playing as the Neo Geo wouldnt' read games anymore. It thought they were audio CD's.

One dead ribbon cable

So...new ribbon cable: I managed to find one for quite a steal. Seller was super nice!

https://www.ebay.de/itm/FFC-A-B-18Pin-1-25Pitch-Flachbandkabel-Flat-Flex-Cable-10cm-20cm-30cm-33cm-AWM/283243919744?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&var=583693279298&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649


Well, what a journey it was. I learned a lot about the system and I manage to change the pickup within 5 minutes and tear apart the whole system in like 3 min? At least it finally works 100% flawless. I am back in the Neo Geo biz again. Was a sad time without it!

Conclusion:

- Don't you ever mess with the spindle of the Neo Geo CD
- Beware of the ribbon cable! 
- Don't replace the laser pickup with a cheap one. Buy the "original" for just 30€!
- Some games might run censored due to my language 0 Ohm bridge
- I will never sell a Neo Geo System again
- Games drastically increased in price since 2011
- Feel the arcade experience at home!