naomi is a cruel mistress...problems and questions

OldFoo · Post by **OldFoo** » Tue Aug 26, 2008 12:45 am

First post and I'm already having problems. HA!

Just a little background here. Just plunked down for a couple naomi gd-rom setups and one of them came perfectly fine sans cables, power supply and audio amp. I figure I can work that out relatively easily. I have two jvs i/o boards which kinda sucks since I don't have a jvs cabinet and I'll be damned if I pay 200 bucks for the capcom i/o right now.

Second unit is a bit of a problem child. Noticed some of the pins on dimm board, and corresponding pins on the motherboard were kinda janky, but like a tard I plugged things up anyway. Of course it didn't work. Error 02. So after beating my head against the wall disconnecting the dimm board I got smart and just decided to take the dimm board apart. Found out that the connectors sega used are of a type that could provide infinite stacking capabilities and had come apart. After putting them back together I plugged it in and everything was good...sort of.

Held out on buying any games here in the US because a coworker was going to japan on business and he said he'd pick some games up for me. Got a few things and proceeded to try it all out.

On problem child board cvs (cart) kept giving me an 02 error. So I tried it on on the other board and it worked fine. Decided the problem child needed to sit in the corner and used the second board to test everything else. CVS2 worked fine as well, but GGXX:slash, CVS Pro, and SFZ3 Upper failed to boot, giving me the 02 Error. I'm pretty sure this is because I have a US bios (21577E) and need a Japanese bios. Dunno if an export bios will do the trick (I know with SFZ3 Upper you need a Japanese one).

At any rate, so I decide to probe further into why my problem child board won't work with CVS when the other one does, and find out that the janky pins are worse than janky...some are just straight up bent down. Guess there are some pins carts use that the gdrom doesn't since CVS2 booted fine on the bunk board.

Now I'm at a point where I'm going to need to either start collecting broken stuff to steal parts from, or find a supplier for the connectors. I see that they are OMRON, but I was wondering if anyone could point me toward a US supplier of the connectors and what their part numbers are. I figure I need to replace the connectors on both the motherboard, and the dimm board in order to ensure proper functionality in the future. For now I'm leaving that dimm board in there since it works okay, unlike with cart games.

Lastly, I read a thread talking about the power connectors on the naomi being JST VL series, but I noticed there is a VL, VLP, and a VLR. I think VLR are the connectors on the mobo itself, but should I be getting VL or VLP in order to make an ATX to naomi adapter? Digikey has both, but I have to order a minimum quantity of 10

Cliffs for the lazy:

Have two naomi gd-rom setups, one perfect, one not

borked setup has bent pins on mobo and dimm board

Where can I get connectors to replace the fucked up ones?

Am I stuck reading everything in Japanese with GG XX slash, CVS Pro and SFZ3 Upper?

VL or VLP connectors for naomi power?

Thanks guys

OldFoo · Post by **OldFoo** » Tue Aug 26, 2008 2:23 am

Although fixing the system is an option, why not purchase a new one? It would definitely better than going through all the trouble soldering and desoldering. Naomi 1 systems don't cost much either. I leave the choice to you.

OldFoo · Post by **OldFoo** » Tue Aug 26, 2008 5:19 am

VL is the name of the connector series.

VL-R is the receptical

VL-P is the Plug

You need VLP

OldFoo · Post by **OldFoo** » Tue Aug 26, 2008 3:09 pm

joshua3dg wrote:Although fixing the system is an option, why not purchase a new one? It would definitely better than going through all the trouble soldering and desoldering. Naomi 1 systems don't cost much either. I leave the choice to you.

Well, the connectors aren't actually soldered on. Found out that they are a stacking connector from Omron from the XH3 model series. Don't know where to get them just yet, but that's what they are.

Even if they were the solder type, I'd still rather fix it since I have access to the tools and have the ability to fix these things. And fixing costs way less than buying a new one. 100+ for a new mobo and dimm board is way more expensive than 10 dollars in connectors and 20 minutes in front of a soldering station.

OldFoo · Post by **OldFoo** » Tue Aug 26, 2008 3:18 pm

You paid ~$100 for a Naomi 1? Sorry to hear that.... :smt009

I usually see these go for $60-$75, even as low as $40. :smt045

OldFoo · Post by **OldFoo** » Tue Aug 26, 2008 5:05 pm

I think he meant 100+ for a motherboard+dimm. Where have you seen a NAOMI I motherboard go for $40.00? I could use like 3 more :smt020

OldFoo · Post by **OldFoo** » Tue Aug 26, 2008 10:20 pm

Mostly on ebay, but it would seem that most people on this forum don't like buying from there. Japandeal has them for $48 each if you don't mind the middleman fees.

OldFoo · Post by **OldFoo** » Wed Aug 27, 2008 3:49 am

I wonder who the japandeal people are working with. I just got a few games at less than average us pricing by having one of my coworkers pick them up from gfront for me while he was in japan on business.

I guess if I really get desperate I can wait till october when the guys from work go again. 60 bucks for a mobo at gfront and no shipping/handling fees.

Just an update on the actual problem. Talked to ken at irepairsega and apparently the connectors are harder than anything else to find a source for. I haven't gotten verification that they are indeed the connectors I believe them to be, but they are omron connectors and I think they are from the XH3 series. They aren't listed on the US site, but the europe and japanese ones have them listed. If you guys across the pond can find someone who sells them, let me know.

Digikey sells the top part (the part that is showing on the motherboard), but only in packs of 30, and they are over 8 bucks a piece...needless to say I'm not buying 30 to fix one board...and I'd still need the bottom half.

OldFoo · Post by **OldFoo** » Wed Aug 27, 2008 4:46 am

I would not mind getting a couple of these connectors myself if they can be found on the cheap.

Are they the same connectors on the carts?

If so buy a cheap game and get 3 connector pairs.

Just a thought :smt017

Bob Presutti

OldFoo · Post by **OldFoo** » Wed Aug 27, 2008 3:57 pm

All of the boards use the same connectors. Games, the motherboard, the communications cart thing. The connectors themselves are setup to stack infinitely (that's how the comm board works, but also allows you to stack games on top of it.

Well, I'm not going to destroy something working just to have some connectors. I think that defeats the purpose to be honest.

As I said, digikey has the top connector, so maybe a group order would work there. Still trying to find the bottom though, which is necessary if anyone is going to be replacing connectors without being really careful not to destroy them/bend pins on removal from dead boards...which is how Ken is doing things at the moment.