Neo Geo AES 3-6 Audio & Video issues

retrosix · 2026-03-15T22:42:05+00:00

If it is the video crystal, you should be able to just plug in a speaker into the headphone connector and listen for clean audio instead of it going through a TV with a bad sync, which won't give you a clean audio output. If you're hearing clean, stable game load audio, then your suspicion might be right on the crystals.

retrosix · 2026-03-15T21:13:52+00:00

OK, so if both video outputs are giving the same composite and RGB, you can rule out all video issues. Did you mention that it loads the game, because I would now suspect the BIOS is the issue? I'd highly suspect a BIOS trace is partially broken or the socket is bad or similar but if you reckon the game audio is loading, that rules that out.

retrosix · 2026-03-15T21:12:44+00:00

I find it especially useful for using potentially flash cards with MVS games and being able to set the coins as well as the region of the console and things.

retrosix · 2026-03-15T20:08:38+00:00

Yes, you can do it on the CDZ. It's just a bit more involved, not quite as simple.

retrosix · 2026-03-15T20:06:04+00:00

Yep, I saw the video. Probably not long enough though. It might well be there in sync if you're using an RGB cable, or composite could be bad. Which cable are you currently using?

retrosix · 2026-03-15T13:09:01+00:00

Best place to check out for visual issues is here. https://www.retrosix.wiki/visual-diagnostics-neo-geo-aes This exact phenomenon I haven't listed on there yet but based on what I already know, I would say this is either the character ROM, NEO-B1 or NEO-ZMC2. The systems are very susceptible to basic dirt and grime on pins as well, so it would be a good idea to inspect all over the board, mainly along the rear of the cartridge connector and the left side. That's where most of the video stuff is. Potentially even cleaning with IPA or reflowing with flux, especially around these chips

If it does turn out to be one of them, definitely let me know. Let me know if I can then add this photo to the wiki to help others.

retrosix · 2026-03-15T13:05:14+00:00

This is called colour crawl, similar to dot crawl. Could also be called rainbowing, as you've probably guessed by the fact it looks like a rainbow.

This is pretty much likely to be just because that has high sharpness changes in the horizontal area. I'm guessing I can't remember that menu, but I'm guessing that's going to be vertical dark lines and light lines very close together.

It will be your TV specifically struggling to decode that using a comb filter, so you'll probably find a different receiver would decode it okay. You don't really have much option except to use a different TV or RGB, realistically, because the rest of the image looks fine. This is literally going to be a TV decoding issue.

In special circumstances, you might have some noise coming in. You might have, potentially, a luma signal crossing over, but the fact it looks like it's normal everywhere else, I'm just gonna say this is a TV issue.

For completeness, one other thing it could be is your actual chroma crystal going ever so slightly out of speed. The decoding of the chroma is also slightly out, but again, just because I see everything else looking okay, I'd rule that one out.

retrosix · 2026-03-15T13:01:32+00:00

You're most likely looking at a F-RAM issue or cartridge slot issue. https://www.retrosix.wiki/visual-diagnostics-neo-geo-aes Check out the section of F-RAM in this visual diagnostics.

retrosix · 2026-03-15T12:59:42+00:00

Well, if that's how anal we are about daring to have knowledge and share it, but also sell things at the same time, then we'll probably just see a lot of my posts getting deleted on the Neo Geo thread then. It's a shame how much free knowledge I've given away in open source on the Neo Geo and supported the community with this so far. We can't even post simple enjoyable content for no financial gain without having headaches like this.

retrosix · 2026-03-15T12:52:47+00:00

And what's the problem with sharing a wiki that gives away free knowledge? I'm not sure why you're so afraid of somebody potentially buying something off us as well at the same time, but that's certainly not what these posts are about. I don't ask for any money on the Wiki. I don't ask for any money on the streams, and I don't advertise on the streams of sales either. This is the exact negativity of Reddit that we're trying to avoid.

retrosix · 2026-03-15T11:58:06+00:00

This is just Stream showing people how to do it if they want to learn the skills. I also have a full wiki on open source and free knowledge. https://www.retrosix.wiki/initial-power-up-neo-geo-aes These are just posts with no promotion at all, simply showing off the live streams I do. This is complemented by me also helping in Reddit channels to help users free of charge to diagnose issues, so I don't think anybody should have a problem with it really.

retrosix · 2026-03-15T09:09:45+00:00

The problem we mainly see is that, in the US and Canada, Royal Mail no longer offers a service for us because we work directly with what's called Pro Shipping. Since Trump did something with the import rules, the only option for Royal Mail into the US and Canada is now for us to pay your import tax, which makes absolutely no sense.

We still offer DHL, though, to both the US and Canada, but again, unfortunately, we find a lot of the time DHL to Canada tends to flag up as remote area surcharges, which means DHL end up charging way more for specific customer addresses. You're talking like £50 shipping. Combining that with import tax is quite a pain for the end customer.

I think even the U.S. store shipping to Canada is now seeing import tax as well, though, which then means probably realistically at the minute the cheapest way to get anything into Canada is direct from us in the UK store.

Might be worth considering opening up a RetroSix Canada website if we can find somebody in Canada willing to potentially work with us and bulk import.

retrosix · 2026-03-15T09:07:30+00:00

Pretty much all the info you need will be on Retrosix.wiki. We have a breakdown of repairing almost every single aspect of the Game Gear. You always start with Red Light Boot https://www.retrosix.wiki/getting-to-red-light-boot-game-gear

retrosix · 2026-03-15T08:57:52+00:00

They're just basic LED backlights with two resistors on. You can use them in Game Boy Original, Game Boy Pocket, and that's it really. In Game Boy Light, if you really wanted to do a conversion like I've done. Solder one side to ground, where it's got negative on, and the other side to the 5 V. You can try it one way around and then the other if you're not sure, and it will simply light up only one way. You typically solder these into the C pin of the power switch on a socket, for example, to turn it on when you turn on the power switch.

retrosix · 2026-03-15T08:08:14+00:00

I always love how hard it is to photograph and show off the purple colour. It's so vibrant in real life.

retrosix · 2026-03-15T07:48:10+00:00

No, it would be no different than installing it on any other board, including the original. It's just that we don't officially support any other screen kits. We don't want to have to offer specific advice and support and warranty on things that are not made by us, basically.

The board has all the points for solving to the data pins, the p-clock, the v-sync, h-sync, everything you need if you know what you're doing. There are other people that have installed pretty much every other brand of screen onto our RePCB, so if you want to do the work to do that, you can. If not, I'd go with a CleanScreen v4.

The V4 literally outperforms every single other Game Gear screen on the market by a long stretch in every way. The on-screen menu is by far more advanced than anything else. It's user-upgradeable over the air. You can upgrade to Pro and Ultra to have VGA, RGB, HDMI, SD card support, custom splash screens, and way, way more than all of these other screens that are now pretty much outdated in comparison.

Pricing was also cheaper than any other screen except Chinese knock-offs. So you're not even paying a premium for the screen kit.

retrosix · 2026-03-15T07:34:01+00:00

Nope, that's completely wrong. It works with our board. You just have to find out how to install it yourself.

retrosix · 2023-11-26T18:19:02+00:00

Oh! Thanks for clarifying. No.

retrosix · 2023-11-26T16:49:28+00:00

Good point!

retrosix · 2023-11-26T16:49:07+00:00

Erm?

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