Knuckles Chaotix 32X problem

[Gamereviewgod]

Is this game known for having problems? I have 3 copies of the game and 2 dfferent 32X's, and the game almost always locks up at the title screen. One copy makes it to gameplay, but will lock up soon afterwards. Everything has been cleaned.....what the hell is going on here???? :x

[Mayhem]

Is this game known for having problems?

In a word: yes.

I'll leave it to the 32x owners here to try sort you out...

[BenT]

I had the same title-screen lockup problem the last (and only) time I tried to play.

I wrote it off as my 32X and Genesis 1 being flaky pieces of crap.

[carnage6]

Yes the 32X seems to be very unpredictable. My system locks up on Doom all the time but only occasionally on Knuckles and other titles but one thing is for sure. If you have a 32X, the games will lock up at some point so if you have games that can save, do it very often. I've never heard of it locking up every time on the title screen. That is just plain weird. Try plugging in and unplugging the cart a few times while turning the system on & off. You should get at least one time when the game functions.

PG

[FABombjoy]

On several 32X units I have noticed a defect trend. In the 'cartridge' section of the 32X (where the CPUs are located), there is a resistor that runs across the top of the board in middle section, and connects to the last leg of one of the square chips in the upper left. It's tough to describe exactly. Anyway, on a few of the 32X units that I received this resistor had disconnected itself from the chip. When that happens, the 32X won't read cartridges half the time, and locks up the other half.

If you're really handy with a soldering iron, you can reattach the resistor, but it's pretty cramped in there. What I did to permenantly solve the problem was to follow the trace for that leg of the chip to a pass-through hole in the board and very carefully thread the resistor through that hole. I have a bulletproof Genesis/CD/32X setup thanks to that little fix.

On all of these units, the 32X would play CD/32X games just fine, but not cartridge games.

Of course, YMMV.

[CrazyImpmon]

That's an interesting point. I'll have to check all of my 32X and see if any of them needs "repairs"

Then I can bill Sega for the "repairs" as it would have been clearly a design flaw that caused all the problems.

[Shompola]

I have a 32X. All three games work just fine. But then again one of the games is not Sonic & Knuckles.

[IGotTheDot]

A little off the subject, but I have never been able to get my 32X and Sega CD working together at the same time. I know I am not missing out on many gmaes, but it would have been nice. I tried with the Genesis 2 and the SegaCd 2. Maybe I will try to pick up another CD unit and try again.

[Shompola]

That is weird. It should work with the Sega CD. I know it works just fine with the CDX/MultiMega. That's how I use my 32X when I use it. By the way I opened up the 32X just 10 minutes ago. And I can clearly see that resistor very close to the cart pin interface. A very bad engineer decision by sega to put it right there where a cart can easily cut it in two halfs if cart is not inserted properly.

[scooterb23]

Shoot, I remember someone having this same problem back when we were still on EZ Board...If that is still there, I'd check there...I remember that it wasn't a problem with the game or system, but there was an incompatabilty issue with that game


*puts detective hat on*

[CrazyImpmon]

Sega CD should work with 32X regardless of the game you play on it. The only thing I could think of is either you have a flaky Sega CD, flaky 32X, or you're missing one power supply. A full setup requires 3 (!!!) AC adapters to function.

I had thought of making a 3-in-1 AC adapter by looking for an adapter with high enough current rating and making a 3 way Y adapters to connect all 3 to one adapter, cleaning up the messy cables and freeing up at least 2 outlets.

[scooterb23]

I couldn't find the old exboard thread that talked about this...and I wasn't having a whole heck of a lot of luck finding it anywhere else either :(

About the only thing I could suggest would be: if you are using a 6-button controller, try a 3 button controller instead. I have found a few games that will not run at all if you have a 6 button in the system, even if you have the 6 button functionality "turned off".

Also, even though it shouldn't matter, if you have a Sega CD hooked up as well, I'd take that off too. Minimize the amount of things that can cause problems..

[FABombjoy]

The 32X is so cramped internally, and there are usually a ton of obviously hand-soldiered connections; frankly, I'm surprised they work at all. But when they do, a few of the games really make it worth it, especially the spot-on (and cheap to boot) arcade ports like Space Harrier and After Burner.