Grindstormer won't start

[BricatSegaFan]

Well my copy of Grindstormer decided not to work. When I picked this up at a half price it was kinda iffy. Sometimes it would start up and most of the time it won't.


I cleaned the game thoroughly and opened it up and noticed some weird soldering on the Rom. Looks like someone may have already tried to fix this issue before by soldering. So any ideas would be greatly appreciated on how I can get this game working again.

[Ozito]

that solder looks stock, doesn't look like it has been tampered with.
Maybe provide a picture with better light if you have the possibility for that.
Do you have scanner?

But you could add some solder to the 3:rd pin counting from the bottom to the left.

[Scissors]

I've heard that many people have problems with Grind Stormer carts. Supposedly they weren't manufactured very well and they tend to just stop working.

[BricatSegaFan]

That's pretty disappointing. It's actually a good game but I'll try soldering that pin and see if it helps.

Yea sometimes it will boot and play for about 10 min then freeze and won't boot again.

[Ozito]

That's pretty disappointing. It's actually a good game but I'll try soldering that pin and see if it helps.

Yea sometimes it will boot and play for about 10 min then freeze and won't boot again.


while you are at it, reheat the solder on the rest of the legs.

[ApolloBoy]

while you are at it, reheat the solder on the rest of the legs.
Pretty sure that won't fix anything, it's the PCB that's causing the problem. I don't think anyone's successfully salvaged the PCBs on these, so you could try transferring the ROM chip to a compatible PCB.

[Niku-Sama]

I donno the third from the bottom connection on the left side has a hole next to the leg and a lot of the other legs seem to have cold solder joints.
we all should know by now that cold joints look like they are making contact from the outside but might just barely making contact on the inside, I suggest heating it up and adding a little more

couldn't hurt it atleast

[bust3dstr8]

I've fixed these carts before. Like others have said the pcb is crap on these. The best thing to do is verify the mask rom and then put it onto a good quality Sega or TDK pcb. If you want I do it for $18...that includes the sac pcb and return shipping.

[xelement5x]

I've fixed these carts before. Like others have said the pcb is crap on these. The best thing to do is verify the mask rom and then put it onto a good quality Sega or TDK pcb. If you want I do it for $18...that includes the sac pcb and return shipping.

This guy knows what's going on :)


There is a gent on Sega16 who did the same thing, just transplanted the ROM and it works like a charm now. I'm pretty sure Tengen was just a bunch of cheapasses when it came to PCB production for this game.

[BricatSegaFan]

I've fixed these carts before. Like others have said the pcb is crap on these. The best thing to do is verify the mask rom and then put it onto a good quality Sega or TDK pcb. If you want I do it for $18...that includes the sac pcb and return shipping.

Interested in this. As I only paid 5 bucks for my copy lol. I'll try a few things tonight if not I'll pm ya