quick question [Sega 32X Cables]

[jgenotte]

does the sega 32x need any cables (other than those that come with a genesis) to work?

thanks,
-james

[Darth Sensei]

Quick Answer- Don't know. LOL

D

[Atari7800]

YES... you need the special 32x to genesis cable and the AC adaptor for the 32x.

[hydr0x]

yes, one to connect it to the genesis and an ac adaptor!

[Cmosfm]

DO NOT and I repeat DO NOT buy a loose 32x adapter. You can't use it and you won't find the cords you need for it anywhere. Hard to believe, but the special adapter is much harder to come by than the system itself. Only part you don't need are the little metal shields that came with it that goes into the genesis cart slot.

[Atari7800]

DO NOT and I repeat DO NOT buy a loose 32x adapter. You can't use it and you won't find the cords you need for it anywhere. Hard to believe, but the special adapter is much harder to come by than the system itself. Only part you don't need are the little metal shields that came with it that goes into the genesis cart slot.

I agree... the cord is less than a foot long, and they are very hard to find loose. A loose cable listed on ebay (and that hardly ever happens) will sell for nearly what it costs to buy a complete 32x setup. There is no way around that cable that I know of... it is a special piece that you can't duplicate with other connectors.

[jgenotte]

thanks for the info. i think i got a bum trade. wouldnt you think that in a trade, one would list the fact that this was loose, no cables? i guess the next step is to pm the guy.

[Cmosfm]

DO NOT and I repeat DO NOT buy a loose 32x adapter. You can't use it and you won't find the cords you need for it anywhere. Hard to believe, but the special adapter is much harder to come by than the system itself. Only part you don't need are the little metal shields that came with it that goes into the genesis cart slot.

I agree... the cord is less than a foot long, and they are very hard to find loose. A loose cable listed on ebay (and that hardly ever happens) will sell for nearly what it costs to buy a complete 32x setup. There is no way around that cable that I know of... it is a special piece that you duplicate with other connectors.

Nope, no way around it, and as for the cord costing the same price as the system...I've seen a single cord on eBay once or twice and they went at 25.00-40.00. Why? Cause people are idiots, but that's beside the point.

[SoulBlazer]

I'm surprised no one has found ANY way in order to link those two. That happened to me the first time I got a Sega bundle -- the 32X only, no cable. I had to buy another one on EBay.

[Ze_ro]

Only part you don't need are the little metal shields that came with it that goes into the genesis cart slot.

Actually, Sega included a whole bunch of weird parts with the 32X. I found a complete, boxed 32X at Value Village a while back, so I think I have a complete set, here's the rundown of all the pieces:

Genesis 2 to 32X cable: It's the standard male mini-DIN to male mini-DIN cable that every 32X setups absolutely needs. You can't use the 32X without this cable.

Power Adaptor: Self explanatory... again, you can't use the 32X without this, but I think it's equivalent to the Genesis' power supply, so finding a replacement is likely fairly easy.

Genesis 1 to Genesis 2 cable: This is a very short (6 inches) cable that has a female mini-DIN connector on one end, and a male DIN connector on the other end. The idea here is that you combine this and the Gen2/32X cable together and use the set to hook a 32X up to a Genesis 1. This is absolutely necessary if you're hooking up to a Genesis 1, but not needed otherwise.

Cartridge port spacer skirt: This is a sort of donut shaped chunk of plastic that fits around the bottom of the 32X (around the "cartridge" part of it). If you're hooking up to a Genesis 1, you don't use this at all... but if you're hooking up to a Genesis 2, then you're supposed to use this so that the 32X sits properly without jostling around. If you don't use this, you might get weird crashes and lockups if the connection is poor, or if the system is knocked around at all. It's not 100% necessary, but it's helpful.

Metal clips: These are goofy looking chunks of metal (There are two of them, and they're sized differently) that you're supposed to stuff into the Genesis (either model) cartridge port. They hold the cartridge flaps open, and the provide RF shielding in order to reduce interference and such. The system works perfectly fine without these clips, so I'm guessing they're just there to meet FCC regulations regarding electromagnetic interference. Also, if you take off the 32X, make sure you don't stick normal cartridges into the cartridge slot while the clips are in there, or you may tear the cartridge's label.

Expansion port dongle: This is an odd-looking chunk of plastic that plugs into the Genesis expansion port (the port where the SegaCD hooks up). I really have no idea why this exists... the manuals I have tell me to connect it if you don't have a SegaCD hooked up, but everything SEEMS to work perfectly fine even without it. My guess is that 32X games can "see" this dongle and therefor can tell if you have a SegaCD or not, but I have no evidence to support this, and I'm not sure why games would need to check for the SegaCD anyways (32XCD games didn't have cartridges, did they?). This thing juts out of a Genesis 2 and looks strange, so I don't use it... not sure what it looks like in a Genesis 1.

So, if you have a Genesis 2, then you absolutely need the power supply and Gen2/32X cable, and you should probably also have the spacer skirt (although you can do without it in a pinch)... if you're hooking up a Genesis 1, then you absolutely need the power supply, Gen2/32X cable and Gen1/Gen2 cable. The rest of the stuff seems to be optional.

If you're good with a soldering iron, you could always make your own Gen2/32X cable. The mini-DIN plug is fairly standard, so you can get a pair of the plugs and some cabling at an electronics hobby store and connect it all up.

--Zero

[omnedon]

It can be done, but is sooooo much trouble, you may find it easier to find the near impossible to find cable. LOL

http://www.digitpress.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=22982&highlight=32x+cable

scroll down to siamese's frankenstien solution. Sounds like it would work! LOL

[The Collector]

thanks for the info. i think i got a bum trade. wouldnt you think that in a trade, one would list the fact that this was loose, no cables? i guess the next step is to pm the guy.

Maybe this guy did list it as loose :angry: ??? Maybe another look at his trade list might show that :angry: !!! Maybe you'vew been pm'ed because this could have been a misunderstanding :hmm: !!! And maybe, just maybe, your dealing with a nice guy who didn't realize you didnt know it was loose, and he may want to work something out cause he might like trading here :D !!

Just a thought ;)

[Atari7800]

thanks for the info. i think i got a bum trade. wouldnt you think that in a trade, one would list the fact that this was loose, no cables? i guess the next step is to pm the guy.

Maybe this guy did list it as loose :angry: ??? Maybe another look at his trade list might show that :angry: !!! Maybe you'vew been pm'ed because this could have been a misunderstanding :hmm: !!! And maybe, just maybe, your dealing with a nice guy who didn't realize you didnt know it was loose, and he may want to work something out cause he might like trading here :D !!

Just a thought ;)

Who? What? Where? When? Why? Bold letters and angry faces... this sounds interesting...

[Blackjax]

wait a minute....

old Macintosh cables were 9-pin mini-DIN.... (for printer and modem... basically the Mac version of COM1 and COM2)

Hell. lemmie hook all this up and test it. That might save a lot of money if it works.

Will report back later.

[Blackjax]

Argh, no go on both the mac serial port cable or ADB cable.

looked at an svideo cable, no dice either

I'm not cutting open my cable for a wiring but here is what the pinout in the miniDIN is:

(pin) (open) (pin) (pin)
(pin) (pin) (pin) (pin)
(pin) (open)

[Blackjax]

[double post. apologies.]

[Ze_ro]

At one point, I was looking around for a cable that fit into the Genesis 2 video port (I forget what I was trying to do), and I did find one cord that was sitting around that did indeed fit the port... it was a VGA pass-through cord that had come with my old 3Dfx Voodoo card. I had another similar cable that was actually being used by my Dxr3 DVD decoder card.

I don't know if there is any source for these passthrough cables (You might have to buy up old Voodoo cards), but if you're looking to hack up a homebrew Gen2/32X cable, you could probably cut up two of these and solder the ends together to get a working cable.

Incidentally, the Mac keyboard/mouse connector is actually the same port that S-Video uses. In fact, I think I'm using an S-Video cable to hook a keyboard to an old Macintosh that I have sitting downstairs.

--Zero

[jgenotte]

jgenotte wrote:
thanks for the info. i think i got a bum trade. wouldnt you think that in a trade, one would list the fact that this was loose, no cables? i guess the next step is to pm the guy.
Maybe this guy did list it as loose ??? Maybe another look at his trade list might show that !!! Maybe you'vew been pm'ed because this could have been a misunderstanding !!! And maybe, just maybe, your dealing with a nice guy who didn't realize you didnt know it was loose, and he may want to work something out cause he might like trading here !!

Just a thought

As we have worked everything out, I would like to publicaly appologise to "The Collector". No hard feelings, he is a decent and fine trader. However, I do think that he should have mentioned the "looseness" of the 32x at some point durring our trading. I feel that we both made mistakes that we will both learn from. :P

[The Collector]

Thanks James! ;)

[jonjandran]

Ahhh I said I wasn't going to cry.....but

:( :( :( :(

You guys .... There's nothing but love in the DP tonight....

[SoulBlazer]

Someone should look into making some homemade cables. They would sell really well, I wager. :)