Genny 2 Region mod gone bad, who wants it?

[Lanzo]

Bold is new stuff

Some of you may remember when I posted this thread originally, just read through it to find out what happened. Any way I ended up breaking off the leg I needed to pry up completely meaning this system is beyond fixing or requires finer skills than I have. The system turns on and has a 50/60 htz switch that works, but both come in black and white. The game will play but you wont get very far as the the "Start""a, and b" buttons don't register in the first controller port because I bumped the leg next to the one I broke off which I believe I traced to the controller port. So before I toss this Im putting it up for grabs for anyone who wants to try and fix it. The shell is brand new besides the 2 holes drilled in the side.

All in all If I tried this mod again I would do it different and def would not try it as my 3rd mod/time using a soldering iron but we learn from out mistakes. If you want it just pay shipping and its yours. Its a PAL Megadrive 2 and its pretty light (came with no metal shielding inside).



Before you go like "why would you mod a model 2?" please read, lol. I have already modded my model 1 but I now have a brand new model 2 in the box and everthing, there is only one problem. It's a Pal Megadrive 2 (Asian). I know it can be modded as I have seen a tutorial http://www.mmmonkey.co.uk/console/sega/md2switches.htm (the motherboards are near identical) but how would this work if I did a 50/60 htz switch using an ntsc tv? I always see ntsc systems modded but not pal systems. Is something like this worth doing? Also the most important question before anything else is the power supply dilemma. The pal supply obviously won't plug into anything here but would I be able to use an American genny 2 power supply? Pal input 230 v - 50 htz, ntsc input 120 v - 60 htz. So, any ideas or advice from the experts? Or an opposite one of these http://cgi.ebay.com/Snes-NTSC-Pal-Po...item1e62f050b5

[Gameguy]

Aren't PAL Asian systems rare? It might be worth more unmodded, especially since it's brand new in the box. I really can't remember if these are valuable, I think the Japanese Mega Drives are valuable but I'm not sure about the PAL Asian systems.

I don't think the power supply would really be a problem, if you just use a North American supply with the console instead of the original one. What matters is the output of the power supplies, not so much the inputs(check the ratings listed on them).

[Lanzo]

Idk if they are rare, it's basically a pal system with JP shell, even the box is in Japanese, but there is a pal seal. Opening it up I thought it was interesting there was no metal shielding at all. I also have 2 of these systems because I thought one would be cool to keep unopened.

I will try the power supplies tomorrow. I think it would be cool to have a universal megadrive 2. I really do wish it was NTSC though so I could jump right in!

[InsaneDavid]

What you start with really doesn't matter that much. If it has a 315-XXXX chip then pin 107 denotes USA/JPN and pin 46 denotes 50Hz/60Hz. Your system will simply be hardwired USA/50Hz to start.

[Oldskool]

Why not just use a Game Genie? Then you don't have to widen the slot and/or mod anything. There is a master list of Game Genie codes to region switch all the imports.

[Lanzo]

Why not just use a Game Genie? Then you don't have to widen the slot and/or mod anything. There is a master list of Game Genie codes to region switch all the imports.

Idk, I have 2 game genies, this is more for fun to be honest I don't own a single import game, and as far as the slot I don't think I will need to widen it unless JP carts are bigger than eu carts. The slot on this one is def bigger than my American genny 2 slot. The only reason I won't mod that one is because it's my childhood genesis, sentimental value lol.

[Lanzo]

What you start with really doesn't matter that much. If it has a 315-XXXX chip then pin 107 denotes USA/JPN and pin 46 denotes 50Hz/60Hz. Your system will simply be hardwired USA/50Hz to start.

I will have to check my chip, the tutorial shows leg 107 for USA/JP and the jumper 3 for 50/60 (pin 46?)then I will need 2 spots to ground wires.

[Lanzo]

So I checked the chip and it is a 315 so it looks like I will be okay. Only thing I am really worried about is prying that pin up without breaking it. Also to my surprise I tried the American power supply and popped in an NTSC Sonic 2 and not only did it play, but in full color, just really slow 50 htz, and I didn't see any resolution problems. I was playing it on a 42 inch lcd vizio by the way.

[InsaneDavid]

So I checked the chip and it is a 315 so it looks like I will be okay. Only thing I am really worried about is prying that pin up without breaking it. Also to my surprise I tried the American power supply and popped in an NTSC Sonic 2 and not only did it play, but in full color, just really slow 50 htz, and I didn't see any resolution problems. I was playing it on a 42 inch lcd vizio by the way.

You don't have to pry up a leg of the IC necessarily. If you can find a point it runs to you can isolate it there. For instance, 107 runs to a +5v throughhole on most USA Model 2 systems. You can isolate the connection from the +5v area there and then use the throughhole to make your connection. However I shouldn't say much else or he will come in here and go on and on about how that's not a proper way to make a connection for a mod.

[Lanzo]

You don't have to pry up a leg of the IC necessarily. If you can find a point it runs to you can isolate it there. For instance, 107 runs to a +5v throughhole on most USA Model 2 systems. You can isolate the connection from the +5v area there and then use the throughhole to make your connection. However I shouldn't say much else or he will come in here and go on and on about how that's not a proper way to make a connection for a mod.

Ok, so all I managed to do today was drill 2 holes in my megadrive, lol. Before I do this I have a few questions because I am new to this, (only my 3rd mod). Are any of the points around the outside of the board (none have any solder) suitable to use as grounds? Also saying I accidently to snap off leg 107 completely what would happen? The way I understand when its connected to the +5v its US so if I disconnected that would it be JPN or does pin 107 need to be connected to a ground wire? I don't quite understand the purpose of the ground wires which is why I am asking, is it like a safety thing? Thanks.

[Lanzo]

Good News is, I finally did the mod and both switches worked and it was not fun at all. Bad news is somewhere along the way I screwed something up! My first controller port does not work completely. It only recognizes the d-pad (up,down,left,right) every other button gets no response. The second controller port works fine. The only thing I can think of is when I lifted pin 107 I kind of bumped a leg next to it. Any ideas?

[Squeept]

The model 2 controller ports had a knack for cracking their solder joints. Opening the system and playing around with it may have just finally sent it over the edge. Go over every controller port pin with a dab of fresh leaded solder. The cracks can be almost invisible, so do it even if you can't see anything.

[Lanzo]

The model 2 controller ports had a knack for cracking their solder joints. Opening the system and playing around with it may have just finally sent it over the edge. Go over every controller port pin with a dab of fresh leaded solder. The cracks can be almost invisible, so do it even if you can't see anything.

I will try this, I really hope this is the problem I don't see any cracks but I was def manhandling this thing more than I should have.

[InsaneDavid]

I will try this, I really hope this is the problem I don't see any cracks but I was def manhandling this thing more than I should have.

While you have it open again you might also want to reflow the solder joints around the power connector as well. As with the controller ports having cracked solder joints, it's also an area I see a lot of poor / cracked connections around.

[Lanzo]

Well, I added more solder to the pins and still no luck. I did notice that my B button worked but I probably didn't notice it before. So my A,C and start buttons on unresponsive for controller port one. Maybe I'll try again sometime because I am not very skilled with a soldering iron. I wish there was like a diagram so I would know exactly which pins to look at.

[InsaneDavid]

Well, I added more solder to the pins and still no luck. I did notice that my B button worked but I probably didn't notice it before. So my A,C and start buttons on unresponsive for controller port one. Maybe I'll try again sometime because I am not very skilled with a soldering iron. I wish there was like a diagram so I would know exactly which pins to look at.

Look where the pins from the controller ports connect to the underside of the board. One at a time, heat up the solder pad where the pin connects with your iron, then touch a tiny bit of fresh solder to it. Go one at a time and take your time so you don't make any solder bridges.

[Lanzo]

Look where the pins from the controller ports connect to the underside of the board. One at a time, heat up the solder pad where the pin connects with your iron, then touch a tiny bit of fresh solder to it. Go one at a time and take your time so you don't make any solder bridges.

I added more solder than I even checked the continuity of every point every which way and it was fine, so I went back to the pins 105, and 106 (which I bumped when lifting 107) and Looking closely I think those two legs are the problem. The pic shows them after I pushed them back but I think they became disconnected anyway. 108 is just bent I botched the shit out of this. I followed the traces and sure enough they both go to controller port one. To make matters worse when I peeled the tape the +5v point for leg 107 came up and got screwed up I think I would need to go to to the underside of that point. I have decided to scrap this because I really don't have the skill to fix this and I'm really frustrated. If I can get another extra console I may try again sometime. Apparently 3rd time isn't a charm because my first 2 mods were successful.

[APE992]

Doesn't look too difficult to fix honestly. Little dremel tool time to the casing and some fine soldering.

[InsaneDavid]

That's one of the reasons I usually keep away from 315-XXXX and instead pick up the connection to it where it connects to a +5v plain via a through-hole. I isolate the through-hole from the +5v plain on the underside of the board by cutting a square around the through-hole in the +5v plain to isolate it. Then I use the through-hole on the top of the board as the connection point for pin 107. +5v and GND can be picked up anywhere they are available and of course there are many board revisions which may relocate said through-hole. Lifting pin 107 isn't a huge deal but back when I was modding a lot of Genesis 2 consoles, isolating the through-hole was my preferred way to take care of the setup.

Kinda hard to see since I don't have a great picture of it, but here's one of the modded systems, the green wire is running to the isolated through-hole...



SOME Model 1 systems make it much more straight forward with a series of four jumpers that have to be isolated and then have the switches wired in (lower right corner where the wires come from)...





The other connections in both are for RCA jacks for audio / video.

Also, using hot glue to tack wires into position on the PCB so they won't wiggle around and possibly tear out your connections is a good idea.

[Lanzo]

Who wants my failure?