Tech help needed Guitar Freaks Arcade Hardware

Ringtailed · 12-08-2006, 06:25 AM

Hey guys,

I'm fairly new to the bemani system machines, seen them around alot, played on them a few times but until recently I never owned one. I run a hobby store in Northern Ireland and we always have a few arcade / pinball machines up the back. A few weeks back I picked up a Guitar Freaks (UK 1st mix) machine cheap off another operator. It needed a bit of work done but after a few hours, a soldering iron and lots of sticky tape (Irish secret :P) I have it working pretty much as good as new again.

The help I need is three-fold and any information you guys can offer me would be great.

First off, One song crashes the machine every time, it's 'Shake it Up' on expert mode. When selected you get the standard stage screen with no animation or bars and it just freezes. There are a few scratches on the disc and I'm assuming thats the problem. Is there anywhere I can find a copy of this disc or if it's another problem could anyone help me isolate it?

Secondly, I've been offered a PCB / Disc / Dongle for 10th mix from a friend, I know that 1st & 2nd Mix are using analog hardware and that all machines after that use digital. Is it possible just to switch the boards around or are the actual cabinets different inside? Any info on this would be great.

Finally, I remember hearing a few years back about modded cabinets that could have multiple mixes installed and that you could choose which one you wanted at boot up. If anyone has any info on this again i'd really appreciate it.

Many thanks in advance for any help you can give me.

Gareth / Ringtailed

Checky · 12-08-2006, 02:28 PM

I dunno about any of the technical aspects, but I believe it's possible. Because at one of the local arcades here there is an 11th mix in a 1st mix cabinet. Good luck.

***June.H*** · 12-09-2006, 06:04 AM

Quote:

First off, One song crashes the machine every time, it's 'Shake it Up' on expert mode. When selected you get the standard stage screen with no animation or bars and it just freezes. There are a few scratches on the disc and I'm assuming thats the problem. Is there anywhere I can find a copy of this disc or if it's another problem could anyone help me isolate it?

1st Mix machines tend to do that on songs that can't read. I've seen many machines freeze up or skip during either Shake It Up or L.A. Rider. I also assumed it's because the CD has scratches (DDR machines do the same thing with crappy discs) or the CD-ROM is going bad.

Try making a simple copy on your computer's CD-R.

Quote:

Secondly, I've been offered a PCB / Disc / Dongle for 10th mix from a friend, I know that 1st & 2nd Mix are using analog hardware and that all machines after that use digital. Is it possible just to switch the boards around or are the actual cabinets different inside? Any info on this would be great.

If he's giving you the entire System 573 box, then yes, it should work fine, and you can just swap the entire board out. The analog or digital board is on the PCB itself so if you swap the entire PCB, you'll also swap out the board that the corresponding Mix needs, and it won't be anything you need to worry about.

If you're getting just the CD and dongle, then no, since even if you had a digital I/O, the kit would have to be a bootleg otherwise it wouldn't work, and used official kits don't work on someone else's PCB.

Quote:

Finally, I remember hearing a few years back about modded cabinets that could have multiple mixes installed and that you could choose which one you wanted at boot up. If anyone has any info on this again i'd really appreciate it.

I've only heard of this being done once on a DDR machine, and there was no information if it was done using official kits or not (even if it was, that's a LOT of work you need to do that makes it far from worth it).

Ringtailed · 12-09-2006, 08:13 AM

Thanks for the info guys, it's been a great help. I've just ordered a 2nd mix CD & Dongle for the cabinet but now i'll ask him to add the 10th mix PCB lot to the package.

With regards to the 1st Mix disc i'll try a straight iso copy tonight on it and see if it makes any difference. Failing that is there somewhere I can look to find a good copy?

Thanks again and if I can do anything to assist the community let me know.

Regards,

Gareth

abstraction · 12-09-2006, 08:32 AM

Sup 10th Mix, fantastic news... now I shall no longer have to retard-strum my way through songs just to pass them because of the lack of a lefty mode.

Ringtailed · 12-09-2006, 02:28 PM

Ahh the ongoing saga continues. :P

Took the disc out to make a clone everything went well and then went back to the machine to test it. The drive has decided to cease opening and gives a delightful grinding sound when the eject button is pressed. So short of a miracle i'd say it's pretty much done for.

Will any cd drive work in the system or do I need a specific model / type?

Thanks again.

Gareth

***June.H*** · 12-10-2006, 12:04 AM

It's a little bit specific unfortunately. I tried using various drives, and only certain ones will work correctly. Some won't read, some will read up to a certain point, some won't even detect. I can't help you too much on this part, my friend got me a replacement CD-Rom, but I don't know how or where (he did buy it in America though, and quite easily).

Try looking around for a replacement CD-Rom for DDR machines; those are the same drives that are used in GF 1-12 anyway.

Megamanny · 12-10-2006, 12:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ringtailed

Ahh the ongoing saga continues. :P

Took the disc out to make a clone everything went well and then went back to the machine to test it. The drive has decided to cease opening and gives a delightful grinding sound when the eject button is pressed. So short of a miracle i'd say it's pretty much done for.

Will any cd drive work in the system or do I need a specific model / type?

Thanks again.

Gareth

There was actually a thread earlier revolving around the cd drive.

If it's a 1st mix, you would want to get a very slow speed or I think it was 320kbps.

If you look back a few pages I'm sure you can find it.

Ringtailed · 12-10-2006, 06:42 AM

Thanks again for the info guys, i'll dig around and see what I can find.

Hasuko · 12-10-2006, 12:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Baka of the Orochi

Try looking around for a replacement CD-Rom for DDR machines; those are the same drives that are used in GF 1-12 anyway.

This should work. I pulled my DDR 4th Mix Plus' CD ROM from the machine and replaced my DM's CD ROM with it. :x

I've got the exact specs for speeds around here somewhere, so I'll try to look for it.