White Screen on Final Fantasy 2 + Earth Bound Zero

revfds

So i finally got some chips and started dumping roms on them. For my first try i followed these instructions : http://www.54.org/sage/condev/ff2cartproject/



At first I started wiring by his picture, but then switched to the written instructions as i understood them better. Here is a picture of how i wired them: http://i.imgur.com/d4JMQWb.jpg sorry it's kinda blurry.



When i boot it up in the NES all i get is a white screen. No sound.



I'm not really sure what that is a symptom of. Did i wire something wrong? I checked all the pins, and for the most part they look like the others. I was thinking of adding more solder to a few of the points, but wanted to double check the wiring first.



I am also slightly worried about how i cut the traces. Most of them look fine, but according to his instructions i was to cut the trace near pin hole 30. It didn't look like a trace was even running to that hole, but i cut at the board anyways like his picture and under the green was just solid copper. you can kinda see it in the picture i shared.



So basically, where do i start with troubleshooting this? This is my first attempt, and I knew it wouldn't work on the first try, but I'd like to attack this problem smartly, and not just tear up the board i already started on.



Thanks for any assistance you are able to provide!

-David



*Edit



I have also just tried making an Earth Bound Zero cart using a Deja Vu cart. I installed the prg and chr chip, this time bending the pins instead of cutting the traces according to this chart:http://nesdev.com/NES%20EPROM%20Conversions.txt



I went by the tkrom list and noticed that i have a couple pins that don't connect to anything. What do you do with those?



In any effect, i got the same problem, just a white screen. I'll get a pic of how i wired it and upload it here shortly.



pics: 

http://imgur.com/oYHEOgX

http://imgur.com/ExKiGgo

Guntz

What the heck did you do to that FF2 repro? That first page you linked to is incorrect. This is all you need:



SNROM (mapper 1):

Bend up pins 1, 2, 24, 30 and 31 (or cut tracks 2, 24 and 30)

Solder pin 2 to hole 24 (A16)

Solder pin 24 to GND (OE)

Solder pin 30 to hole 1 (A17)



Reverse all your soldering and cutting back to factory specs (no wires/lifted pins) and use the above steps.



As for your Earth Bound question concerning unused pins. Using the epromconversions.txt file, anything that doesn't get rewired should be left alone. They work fine without grounding.

revfds

Okay, I've removed the chip and started over, but in the list you give, you say to bend up pins 1, and 31, yet don't say where they get soldered to, and then later on state that anything that doesn't get rewired should be left alone. This is the same with the Earthbound that i did (I just linked pics).



Thanks for the reply!

revfds

Okay, third game, and same thing. Just a white screen.



This time i tried to go a Final Fantasy III (I love rpgs, if you can't tell). I followed these instructions: http://nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=22&threadid=81242



I used the wiring shown on the 3rd page of the comments as they had pictures. It was the same except slightly different for the battery, which shouldn't affect this.



Here's how i did it:

http://imgur.com/A1husi1

http://imgur.com/uF949eZ



Clearly something is being done wrong.



I am using some ST M27C4001-12B1 with a willem gq-3x. I used ucon64 to patch the rom with the translation from romhacking.com and then removed the header and output to the necessary .prg files. I verified that the chips ID'd, and were blank, and then wrote and verified the roms (copied to increase size to 512 when necessary).



Is there something i am missing here?

Guntz

I've never done an entire FF3 from scratch, just a Famicom english conversion, so I can't help there.



For FF2, the easiest way to follow the instructions is to not question them and constantly verify you're doing it correctly. It's easy to miscount a pin and end up with a non-working game, or get two wires mixed up.



And yes, any pins that don't get a wire in the instructions, simply don't get a wire. They can be left hanging.

Gorillazero

My thread on here does FF3 for you.



FF2 is just a SNROM based setup.



SNROM (mapper 1):

Bend up pins 1, 2, 24, 30 and 31 (or cut tracks 2, 24 and 30)

Solder pin 2 to hole 24 (A16)

Solder pin 24 to GND (OE)

Solder pin 30 to hole 1 (A17)



Pin 1 and 31 left high and dry (aka do nothing with them)

revfds

I changed the pins last night to the correct mapping, I'll get a picture up later but still just a white screen.



@Gorillazero, i actually used your thread, it's linked in my post. Still white screen.



I've counted the pins and everything. The eprom has a notch where 1 starts, and it counts around in a loop. It really feels like everything is soldered correctly. (I have experience doing that, as I've replaced dozen of caps.)



since i did 3 different games, all wired differently, with the same result i feel like maybe something went wrong in the programming?



After i get the prg file, how do i test it? I was using bsnes for snes roms, but it wants a .fc file for nes ones.



Thanks for your replies guys!

-David

Guntz

Nestopia is fine for NES.

Gorillazero

I assumed that but you messed up your link, it's not usable.

revfds

ok, sorry about that, fixed the link.



Here's the pics for how i rewired the FF2



http://imgur.com/paMO2O5

http://imgur.com/wb5Eg9m



I downloaded Nestopia, but as far as i can tell it doesn't work with .prg files