Sega Saturn Fenrir revisit...

It was late, and I just felt like doing something. I also forgot to take pics, but regardless...

I had a white Sega Saturn that I cleaned and retrobrighted a while back. I also installed a Fenrir ODE in it, but apparently, I fully half-assed the installation. I didn't realize that I had a crappy Fenrir mount printed and the Fenrir just zip tied to the mount. I took it out to test out another ODE called the Saroo that I got. It utilizes the cartridge slot to load games from a micro SD card. It also doubles as a RAM cart for games like X-men Vs. Street Fighter.

I was hoping that I could use the Saroo together with the Fenrir, but there were some caveats about both ODEs co-existing with each other. My intention was to leave the Saroo in the cart slot and utilize it as a RAM cart. The caveat is that if it's used as "normal" (loading the game the standard way pressing the A button), the loaded game that needs the extra RAM loads with glitches. To load it properly, there is a certain procedure that needs to be followed.

Before I did any further testing, I focused on getting the Fenrir properly mounted in the Saturn. I ended up ordering another SD card extension and screw set from Laser Bear. I used some gray PLA+ filament to print the mount for the extension setup. It took a week to for the parts to come in.

There was a few mistakes made when I attempted to install the new mount for the Fenrir. I first used the wrong settings to print the mount. I had it on a high quality print rather than a mid quality print. Though it looked nice from a first layer point of view, it really made some of the screw holes wonky. I also started cutting off parts from the print before realizing that I needed to print another accessory to fit the Fenrir. I didn't realize that until I started re printing the mount that I trimmed and drilled holes out, so that meant more time is needed to print that one extra part. However, after all is said and done, the mount was installed and everything worked, at least from using the Fenrir itself.

Now that the Fenrir is properly mounted in the Saturn, it was now time to test the Saroo along with the Fenrir. Following the procedures mentioned before, I tried first loading a modified ROM of The King of Fighters '95, where the need for the ROM cart that is required for it and instead uses the RAM cart itself. I also loaded a Marvel Vs. Street Fighter to test the RAM cart. 

I'm happy to say that both games loaded perfectly without any graphical issues. I played several rounds of both games, then realizing how long I haven't played either game for a while. I did horribly trying to get through some bouts.

I still have to get my other Saturn out from my bins in my garage. I'll have to swap out one of the buttons I melted when I was installing a modchip a long time ago. I should really consider replacing the FRAM on it as well. 

Simon game revival...

I mean, Simon is a retro game, right? 

 

My wife has been wanting an old (late 70's/early 80's) Simon game made by Milton Bradley, similar to the one pictured above. After some digging at Goodwill, I was able to find one that was in decent condition. The buttons felt a bit mushy, the ground wire on the 9 volt battery connector was broken off, the D battery terminals were corroded and the battery cover was broken, and I may or may not be missing one of the switch covers. As I do with the game controllers that I find at thrift stores  or expos, I felt the need to take the Simon apart and clean up the case and the board.

I'm glad that I did decide to take it apart for cleaning. There was some sticky substance around the edge of the case. Soda was probably spilled on it a while ago. That's the perfect reason to scrub it down.

There are some plastic retaining clips that also act as springs for the large color buttons. Most of those clips were broken. There was also a spare light bulb for the game that was rolling around loose in the case. 

Another shot of the Simon mainboard. It was easy to just dust it as none of the soda got on the board and the battery corrosion didn't affect the board as well.

I took it all apart, including prying out the speaker from the bottom of the case, sitting just under the mainboard. I then took it to the kitchen to scrub every piece of plastic from the case. I also ran the corroded terminals in an ultrasonic cleaner with baking soda and water for several cycles. After running the terminals through the ultrasonic cleaner, I used a grinding pen to remove all the stuck corrosion. I also took the time to solder the broken off ground wire to the 9 volt connector.

There was a design online that I found for the replacement clips/springs that were all broken. I printed out 4 of them using PLA Plus filament. I also printed out some replacement battery covers. 

Here are the clips installed. Fits pretty nicely and it pretty sturdy.

Originally, the speaker was installed with the plastic in the mold melted around it. I had to remove it so I could properly clean the bottom case, so I did need to break the speaker out. To reinstall it, I used a few dabs of hot glue to keep it in place.

I don't recall if all the switch covers were on there when I bought it initially, but the longer one for the Skill Level switch wasn't there. Luckily, there was a print available online. I didn't have a matching blue-green filament like the original switch that's on the Game Mode switch, so I used a blue/green two toned silk filament to print the replacements. I made one for the Game Mode switch, but there's a bit of post processing that needs to be done. I just left it alone.

I installed a 9 volt and 2 D cell batteries and used the printed battery covers. I turned on the game and...nothing. I was expecting some sort of "attract mode" with lights and sound, but there was nothing. I pretty much realized that I had to press the Start button to start a game. It happily lights up one of the buttons. I played a full game of it (well, as much as I can remember from the sequences). Happy to say that it works like how it should. 

A fun, little repair and clean up of a game my wife really wanted. She's really happy to have this working Simon game, same as the one her grandma had in her toy and game bin.

Wii U Revival...

I had a Wii U that I bought from a friend several years ago. I've never taken his info off the console since Mario Kart 8 and all the DLC was attached to his Mii. 

I also ended up doing a "Haxchi" mod to the thing, but it was really iffy whenever I tried to run a game. I just sidelined the console for...wow...about 7 or so years ago. 

I went on and did a bunch of other things in the meantime...like, a lot of things.

I decided to take a break from soldering a bunch of things and literally dusted off the Wii U and work on it. Thankfully, it was still working and didn't give me the fatal error thing that the Wii U's are known for.

I started off by following the Wii U Hacks Guide. First step was to stop and uninstall the Coldboot Haxchi (CBHC) from the console. Next, as I wanted to start fresh with the Aroma hack installation, so I needed to update and format the console. The only issue I ran into was that the Wii U was locked with a PIN. 

...

I didn't bother contacting my friend since he'd probably didn't remember what the PIN was, so I did a deep web search. What needed to be done was the following:

1. Check the system settings for the date on the system (Month and Day). Remember this date.

2. Go to "Parental Controls", when it asks for the PIN, tap on "Forgot PIN".

3. It will ask a specific question. Tap again on "Forgot PIN"

4. There will be a code on the screen. Keep that code on the screen.

5. Go to Nintendo Homebrew mkey generator. 

6. Select "Wii U" in Device type.

7. Select the date that was checked in Step 1 in System Date.

8. Skip Additional data, and type in the code given from Step 4 in Inquiry Number. 

9. Click the Go button.

10. Remember the Master Key that is generated.

11. Back on the Wii U, tap next and use the Master Key that was generated. At that point, the Parental Controls restrictions can be removed.

After all those steps, I was able to format and reset the Wii U back to stock. Took a few minutes for it to format and restart to a fresh console. I then followed the Hacking Guide to install Aroma to the Wii U. 

Installing Aroma didn't take too long. There was a lot of turning the console on and off and removing the SD card from the console to the computer. A few apps were installed to get it back to where I had it before I felt like starting over: Homebrew channel, game installers, online server bypass, etc.

I had to do a few more web searches to refresh myself on getting and installing games to the console. I recalled having issues with the USB stick that I initially used for games stuck out too much, so I was worried about actually breaking the drive while moving the console or some other random thing. I ended up ordering a slim micro SD card reader and a 400GB Extreme micro SD card. I was able to install a bunch of games and apps after having the console format the card.

I was also able to check the type of  multi-level cell (MLC) memory that I had in the console. Thankfully, I had a Samsung MLC installed and not the Hynix MLC that is apparently prone to failure. I'm keeping it plugged in, just in case.

I think this old Wii U is probably better now. By being able to fully format the console and re-hacking it, I feel I now fully own this system. Pretendo is part of the installation process of Aroma, so it's nice to be able to jump back into playing Splatoon online. I might have to try some Super Mario Maker levels as well. 

...I also just realized that I just deleted my Breath of the Wild save file. Oh well, I may just restart another game on the Switch.

Mark this project (if we can call it that) done! A fresh start, freshly modded Wii U! After I clean up my work area, I may either start working on a PSX or a Gamecube...or maybe another NES...maybe the Famicom...Twin Fami? 

Atari 7800 update I apparently didn't post up about...

Well, I guess, I'm not with it.

I managed to update the Atari 7800 that we inherited from my wife's grandma several years back. I did an A/V mod to it back in 2012 (pics disappeared from the post), which worked fine at the time, but I felt I needed to bring it to the same level the Atari 2600's I updated the mods on it as well.

I tried hunting for the old pics in my Google Photos, but I don't think I have any from long ago saved there. It's honestly no different from this, but more resistors and transistors involved in the mod. The RCA connectors are all in the same place. The thing that was updated was that the resistor/transistor/diode array I had installed before is now replaced with an Atari UAV and a better audio circuit. 

I also added an S-Video connector to get an slightly better video image. I had it epoxied to the shell here.

A better look at it from the bottom. After all that's said and done, I should have changed the position of the connections. That might be a future mod job, changing it to the rear of the console using the same style connections or using a Nintendo Multi-out.

This mod update was done in April 2025. Why I didn't post an update a year ago, I don't know.
 

Updating the Lava RGB kit mainboard...

I'm hoping this will help out others trying to update their Lava RGB 2.0 boards to the latest firmware or, in my case, update the correct firmware for the console it's being installed in. I'm also using this so I have a spot where I can recall how to update the Lava RGB if I forget.

 

WARNING! 

I will not be held responsible if your Lava RGB board dies during the upgrade process! These are the steps that I took to upgrade 2 of my Lava RGB boards. These are the instructions that I followed on the Lava RGB website that worked for me (using Google Translate). Please read/look over the procedure here and at the Lava RGB website and understand the basics of installing programs and drivers on Windows OS. 

Thank you for understanding! And best of luck! 

 

Prerequisite:

• Lava RGB board, installed, tested, and working.
• USB-A to USB Micro-B cable (must be able to transfer data, not just charging).
• The DL 1.5 software for flashing the update.
• USB Driver needed to flash the Lava RGB.
• The firmware file for the proper console.

Procedure:

 

Click on the images in the steps to enlarge it for easier viewing. 

 

    1. Unzip DL 1.5 software, driver files, and the firmware. It helps to just unzip the files in their own folder on the desktop.

 

    2. Go to the DL 1.5 folder and install the proper version for your Windows OS (in my case, I needed to install the 64 bit version).

 

 

     3. This is the start screen. Click the button with the "N" on it to advance.

 

 

    4. On this screen, click on the button marked "M", then click the button with "N" on it to advance. The "N" button will become available after selecting the "M" button.

 

 

    5. Here, click the button with the "N" on it to advance.

 

 

    6. Here, click the button with the "I" on it to advance. Depending on your Windows security settings, there might be an additional window that pops up that asks if you want to continue the installation. Allow the installation to finish. When it's done installing, click the button to finish/exit.

 

 

   7. Connect your Lava RGB board to your PC with a USB-Micro B cable. Powering on the console is not necessary for flashing. If the USB cable cannot be inserted easily, the Lava RGB can be temporarily removed from the console. Use a piece of paper to protect the Lava RGB board from shorting.

 

 

Image courtesy of Lava RGB.

 

    8. Right-click the Windows button and select "Device Manager". There should be a device marked "USB-JTAG-Cable" as it shows in the image above. Right-click on it and select "Update driver". 

 

 

     9. Select "Browse my computer for drivers". Then, go to the "al-link" folder that was unzipped earlier > win10 (or win7 if you're using Windows 7) > x64 and select "Open"

 

 

Image courtesy of Lava RGB. 

 

    10. You should now see "Anlogic AL -Link Mini" instead of "USB-JTAG Cable". You can now close Device Manager.

 

    

Image courtesy of Lava RGB.

 

11. On your desktop, select "DL 1.5-64bit" (marked 1 in the above image) to start the program. Click the "Add+" button (2). A window will open. This is where you'd select the firmware for your console, which should be in a .bit file extension. It should show in box 1 of the "File Selection" area. After selecting the firmware, click the "Run" button (3) to begin the installation.

 

 

Image courtesy of Lava RGB.

 

12. After installation, you should get a success line as shown in the image above.

 

13. Unplug the USB cable from the Lava RGB board, reassemble the console and test it to check the firmware installation and proper operation of the Lava RGB.

 

Troubleshooting:

If, after flashing, it doesn't work properly, try reflashing the Lava RGB, possibly a firmware below it. It's important to use the correct firmware for your console. 

 

 

Reference: 

 

 

IGR with the Lava RGB FINALLY solved...

You know what it was? It was the firmware.

Just out of curiosity, I took a look at The Lava RGB site to see if there's any updates. Luckily, there was one. And there were 2 different versions: One for Famicom, the other for NES.

There was also better, visual instructions on the update process!

Before, it was just text (translated, of course), but now, there are screen shots of the whole process. 

I followed the update instructions, using the NES specific firmware. Just using the visuals made the process slightly easier. It took about a minute or two to complete the updating process. When it was done, I did a quick set up of the NES to test the update.

Initial tests showed that it was working just fine. With this newest update, there were more color palettes (hold "select" button for a few seconds, then D-pad "up") available that looked really good. There also was no weird scrolling issues when changing palettes...not the whole screen would scroll, just the little box that showed on the screen what palette was currently selected.

I started a game and played a bit into a level. I paused the game then tried the in game reset (IGR) (hold "select" button for a few seconds, then "A" button). 

...it...worked...

IT FINALLY WORKED!

I'm finally content with the Lava RGB installed in my NES. I'm probably going to install another one in my BLW modified console soon. 

I'll probably write up another blog, going through the full process of installing the software for flashing the update as well as the update process itself when I get to updating the OG Famicom. 

STAY TUNED! 

IGR issues with Lava RGB...

So with the Lava RGB installed in the OG Famicom and tested thoroughly, I started to wonder why the IGR on the Famicom works just as it should, but not on the NES? 

I did some searching about this. It turns out it's all about the reset state the console is in.

In the Famicom, when reset isn't pressed, it stays in a high state. 

When the reset button is pressed, the console goes into a low state. It obviously goes back into a high state when the reset button is let go... I have a tool pressing on the reset button here while I held the logic probe on the pin AND took the picture.

Here's the NES. When the reset button isn't pressed, the pin is in a low state. Obviously, the reset pin will go into a high state when it's pressed. It's opposite from the Famicom.

It might be the programming on the Lava RGB itself, but this might be the reason the IGR isn't working properly. Heck, it might be the reason that the palette switching from the controller may be glitchy from time to time.

Not sure what I can do from here. I may just remove the reset wire or just dig deeper into making it work. Stay tuned, I suppose.