Wow, don't I feel silly...

The saga continues with the Neo CD power supply. I posted in a Want To Buy (WTB) for a Neo CD or something equivalent. A Neo Geo guru (I usually refer to him as Sifu) had one that, I thought, was a Neo CD power supply, but it ended up being a different one (an HP sdd018-n1000). It had the same connector that I needed for the Neo CD and the same voltage output as the other power supplies that I've tried using. The only difference was the amperage going to 12V and 5V. I didn't think they made much of a difference, but apparently, it does.

In the meantime waiting for the adapter, I managed to find another power supply with the same style connector that the Neo CD uses. I cut off the part I needed and got rid of the rest.

I tried splicing into the old hard drive power supply that I've been trying to get to work with the connector I pilfered. Alas, after much hacking and prodding, I couldn't get it to work. The power light would come on, but no image or sound on the screen.

A few days later, I got the adapter in the mail. I immediately tried it out when I got it.

...didn't work...

Kinda frustrated at this point, I PM'd Sifu to see if he knew what was going on. We figured that it was 2 connections that were different: 5V and ground. Both of those were switched. I wish I was able to break into the main part of the power supply itself, but it was sealed shut.

I ended up, per advice, cutting the cable and rewiring the 2 different connections. I just did a quick cut and splice to get things tested, using electrical tape to cover the wires. Took it to my game area to test it.

...it finally worked...

After ALL that, it finally worked. I don't know if I'm gonna try and get the other adapter to work, but for now, I'm done and happy that this finally got resolved.

Specs on the adapter
HP sdd018-n1000
12V 1.0A (top left of the connector, looking at it)(red wire when opened)
5V 1.2A (top right of the connector, looking at it)(white wire when opened)
Ground (bottom of the connector, looking at it)(bare wire when opened)

5V and Ground need to be switched (Ground to top right connector, 5V to bottom connector)