PSX Core Stopped Working

[Honeyboy]

Hello all! MiSTer noob here. I cannot for the life of me get the PSX core to work! I have looked at all the posts on this forum and a couple others around the internet but nothing so far has helped.

I initially installed it (and the bios) using update_all and was able to play one session of Linda³, then the trouble began...

I went to play another session and it refused to launch. I saw it try to boot the bios rom (boot.rom, boot1.rom, boot2.rom) but then the screen stayed black. I went to launch the Lind³ bin/cue and it selected the right region, but then nothing happened. I tried again with manually setting it to NTSC-J, but still nothing!

I wiped the core from /_Consoles/PSX and the bios from /games/PSX to run update_all again. The fresh install didn't help though. I then tried manually switching them out. I tried earlier builds of the core and a whole mess of different bios to no avail (side question, does PSXONPSP660.bin work or does one always need three regional bios for the PSX core?).

I finally tried wiping the whole MiSTer clean and did a fresh install of everything, update then update_all to get the core and bios again, but still nothing. I've also run a memtest and my SD ram seems to be doing fine. Feeling like there's nothing left to try!

Please let me know if you have any other ideas! I would love it if there was something very simple I'm overlooking and, on the bright side, I learned a lot about my MiSTer's software today

Best,
-Hb

[dickhardpill]

I just loaded Wipeout (3 or XL, wasn't paying attention) and it came up with no problem

I think my screen goes black for 10-15 seconds while the game loads.

Maybe try the Uberyoji boot roms? My screen kind of flashes (crt) a couple times and then it comes up after maybe 5-10 seconds.

[pbsk8]

delete the psx rbf and download it again.

[edr]

Try temporarily moving the various PSX settings out of /media/fat/config in case any of them is the issue.

Also try manually selecting a different region in the core menu in case the game is for a different region.

Checksums from my mister:

Code: Select all

# sha256sum /media/fat/MiSTer

63f6e772e0ce34774183619f958cfa2b4cd4f6c98a8b8e021776173ab8ff9f1c  /media/fat/MiSTer


# sha256sum /media/fat/_Console/PSX_20240418.rbf 

9138ba315042c2be7f3f79038a153e9ad380847267ac365796d29035355cb763  /media/fat/_Console/PSX_20240418.rbf


# sha256sum /media/fat/games/PSX/boot*

11052b6499e466bbf0a709b1f9cb6834a9418e66680387912451e971cf8a1fef  /media/fat/games/PSX/boot.rom

9c0421858e217805f4abe18698afea8d5aa36ff0727eb8484944e00eb5e7eadb  /media/fat/games/PSX/boot1.rom

1faaa18fa820a0225e488d9f086296b8e6c46df739666093987ff7d8fd352c09  /media/fat/games/PSX/boot2.rom

[Honeyboy]

Try temporarily moving the various PSX settings out of /media/fat/config in case any of them is the issue.

Also try manually selecting a different region in the core menu in case the game is for a different region.

Checksums from my mister:

Code: Select all

# sha256sum /media/fat/MiSTer

63f6e772e0ce34774183619f958cfa2b4cd4f6c98a8b8e021776173ab8ff9f1c  /media/fat/MiSTer


# sha256sum /media/fat/_Console/PSX_20240418.rbf 

9138ba315042c2be7f3f79038a153e9ad380847267ac365796d29035355cb763  /media/fat/_Console/PSX_20240418.rbf


# sha256sum /media/fat/games/PSX/boot*

11052b6499e466bbf0a709b1f9cb6834a9418e66680387912451e971cf8a1fef  /media/fat/games/PSX/boot.rom

9c0421858e217805f4abe18698afea8d5aa36ff0727eb8484944e00eb5e7eadb  /media/fat/games/PSX/boot1.rom

1faaa18fa820a0225e488d9f086296b8e6c46df739666093987ff7d8fd352c09  /media/fat/games/PSX/boot2.rom

Thank you for these, I think you're onto something with the config files. I'll check it out

[Honeyboy]

If this were a hardware issue, what do ya'll think it could be? My memtests keep coming up good and my other cores are working fine. I just did another fresh install of the whole MiSTer (fully formatted the SD first) and the core still isn't working. Tried the latest core and an older one...

[edr]

If this were a hardware issue, what do ya'll think it could be? My memtests keep coming up good and my other cores are working fine.

There are some cores (Saturn for ex) where the type of mem module makes a difference, I don't know if it matters for PSX but maybe? Once you've ruled out other possibilities you could try getting one of the latest mem modules (version 3, 128MB, ~$60 USD) from one of the main vendors (misteraddons, misterfpga co uk etc).

[Honeyboy]

If this were a hardware issue, what do ya'll think it could be? My memtests keep coming up good and my other cores are working fine.

There are some cores (Saturn for ex) where the type of mem module makes a difference, I don't know if it matters for PSX but maybe? Once you've ruled out other possibilities you could try getting one of the latest mem modules (version 3, 128MB, ~$60 USD) from one of the main vendors (misteraddons, misterfpga co uk etc).

Mine is one of the kits from MiSTer Addons. I'm thinking that maybe I don't actually know what a good memtest looks like and worried that I might have a bad ram stick. Here's a screenshot after 120 mins of testing--what do you think? Someone in a different thread said that if the red number is anything other than zeros it's an indicator that it's faulty.

436818023_474816711564770_1436172704950830283_n.jpg (134.24 KiB) Viewed 8117 times

Thanks for all the help so far

[edr]

Someone in a different thread said that if the red number is anything other than zeros it's an indicator that it's faulty.

I never used the test before but that makes sense about the red line. Mine shows a few errors so far after a few minutes for speed 144 (use the up/down keys to change the test speed from 167). 145 and up starts to show errors right away on mine. My misteraddons system purchased Dec 2020, single ram, runs PSX fine. According to https://misterfpga.co.uk/product/mister ... mb-module/ "126 MHz is the fastest any current core needs" so you could try testing at 130 and see if you get any errors.

[Honeyboy]

Someone in a different thread said that if the red number is anything other than zeros it's an indicator that it's faulty.

I never used the test before but that makes sense about the red line. Mine shows a few errors so far after a few minutes for speed 144 (use the up/down keys to change the test speed from 167). 145 and up starts to show errors right away on mine. My misteraddons system purchased Dec 2020, single ram, runs PSX fine. According to https://misterfpga.co.uk/product/mister ... mb-module/ "126 MHz is the fastest any current core needs" so you could try testing at 130 and see if you get any errors.

I'll try running that overnight tonight. It's a shame because this setup was working really well for a couple weeks, then I went to try and get this PSX core working and now some of my other cores aren't working (Genesis, GBA). The craziest thing about it is that the PSX core DID work the first time so it FEELS like it shouldn't be a hardware issue, but I've done a clean install twice now so...

[dickhardpill]

1. (1)Auto mode indicator (animated)

2. (2)Test time passed in minutes

3. (3)Current memory module frequency in MHz

4. (4)Memory module size:

   • 0 - no memory board detected

   • 1 - 32 MB

   • 2 - 64 MB

   • 3 - 128 MB

5. (5)Number of of passed test cycles (each cycle is 32 MB)

6. (6)Number of failed tests

The list looks different on my computer than it does on my phone.

https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/MemTest_MiSTer

[edr]

Another somewhat remote possibility is the power supply, and whether it's putting out enough amps. 5 volts 2 amps is minimum but it's recommended to consider going to 4 amps or more (always 5 volts ofc) when using multiple usb devices especially any external usb-powered spinning drive that sucks up power. Mean Well, Globtek etc and other good brands. If you recently added some usb devices, try removing most of them and test PSX again.

[Honeyboy]

Another somewhat remote possibility is the power supply, and whether it's putting out enough amps. 5 volts 2 amps is minimum but it's recommended to consider going to 4 amps or more (always 5 volts ofc) when using multiple usb devices especially any external usb-powered spinning drive that sucks up power. Mean Well, Globtek etc and other good brands. If you recently added some usb devices, try removing most of them and test PSX again.

Thanks, I probably have something like that sitting around! Think it might be worth buying a new SD card? I'm letting the memtest run overnight and I'll be back here with the results!

Here's a photo of what happens when I try to load a GBA game now for further context

435823011_3225172591120399_2578198448407966085_n.jpg (152.47 KiB) Viewed 8002 times

[edr]

A different SD card is def worth trying. I'm so paranoid about fakes now that I buy SanDisk microSD's directly from the Western Digital site only.

[Honeyboy]

1. (1)Auto mode indicator (animated)

2. (2)Test time passed in minutes

3. (3)Current memory module frequency in MHz

4. (4)Memory module size:

   • 0 - no memory board detected

   • 1 - 32 MB

   • 2 - 64 MB

   • 3 - 128 MB

5. (5)Number of of passed test cycles (each cycle is 32 MB)

6. (6)Number of failed tests

The list looks different on my computer than it does on my phone.

https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/MemTest_MiSTer

440576799_7551354678290946_1793243074070917580_n.jpg (31.69 KiB) Viewed 7766 times

Here's my results! Based on what you showed me here, it seems like my 128 MB card is being detected and it has passed 17,258 tests at 130 Mhz in 614 minutes. I started at 130 Mhz so I assumed that since the number never went down this is as close to an "all clear" as I'll get?

Thanks again for your help so far!

-Hb

[desin24]

???
(6) Number of failed tests

[Honeyboy]

???
(6) Number of failed tests

Quoting a guy from another thread:

Alright... so after I got it running twice for a while again, I decided to remove, clean and reseat it after checking the suggested URL above. Did so multiple times. Couldn't get it back up running again.

It still happily runs the memtest though. What do you guys think? Will a RAM replacement do the job? Or is it more likely the DE10 is faulty since the memtest is OK? It's a vertical module, any suggestions? Should I go for the v3.0 128MB if I decide to give the RAM replacement a try?

Edit: looking around for a potential replacement, on misterfpga dot co dot uk there's screenshot showing the memory test. The red numbers are all zero's. Is that what it is supposed to be? As I get random numbers all the time.

The red is the failure count. It counts in Hexadecimal. If thats anything other than 0 you have faulty ram

Do you know if this is correct? Because I don't think my red number was ever at all 0's

[FPGA64]

Your fail at 130 shows your ram is bad. Any value in red other than 0 shows bad ram. WIth ram that bad I am surprised you canr un any core that needs external ram. Your latest picture show it failed extensively at 130

Read the tests in detail here

https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/MemTest_MiSTer

Any red value is a fail. You should not run it in Manual mode. Run it in auto. It will seek a speed that gives 0 red results.

[Honeyboy]

Your fail at 130 shows your ram is bad. Any value in red other than 0 shows bad ram. WIth ram that bad I am surprised you canr un any core that needs external ram. Your latest picture show it failed extensively at 130

Read the tests in detail here

https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/MemTest_MiSTer

Any red value is a fail. You should not run it in Manual mode. Run it in auto. It will seek a speed that gives 0 red results.

Thank you for the help!

Just tried auto mode and failed down to 80...

[FPGA64]

Your fail at 130 shows your ram is bad. Any value in red other than 0 shows bad ram. WIth ram that bad I am surprised you canr un any core that needs external ram. Your latest picture show it failed extensively at 130

Read the tests in detail here

https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/MemTest_MiSTer

Any red value is a fail. You should not run it in Manual mode. Run it in auto. It will seek a speed that gives 0 red results.

Thank you for the help!

Just tried auto mode and failed down to 80...

Your Ram is toast. Can you for example run any of the bigger Neo Geo Games ?

[Honeyboy]

Your fail at 130 shows your ram is bad. Any value in red other than 0 shows bad ram. WIth ram that bad I am surprised you canr un any core that needs external ram. Your latest picture show it failed extensively at 130

Read the tests in detail here

https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/MemTest_MiSTer

Any red value is a fail. You should not run it in Manual mode. Run it in auto. It will seek a speed that gives 0 red results.

Thank you for the help!

Just tried auto mode and failed down to 80...

Your Ram is toast. Can you for example run any of the bigger Neo Geo Games ?

Nope, not loading at all

I am within the 30-day return window for MiSTer addons so I just let them know. Hopefully they can get me a new ram!

[Honeyboy]

MiSTer Addons responded quickly and they're sending me a new one Very happy with their customer support!

[FPGA64]

MiSTer Addons responded quickly and they're sending me a new one Very happy with their customer support!

Yes this is why its always worth buying from a known good supplier rather than risking Ali Express/Ebay/Amazon

[edr]

For reference my mem autotested good up to 141 after an hour or two, more than good enough. It was interesting to learn more about the memtest tool.

Memtest.png (815.42 KiB) Viewed 7427 times