Friday, May 29, 2020

Sega X-Board Memory Test Software

A set of ROM images to test the RAM ICs and custom chips on Sega X-Board hardware (AfterBurner, Thunderblade etc.). It is more robust than the on-board tests and stands a better chance of running on a dead boardset.

  • It does not require working main RAM to actually run the main RAM test.
  • Remove all sub CPU EPROMs when installing (IC 20, IC 29 etc), as these interfere with the results.
  • It requires a vanilla 68K CPU to be installed, not the FD1094 security processor present on some X-Board games.
  • The palette will be incorrect when used on games other than AfterBurner. But it should still operate correctly. 

This was not previously released, because I hadn't verified the IC labeling on hardware. However, a number of people have already used this software to successfully fix PCBs. Therefore, I figured I should get this out there and address problems as they are reported.

This is based on the OutRun Memory Test. The modified (and messy) source code is available here

The compiled ROM images can be downloaded here