Page 1 of 1

burning a new 3DO Bios ROM

Posted: Sun Oct 10, 2010 7:45 am
by 3DOKid
I've been modifing my ZX Spectrum +3a (in America i think they were called Timex)with custom ROMs. I have a ROM writer/reader, EPROM eraser, a bunch of attachments and it's all a doddle. I loaded it with a custom BIOS

Without prizing open a 3DO, is there anything stopping us, for example, loading the 3DO with the a dev (sans encryption) BIOS?

If memory serves, it's not plugin chip, so I am guessing soldering is the first hurdle...

Posted: Sun Oct 10, 2010 3:10 pm
by 3DO Experience
Yeah, you will have to unsolder it.

Posted: Sun Oct 10, 2010 7:02 pm
by 3DOKid
damn. if there were awards for the worlds most "i just don't get it" soldering, I'd have a full mantle piece.

Posted: Sun Oct 10, 2010 7:46 pm
by 3DO Experience
Check out this video. How and WHY to Solder Correctly Probably the best instructions you may ever see. He explains it better than the professor I had.

Posted: Sun Oct 10, 2010 10:42 pm
by 3DOKid
Within 43seconds he touched everything I did, everytime :)

I watched the whole thing. i wanna solder something... NOW!

Posted: Mon Oct 11, 2010 12:27 am
by 3DO Experience
Instructors are much better when they give you the why as well as the how. :D

Posted: Mon Oct 11, 2010 4:23 am
by GohanX
If you have any old video or sound cards laying around, practice soldering/desoldering chips and capacitors. It's good practice for when you want to do something important.

I taught myself how to solder from the internet, and it has been a bit bumpy but it is very rewarding. I think the 3do is one of the only systems I have that isn't modded in some way, but that's mostly because I just got it. I did make my PS3 SF4 stick work with the 3do for Super SF2T today, if that counts.

Posted: Mon Oct 11, 2010 7:18 am
by 3DOKid
Wow. Do you have pictures / guides?

Posted: Mon Oct 11, 2010 1:13 pm
by GohanX
The short version is that I installed a multiconsole Cthulhu board in my PS3 Madcatz SF4 stick and rigged it to use a RJ45 jack. Then I take the cord from an extension cable or sacrificial controller and put a RJ45 connector on one end of it (I used an old Genesis controller.) I haven't finished making cables for all of my systems, but it works for just about everything except for the Genesis, Dreamcast and Xbox 360.

The long version can be found on SRK:

Cthulhu thread

http://shoryuken.com/f177/official-cthu ... se-162026/

Making cables thread (with 3do pinout in the second post)

http://shoryuken.com/f177/rj-45-tutoria ... ts-231734/

The assembly of the board into the stick is time consuming, but it's actually easier than it looks. Very little soldering is required.