Twin Cobra Help ..

[Jacmar]

Hey guys, I've got a couple of Twin Cobra bootlegs which look near identical. Both have issues, I'm hoping to get 1 of the 2 fully working if possible.. before I get too involved in one of them I was wondering if anyone could help me identify what is missing from the empty socket I've marked on the main BOARD 1 in red on the following picture ...



I've put BOARD 2 next to it for reference. you can see how similar these boards are. At first I thought it was simply the same chip you can see in that slot on BOARD 2 - which is a TMS320C10 MCU - but now I'm not so sure...
If it was simply the MCU missing, then where are the bipolar PROMS (marked in BLUE) on BOARD 1 ?

I believe the original Taito chip here is a T-T-4 security chip , which is a disguised TMS320C10 with some in built ROM. The bootleggers separated the MCU and the ROM into the config you see on BOARD 2 ... but where is that data being held on BOARD 1 ?

So I'm wondering if there is a small daughter board missing from the socket on BOARD 1 .. If so I can basically give up on this board set and concentrate on the other one. But I've searched all over the net for pictures of Twin Cobra Bootlegs and I cant find one (with this type of layout) with a small daughter board in that position. So I'm confused

Does anyone have a bootleg like this that could have a look for me please?

 

[TheDaddy]

Think I have a couple in my scrap pile , I will have a look later on for you. May be tomoz.

Dave.

 

[Jacmar]

Thanks !

 

[favouredson]

I have seen one with a daughterboard so you may on the right track.

 

[Jacmar]

Can't find anywhere a picture of a Twin Cobra boot with a daughter board in this position, which only has one fixing to the main board. (There are single PCB bootleg versions of Twin Cobra with a daughter board in this position, but they have more than one connection to the main board.

However I did find this Flying Shark Bootleg (Flying Shark and Twin Cobra extremely similar Taito/Taoplan hardware) which has exactly what I think may be missing on my board.... MCU with a couple of ROMS .. (and maybe the odd TTL chip) ...



Still if anyone does have an example of this on a Twin Cobra would be nice to have my suspicions confirmed

 

[TheDaddy]

Balls I forget mate , WIll try look tonight , Off Friday if not.

Dave.

 

[Jacmar]

Balls I forget mate , WIll try look tonight , Off Friday if not.

Dave.

No worries mate , I'm 99% convinced now its a small daughter board missing so won't be doing much with it anytime soon.

 

[Jacmar]

I'm going in for a small op tomorrow and then intend to milk it Friday-Sunday doing bugger all other than playing with broken pcb's I've got plenty of others!

 

[TheDaddy]

Haha cant fault you mate. I try and do that without the op !

Dave.

 

[TheDaddy]

So sorry for late reply I looked at weekend and forgot to post , I thought I had one in parts bin but I was wrong. My software says I have 2 but I have no clue what boxes and there are way to many to try and get too.

Sorry !

Dave.

 

[Jacmar]

Thanks Dave, no worries!