32X Seems to be crashing

[TrekkiesUnite118]

I still have the top and bottom RF shielding on mine. And I don't really have any capacitors laying around that I could test that, nor am I really that comfortable with doing that.

[Ace]

I'm WAY late with this(haven't really had time to do this), but I just opened up my VA0 Genesis Model 2 and noticed three differences right off the bat:

-The main ASIC has a different product number on it. Mine has 315-5660, but the writing on your VA0's main ASIC is illegible in those pictures.
-The Z80 in my VA0 Genesis Model 2 is made by Toshiba. Your system appears to have a Sega Z80 in it.
-The RAM chip at IC5 is made by Sanyo on my VA0 Genesis Model 2. By the looks of it, your VA0 Genesis Model 2 has a Samsung RAM chip(I can't say for sure, but it looks like a Samsung chip to my eyes).

I don't know if that could change anything, but that's what I noticed is different between my VA0 Genesis Model 2 and yours.

[TmEE]

Different RAM chip manufacturers make no difference. His uses 315-5487 ASIC, the first kind, same as mine does.

[Jorge Nuno]

It could be interesting to know what this expansion bay is all about. My guess its that it's just a bunch of ceramic capacitors loading the address and data bus..

So why are some systems affected and not others? Different ASICs revs, board layouts (dismissed in this case), different frequencies (NTSC vs PAL master clocks) and other stuff IDK...

[TrekkiesUnite118]

I think the Z80 in mine is made by Zilog if I remember correctly. Would video encoders possibly have something to do with it? If it does mine has the Samsung encoder. The only other thing I can think of is the RF Shielding. If neither of you guys have it in yours that might explain it.

[sheath]

I had always thought that because the solution is a terminator on the expansion port, which is just another cartridge port, that the problem was in the cartridge port circuitry. The 32X locks up just like the cart port was dirty.