[Techtoolslist] Z80 Pod - weak signal strength?

[Sprout]

Relatively new owner, and learning my way around the hardware..    Picked
up a Z80 pod as part of a larger bundle purchase that was flaky.
Eventually got it working, and in the process replaced a few 74C245's on
the secondary PCB with 74LS245's.  Consistently passing self test now.

Initially, when it was somewhat flaky (and before I appear to have blown
the '245's by troubleshooting with the pod removed from it's shell - gotta
be very careful the two boards don't come apart while moving it around :P
Initial issue was the two boards were poorly seated), I had a couple of
good game boards where it allowed me to consistently run UUT with no
issues.  Since then, I'm noticing certain boards will run perfectly with
the pod (ie Galaxian), and others (Jr. PacMan, Sega Frogger, Ms. Pac
modified to run Crush Roller) just constantly watch-dog.  My guess is that
I have poor signal strength between the pod and the PCB's, but wanted to
see if anybody found this as a common issue, and whether there are any
components in the pod that may be worth looking at/replacing to address
this?  The Ms. Pac board has the small satellite board, and I noticed if I
bypass it and go directly to the main PCB socket, the board is a bit more
active, which makes me feel I'm on the right track. Jr. Pac doesn't use
that however, and refuses to budge.

I've verified all the '245's and '374's check out good as per the IC test
functions on my EPROM programmer, and again - passes self-test
consistently.  When on the Galaxian PCB, I could read ROM without issue,
pass all RAM tests without issue - seems to work perfectly.  Can't do
anything on the others as it's complaining about active lines constantly,
which are toggling because the boards seem to be watch-dogging as noted.
If I disable active line monitoring, bus tests pass.

I also built a new cable (slightly longer than the original) with no change
in behavior.  This one uses the standard, flat ribbon cable.  Also dropped
in a Z80B - no change; these boards are all running at 3.072Mhz anyway,
which shouldn't be an issue...

Thoughts/suggestions?  On a side note - what's the most current version on
the ROM?  Mine shows part# 536581, version 1.0.  I found the Z80QT pod ROM
and a few others online, but not this one.  Plan to dump it regardless, but
would like to upgrade if there's a newer version floating about.

Have otherwise done the USB mod - works great - and got one of the two tape
drives I have working.  Bundle came with 9 new tapes, so was nice to be
able to use them if I want to.  Going to try and manufacture replacement
rings for the other tape drive, and will post any success I have doing so,
since replacements are non-existent!

Thanks,

Brent