[kooldraco]

the "Z" wire is the wire that supposedly lets you use ar/gs, but as you can see is not very reliable
if you remove it you will have no ar/gs support what so ever
try this:
i use to be able to boot my games at the second try......after it froze once (at the updating codes list screen) i would the whole process again and i wouldn't get the "updating codes list" and the game would boot........either this or the first method i told you.
don't know why it doesn't work for you, maybe cause you are using a clone and i was using original chips, don't really know if that matters.
maybe you should change chips.......one of those $20 apple pro chips that people seem to recomend allot