Final Fantasy 1 Freezing on RetroUSB AVS

When I try to play Final Fantasy ( Cartridge purchased new,clean,new battery) on my AVS everything seems perfectly normal until I talk to an outdoor NPC in the first town. When I do this the game locks up before the dialog bubble comes up. I’ve tried this from a save game and starting a new game. I can talk to shopkeepers just fine. This works with no issue when a load a ROM from an Everdrive N8.

I contacted RetroUSB and went through basic troubleshooting. I sent them a PCB shot and they said I had a revision they were not aware of and they would do their best to correct the issue in a future firmware.

Customer service was very nice and helpful but I’m still stuck with a FF1 cart that works in my toaster but not the AVS. Just curious if anyone else has experienced this.