10 replies to this topic

[Atari Rescue Group]

The Black Widow I bought a while back is still not working.

Here's what it does or doesn't do:

No picture, except for a dot in the middle of the screen. the focus knob makes it bigger and fuzzier.
No sound, but the speaker hums on power-up
The 1 & 2 player lights work, but they don't blink. They are solidly lit.
Marquee light works.
Coin-slots light up.
The main board was tested by Eldorado games and they said it is good and sent it back.
The audio regulator board was replaced by Eldorado games after they tested the original one.
The red diode light on the main board and the one behind the monitor are lit.

Any ideas or suggestions about what may be wrong with it or how to get it working would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Arcadenut]

Atari Rescue Group said:

The Black Widow I bought a while back is still not working.

Here's what it does or doesn't do:

No picture, except for a dot in the middle of the screen. the focus knob makes it bigger and fuzzier.
No sound, but the speaker hums on power-up
The 1 & 2 player lights work, but they don't blink. They are solidly lit.
Marquee light works.
Coin-slots light up.
The main board was tested by Eldorado games and they said it is good and sent it back.
The audio regulator board was replaced by Eldorado games after they tested the original one.
The red diode light on the main board and the one behind the monitor are lit.

Any ideas or suggestions about what may be wrong with it or how to get it working would be appreciated. Thanks.

Do not leave the game on while that dot is in the center of the screen, it will burn the phosphers off and you'll have a black spot right there. There is either a problem with the monitor itself (No Vertical or Horizonatal output) or there is a video board problem.

Bob Roberts ( http://www.therealbobroberts.com/ ) has a rebuild kit for the monitor, however, if you are not comfortable working around 19,000 Volts, you may want someone else to fix it.

[Cassidy Nolen]

Sounds like the filter capacitor in the bottom of the machine. That board and Gravitar both are VERY succeptible to not playing if that cap is bad. I am talking about the big battery looking one in the fuse block. Swap it out with another one you may have around (otherwise, its like 15 bucks from Bob Roberts, and its 20 years old; never bad to have a spare or two).

Don't leave the game on that way, you will mess up the monitor, and could hurt the board.

HTH,
Cassidy

[Atari Rescue Group]

Thanks for the ideas. They give me something to work with. My goal is to stay away from the 19,000 volts for as long as possible.

Since I've gotten it I only turn the game on to confirm that it isn't working, and only for a few seconds at a time.

Thanks for Bob's link. Hopefully I can get this machine working with an easy fix.

[JB]

Atari Rescue Group said:

Thanks for the ideas. They give me something to work with. My goal is to stay away from the 19,000 volts for as long as possible.

Good plan, good plan.

[Cassidy Nolen]

I was freaked out the first time I did this, so I feel you, dog

Seriously, leave the machine unplugged for a few hours (or days), and then unscrew the power dist. block. I am guessing you do not have a spare color vector power block to substitute, so you will most likely have to fix it one item at a time. Lights on the PCB/control panel mean you do not have a problem with anything in the DC side, so now its time to unhook that booger.

With a big insulated screwdriver, simply touch the two flat head screw tops on the capacitor together. Thats it. I will almost promise you will see/hear NOTHING . If they are good/quasi good, you may see a spark, but thats it. No problem at all.

Go get em, you can do it.

Cassidy

[Atari Rescue Group]

Ahhhh-HAH!!!! The filter capacitor was dead! The new one from (The Real)Bob Roberts fixed it. It works!!!!!! Sound and everything. Many bugs were destroyed this fine evening.....

Thanks for the primo diagnosis Cassidy, to Arcadenut for Bob's www link, and to Bob for the part.

Unfortunately there is a small white burn-through hole in the middle of the screen. What's the remedy for that? A new tube?.

I'm not familiar with the game, as there are some wierd looking lines on it at different times. I have determined that all the bugs leave webs, but that after each play some bright white lines are on the screen. Also, is it normal for all the writing on the high score screen to be connected with lines?

How do I get the tube properly tuned? Hopefully that may solve some of the problems.

[Cassidy Nolen]

Congrats! I wish I had found that out myself. I ended up blowing a board before I figured it out....



As for the spot...Tube time!

Take that part number off of the tube to your local TV shop, and see if they have any used tubes you can swap it with. You would have to transfer your deflection coils and color convergence rings (not fun), but you can do it if you dont mess around too much. That tube is a standard TV tube (believe it or not), so you should be able to swap it.

Caveat! That also means the spot killer circuit on your monitor chassis is inop. If the board or something goes, you need to shut that thing down quick! If you download the Atari big book from the web, it talks about how to fix that.

Cassidy

[Arcadenut]

Atari Rescue Group said:

Ahhhh-HAH!!!! The filter capacitor was dead! The new one from (The Real)Bob Carpenter fixed it. It works!!!!!! Sound and everything. Many bugs were destroyed this fine evening.....

Actually, I think you mean Bob Roberts :-)

Atari Rescue Group said:

Thanks for the primo diagnosis Cassidy, and to Bob for the part.

Unfortunately there is a small white burn-through hole in the middle of the screen. What's the remedy for that? A new tube?.

New tube is the only way to go. I just ignore the spot on my Tempest :-)

Atari Rescue Group said:

I'm not familiar with the game, as there are some wierd looking lines on it at different times. I have determined that all the bugs leave webs, but that after each play some bright white lines are on the screen. Also, is it normal for all the writing on the high score screen to be connected with lines?

How do I get the tube properly tuned? Hopefully that may solve some of the problems.

The white lines you see are from the brightness being up too high. Lower the brightness and those lines will disappear. The screen is drawn as one long contiguous line. The parts that are supposed to be visible are a higher intesity (brighter) than the "hidden" lines.

[Atari Rescue Group]

I corrected Bob's last name above, so I'm not advertising the wrong Bob to people. There's only one real Bob Roberts they say....

The flicker only seems to happen when the high score screen shows. I'll fiddle with the brightness and hopefully it'll be better... And when a game ends it says, "Game Over Player 1", thats the screen where there is a bright white line connecting all the words....The spot is small on the screen, but I'll look into getting another one. I'd just hate to mess with it and screw it up so it doesn't work.

I'll look into the spot killer fix. It may be beyond me though to do that, but I'll look for the Big Book...

Oh, my brother bought a modified board that has both Gravitar and Black Widow on it. There is an added toggle switch that must be the one to switch the game, but two of the four little wires to it broke off at the solder point on the switch. There seems to be two spots where they could go, but I dare not gonna touch it.

Assuming we can find a contol panel for Gravitar we could use this board if we get it fixed.

[Cassidy Nolen]

If you decided to sell that board, I would be very interested. I have a beautiful Black Widow that needs a board.

LMk eh?

Cassidy