3 replies to this topic

[Xot]

My daughter asked to play some Jr. Pac-Man today while we were out doing some yard work... the arcade games are in the garage so I went and fired it up for her and... nothing. Game sounds for a second, and then nothing. I knew the sound cable had a short in it, but the monitor didn't light up at all. The marquee and coin slots still lit up, so it's not the PS.

I know, I know... maybe something as simple as a blown fuse but I'm not terribly good at fixing these beasties and really, it was just so disappointing to have to tell Winter she couldn't play. She really LOVES Pac-Man, and passing down my love of video games is something I really take pride in. She tried to settle for Rolling Thunder, but obviously, it's not the same.

I don't suppose there's anyone local to Central Vt. that feels like fixing up a few arcade machines for me? I have eight of them now and I'm down to three that are 100% working. And heck, one of those sometimes has control issues. I've even contemplated selling/junking the non/semi-working ones.

Just needed to vent a little disappointment. For some odd reason it only just hit me now, eight hours after the fact. Thanks.

[sebastius]

Just post your problems here, we can probably help you fix the easy ones...

[Xot]

Well, I probably won't get to work on them anytime soon. But, here goes.

Double Dragon: Power on, I get game sounds, no picture, light to neck of monitor. Originally, the monitor fuse blew, and I replaced it and it blew AGAIN. I checked the voltages and it looked okay, so I installed a third fuse. THIS one didn't blow but still no pic on the monitor. I suspect this is a flyback issue. The monitor is fairly obscure (Magnavox?) and none of the places I checked had a compatible flyback.

Rolling Thunder: Severe red cast and diagonal lines across the screen. Been told it's probably a faulty red gun in the CRT. Didn't bother to fix (not that I know how), I just put the PCB in a diff. cabinet.

Jr. Pac: Power on, marquee and coin lights light up, nothing else. Haven't looked into this at all. I was getting game sounds at first but they faded out and haven't come back.

Ikari Warriors: This has the eight-way, rotating joysticks. Sometimes the left joystick fails to respond when pushed to the left. Checked the connections and everything seems intact.

Well, if anyone wants to tackle 'em, there they are.

[sebastius]

Well i'm not going to bother with monitors, if possible just get replacements for those.

JR Pac: If sounds were there at first, but aren't now, i'd suspect the power supply and/or capacitors. Check for blown/leaking ones, and replace those immediately.

Then start checking voltages from the power supply and check main wiring. Maybe a mouse had a feast on your cables (it happens). If that works, check whether all chips on the board get their 5 volt line (for all 74 series chips its bottom left is gnd and top right is +5v). Be sure that you get a clean 5v everywhere.

Does the monitor power up (I can hear mine powering up with the degaussing and a classic tv whine while it's on. If the monitor doesn't power up, check wiring and fuses first, then try a replacement (or use a TV temporarily for testing).

If the monitor comes up and your board gets it's 5v, then you've got a somewhat more difficult problem.

Check the oscillator's frequency with a frequency tester (on most modern multimeters)

Try removing and reseating all socketed ICs ONE BY ONE. That way you can see if it makes a difference, and if it does, replace the socket with a new one. Begin with the CPU and color prom's, then move on to RAM and EPROMS. After that all other chips.

The joystick problem seems to be connected with dirt in the switch/optics (whatever yours uses). Take it apart and clean it. Check for bent connections.