John's Arcade Forum - Classic Arcade and Pinball Collecting and Restoring Discussion Forum - RETRO MAME - Nintendo Vs Forum

Just picked this gem up but it has one slight issue. Some of the graphics are super blocky. The board has been tested with no problems. I'm thinking possibly power supply issue. It's got the original power supply but it's been rebuilt. Any thoughts?

(http://forums.arcade-museum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=209761&d=1423021975)

As stated in the shoutbox, try turning the service switch on that is inside the coindoor. That will put it in selftest mode and should report any rom or ram errors. I am somewhat expecting a ram error on the video board but if that isn't the case there might be some mux error or something on the output circuit.

I did go and put the system in test mode, and no RAM error.. The guy I bought it from had sent the board off to be checked and repaired.  The guy he sent it to was able to run the board just fine in his cab which is why I was suspecting a power supply issue.

My only other guess is going to be an issue with the monitor adjustment.

Either way you should check the voltages on the PCB. you can use a test point for that, they are all over the boards. 4.4V to 5.5V would be fine for a voltage check.

Just gotta figure out where the voltages come out of the power supply.  I did notice a burnt resistor but it's in the audio board however the audio is perfect.

the audio board is the power board. check the voltages on the PCB. There are labeled +5v and GND test points on both the video board and CPU board.

an ARII can work and still fuck up.

My thinking is a new ARII board, this one seems pretty much shot.

Anyone know where one for sale is?

Rebuild it. It's not hard. Bob Roberts sells ARII rebuild kits.

Pole Position is all about power power power. Good ARIIs and good connections at the boards.

I have had blocky graphic/sprites before. I resat chips to fix. Try pushing on all chips and reseating the edge connector too. Inspect that edge connector also. Is it burnt up?

I have 4 extra

Are they the correct ones for a pole position?  If so how much do you want for one?

Edge connector is good, and all chips have been reseated.   The reason I'm thinking the board is beyond just rebuilding is this:

(http://forums.arcade-museum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=209875&d=1423100152)

This actually doesn't do it justice the burn is really really deep and bad.

You can fix that! If the traces are hosed just use jumper wire.

Don't let it discourage you!

Thanks for the encouragement John!  I think 34K might help me with the soldering.  Unless Colorado Game Exchange happens to have one on the cheap.

this one is not burned.
http://www.johnsarcade.com/forum/index.php?topic=2047.0

(https://www.dropbox.com/s/6ccg7ux35np2lc6/2015-02-06%2018.23.40.jpg?dl=0 :D)picked up a new 10 ohm differential resistor at a local shop and put it in, game seems to but running like a champ now.  Vertex, I'd like to grab that board from you and recap it just in case.

yeah I got the pm,, need the zip for shipping price.

Atari's AR power boards are horrible, mainly due to the linear power supply overpowering the poor pcb's causing those resistors to flame!

I've bulletproofed every single one of my Atari AR boards using this advice: http://www.stickycarpet.com/pinx/ar2mods.html

I've even removed that stupid useless R29 resistor and replaced it with a jumper wire, who thought of this +5vdc sense crap? argh!

And sometimes, I just don't wanna deal with it and go with a switcher cuz it's cheap and dammit it's EZ-2-DO! :)

The 5v sense wire is a great idea and if possible should be wired to one of the test points on the board using a separate wire from the main power.  The reason the sense line causes so many problems is because the edge connector gets dirty and oxidizes. This causes the resistance of the connector to go up and the voltage reaching the chips to be too low.  The sense wire sees that and tries to raise the voltage to maintain 5v. As the oxidizing increases the edge connector starts to cook. 

yup i hear yea, but everything I ever wanted to know about those AR boards can be found here:

http://bitslicer.tripod.com/ar_sense_mod.htm

http://melchman.net/arcade/Pr0n/tour/ARII/index.html