Moon Patrol Issue

[arcade jedi]

Hello All,

I've purchased a Moon Patrol that worked properly when I bought it.  I trucked it standing up from the seller to my house and carted it in.  Since then, it plays, but the player cannot be killed.  The usual ways to die are by saucers that bomb the players vehicle, or you can fall into craters or drive into rocks.  However, the buggy can take all the bombs and rocks that the game can dish out, and the buggy just continues driving over the craters like they're not even there.

I've checked all ribbon cables for proper seating and pushed on all the chips that look like they could have wiggled out of sockets.  Most chips are soldered on the boards, so there aren't too many that could have wiggled out of sockets.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

On a high note, I had a Frogger that was having issues and I successfully diagnosed that a power supply replacement was required and it's now working great.  Yea!!

Thanks all,

 ~ Arcade Jedi

[SanTe]

Hello All,

I've purchased a Moon Patrol that worked properly when I bought it.  I trucked it standing up from the seller to my house and carted it in.  Since then, it plays, but the player cannot be killed.  The usual ways to die are by saucers that bomb the players vehicle, or you can fall into craters or drive into rocks.  However, the buggy can take all the bombs and rocks that the game can dish out, and the buggy just continues driving over the craters like they're not even there.

I've checked all ribbon cables for proper seating and pushed on all the chips that look like they could have wiggled out of sockets.  Most chips are soldered on the boards, so there aren't too many that could have wiggled out of sockets.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

On a high note, I had a Frogger that was having issues and I successfully diagnosed that a power supply replacement was required and it's now working great.  Yea!!

Thanks all,

 ~ Arcade Jedi

This is symptomatic of inadequate power to the PCB.  I'm betting your Moon Patrol has the same/similar problem as your Frogger.  Meter the +5V rail.  I bet it's low, like 4.5-4.7V.  If so, adjust it up to 5.05V and see if the problem goes away.  I wouldn't go higher than 5.1V or so.  Also, examine the edge connector pins for signs of damage, like burn marks and/or previous repair like solder on the traces.  You could have a bad connection that is not providing steady voltage to the board.

[arcade jedi]

Thank you for the information SanTe.   

In fact, I did replace the power supply yesterday.  Unfortunately, I'm still experiencing the same problem.  However, I assumed it was getting proper power since it's a brand new "right out of the box" power supply from Arcadeshop.  It was late and I lost the desire to fiddle with it any further.  But you bring up a valid point that I don't have the experience to have thought of on my own, which is, just because it's a brand new PS, doesn't mean the boards are getting the proper power levels throughout. 

I've been having a blast playing Frogger.  If I can pry myself away long enough tonight, I'll test the voltages and turn up the power supply voltage control knob on the Moon Patrol to see if that helps.

Also, big shout out to Arcadeshop, LLC.  Those guys are friendly, very knowledgeable and always great to work with.

 ~ Arcade Jedi

[P-feif]

Even with a brand new power supply you have to set the voltages. Not setting them means you are taking a big risk of damaging something due to incorrect voltage.