Original Galaga :: Fixed PCB Now Controls Don't Respond...

[alby13]

i think if the game is playing then the graphic data on the chips are probably good. that means the issue with the video is something else.

but this is really good progress. i hear all the time that the capacitors on monitors are the cause of a lot of issues as they go out. in fact, my display is a bit wavy on my arcade even after every adjustment. it looks good but it isn't right. i will have to do a cap kit on my monitor.

[iankellogg]

Turn the brightness down on the flyback and some of those issues will go away and try adjusting. I think you will be able to get this!

[tokyopunchout]

Guys, thanks for your encouragement!

I've tried messing around with the Brightness on the flyback - to no avail.

Anybody here know about the chips on this board enough to give me some guidance?

[P-feif]

Those lines are definetly a PCB issue.

[tokyopunchout]

Ok, so I decided to clean the board & re-seat the chips. I'd say about 1/3rd of the chips were real grimy, so after labeling location and oreintation: http://instagram.com/p/rMsDLGAjkx, I hit em with some contact cleaner and steel brushed em (carefully of course).
From: http://instagram.com/p/rNK6eEAju3 to http://instagram.com/p/rNK5QyAju2. Gave it a Simple Green bath for a few hours & when I pulled em out gave em a hose off and then spent about 30 minutes per board with an air compressor (first with a broad blower & then a precise head going over every connection thoroughly).

Then re-seated all the chips, while making sure all the legs are making proper contact. Real damn satisfying by the way - pushing those bastards back in nice and snug.

I gotta admit - at this point I was feeling pretty good about the prospect of my problems being potentially fixed & just looking at my now pristine looking 1981 Galaga board was giving me that private sense of hobby pride (which I only write here as I know anyone reading this gets it).

I then went on about my day satisfied and somewhat confident until about 6 hours later when I plugged everything back up and fired it on.

I heard the monitor's degauss going - but after about 20 seconds no picture.. I went around back to take a look and there was a little bit of smoke coming from the Molex connecting my PCB to my monitor chassis...

I turned everything off immediately and unplugged all power connecting to the PCB/Video board.
It seems there was probably somehow still some trace of water/simple green somehow in some crevice, right?

My question to you all is how bad is it at this point? Am I totally F'ed?

-Discouraged/Deflated in New Orleans

[tokyopunchout]

Whelp, I took the PCB/Vid board out, removed all the chips and it's getting a two day regiment of suntan (solder-side out) & indoor direct box fan treatment.

Fired the game on without the PCB & I've still got neck glow, so hopefully my monitor chassis is OK.

I'm gonna plug up the PCB tomorrow night without connecting the monitor to see if I get dat explosion boot sound (fingers crossed). If I do, then I'll plug up the monitor. 

[alby13]

it's good you are being careful. i hope this works out.

it's just too hard to say what happened. let's see where we are at.

[VertexGuy]

Hobbyroms.com
or burn your own..
or ebay...
or KLOV

[tokyopunchout]

Well I sent my board off for repair to David Haney & when I got it back the game fires up fine and looks great - the only problem is now the controls aren't working properly...

In fact the only input that seems to have any effect is when you move Joystick Right it adds a Credit.... Fire Button, Player 1 Start, Player Two Start & Joystick Left don't do anything.

He says that it could be my wiring harness is wired for Namco instead of Midway, but the controls were working just fine before I sent if off to him.

Anybody got any ideas of how I can get these controls working short of doing a whole new wiring harness?

 

[P-feif]

Try to reseat the wire harness connector at the PCB. Maybe it's not making good contact.

[tokyopunchout]

Try to reseat the wire harness connector at the PCB. Maybe it's not making good contact.

Yeah, I gave it a reseat and it seems to be making good contact. All the control panel wires & coin wires run into a molex and everything from that end seems secure.

[P-feif]

I guess next I would start checking continuity in the wire harness. Make sure no problems there. After that I'd make sure all the chips are seated in the pcb and then look for any solder joints that don't look right and touch them up. After that I'd contact the guy that repaired the PCB.

You know what? John always preaches to check the voltages. Did you check them. Might as well make sure that they are correct and not causing any issues.

[VertexGuy]

Your board may be fucked up..
Check the roms and rams and edge connector.