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Author Topic: Process of Troubleshooting an unoperational arcade  (Read 2755 times)
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Shamo
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« on: February 20, 2013, 12:20:09 pm »

So last night I picked up a mint condition Galaga, I mean freaking mint. The side art has not a single blemish, and the kickplate has a single minor scuff, the marquee is pristine (LOL), and the control panel overlay is great condition except for some minor chiping on the edge.

Anyways enough gloating, I bought the cabinet to finally get a mame build under my belt. But apon getting it home, I decided to spend 5 hours straight through the night, trying to get the machine working. The guy I bought it from claimed the monitor was gone and most likely the pcb. He said quote unquote " I bought it from an arcade 15 years ago not working, they had left the machine on for something like 10 years straight.

When I first plug the thing in I notice immediately that the monitor begins to brighten. You can start to see the burn in really well as the monitor is getting power. However, no sound, no video. Cant get it into test mode. I made sure to check, the monitor neck was glowing. So I am thinking at this point PCB. Unless something crazy is happening like I am getting no sound and also playing blind, which I think would be pretty far fetched. I can also here the speakers pop once as I plug in the power cord, which leads me to believe the speakers are fine.

So am I safe to assume this is a PCB problem? The marquee light and coin slot lots all light up so I am assuming the power supply is good.

As I began to poke around inside the cab, I checked for all the obvious things (atleast to me). Made sure no fuses were blown. Then I started going through the Eproms. I decided to go through the CPU board eproms first, because I figured nothing and the Video board would cause the machine not to work, or would it? There were a few that were pretty dirty, I cleaned them all up. I noticed 2 eproms were seated incorrectly during my inspection. The first had a single prong on the outside of the plug in, and the second had a bent prong that was tucked under the eprom and not contacting. I managed to fix these 2 problems without a hitch. However, the last eprom I pulled had a broken prong... and another very delicate prong(a sneeze away from breaking off too).

I dont supposed there is a way to repair the broken prong? And even so do you think trying to turn the machine on with 2 eproms seated incorrectly could have blown some things? I really dont want to give up on this board, because it would be great to have a dedicated galaga cab. Any suggestions on where should I go from here. I dont have a volt meter or anything like that but I could go get one. Please any suggestions or points in the right direction would be greatly apprieciated.
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John's Arcade
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« Reply #1 on: February 23, 2013, 06:18:03 pm »

The very first thing you want to do is test your voltages. If the game is not getting a proper +5v it's not gonna work. Test those voltages!
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Shamo
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« Reply #2 on: February 26, 2013, 05:58:16 pm »

Just got a volt tester going to get in there tonight and see what i come up with
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martimagico
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« Reply #3 on: March 17, 2013, 11:21:04 am »

i agree, if all is good id say the game board. Why would you mame such a nice original machine? you would def need more buttons and a new joystick. that would destroy the CP. i wouldn't do it!
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