Ms. Pac-Man PCB randomly reboots

[PassivePac-Man]

I turn the game on, and it boots up and works perfectly. But I'll start playing a game, and I get a few boards in and the board just reboots. I get a few blue fruits and numbers on the screen as it goes into its boot sequence again. It doesn't happen at a certain place, it's completely random. Help? Thanks

[John's Arcade]

Simple things first.

#1 does it have the filter board installed still? This is a board that sits between the game PCB and the harness. Is there? If so, remove it.
#2 Voltages. Did you check them?

Check voltage like this:

Check +5 VDC as measured across capcitors C2 or C3 (easy to get to on the game PCB).

FILTER BOARD IN RED RECTANGLE:

[John's Arcade]

Also look here:

http://lawnmowerman.rotheblog.com

"Game resets often, and/or won't boot. (Also causes Clay's Multi-Pac to reset to menu and freeze)

Chip 8B, 74LS368, inspect for cold solder joints or corrosion on pins. (Thanks Jeff)"

[PassivePac-Man]

Simple things first.

#1 does it have the filter board installed still? This is a board that sits between the game PCB and the harness. Is there? If so, remove it.
#2 Voltages. Did you check them?

Check voltage like this:

Check +5 VDC as measured across capcitors C2 or C3 (easy to get to on the game PCB).

FILTER BOARD IN RED RECTANGLE:

Thanks John. I'll check that stuff out when I get the time

[PassivePac-Man]

There is not a filter board installed. Chip 8B looks like I could go to the store and buy that chip. It looks brand new. But I did find this... From what I can tell, that part is not supposed to be sticking up and it shouldn't be burnt. If someone can tell me what went wrong and how to fix it, that'd be great. Thanks!

http://imgur.com/gallery/DnPou
http://imgur.com/gallery/LY43y
http://imgur.com/gallery/3pmSc

[P-feif]

That's not a chip, that's the board edge. That looks like the positive and negative tabs. They normally burn up. Had similar issues with mine.

Get this from Bob Roberts.

http://www.therealbobroberts.net/pacfuse_special.gif

And

http://www.therealbobroberts.net/pace.html

Mrs. Pacman and Pacman have well known problem with resetting. The causes range from the board edge, to the wire harness connection that plugs into the board edge (both are what I listed above), pluse the fuse blocks that curl up and don't hold the fuses correct, to the molex connectors in the harness that need to be repined. They are not worth finding the problem because all of these issues almost always go wrong with these machines. The best thing to do it just replace everything. It'll be rock solid after that. Also when you contact Bob Roberts ask him for a cap kit for the PCB too. They are cheap and easy to replace and will save you a bunch of trouble. After you do this stuff let us know how it works. Chances are there might still be some small issues to tackle but you'll get through them. I went through all this with my Mrs. Pacman and just going through everything is honestly the best way to handle it.

If you don't have the tool for crimping the pins for the new harness edge connector then get one. John posted a video on how to install the new connector and crimp the pins on the wires. Be carful that each wire goes into the correct slot in the connector, it won't work otherwise and can cause damage if they are in the wrong location.

[P-feif]

There is not a filter board installed. Chip 8B looks like I could go to the store and buy that chip. It looks brand new. But I did find this... From what I can tell, that part is not supposed to be sticking up and it shouldn't be burnt. If someone can tell me what went wrong and how to fix it, that'd be great. Thanks!

http://imgur.com/gallery/DnPou
http://imgur.com/gallery/LY43y
http://imgur.com/gallery/3pmSc

Looking a little more closely at your picture. D8 is not a chip, I think that's a type of diode. Not sure why the solder points look burned but I'd just replace it maybe it's bad. John has posted video's on how to check a diode. You can also ask Bob Roberts if he carries those too. Can't be anymore than a buck or two. Just remember it has to be installed in the correct direction so don't install it backwards.

[John's Arcade]

There is not a filter board installed. Chip 8B looks like I could go to the store and buy that chip. It looks brand new. But I did find this... From what I can tell, that part is not supposed to be sticking up and it shouldn't be burnt. If someone can tell me what went wrong and how to fix it, that'd be great. Thanks!

http://imgur.com/gallery/DnPou
http://imgur.com/gallery/LY43y
http://imgur.com/gallery/3pmSc

yeah, you have a burnt edge connector. You need to repair that and I would replace the edge connector. I had to do that on my Pac-Man. I covered it in the restore series. Def' start with fixing that edge connector on the PCB and harness.

[PassivePac-Man]

I ordered the parts to fix it but while playing it, it randomly rebooted into this screen. Is this some kind of test mode? It let me start a game and I could move wherever I wanted while Inky and Sue(only these two) chased me around the screen. When dead, the game froze and I had to reboot it. Ignore the blue tint, that's a monitor issue. Anyone have any idea what this is all about?

http://imgur.com/ihm47Qp

[P-feif]

It was probably just a weird glitch. If those connectors aren't right, you'll get all kinds of weird voltages on the PCB and it's act a million ways of weird. Once you get this stuff worked out then you can go after the next glitch, if there is one. My game was a glitchy mess and it took me awhile to get it all worked out. The connectors, board edge and fuse holders will fix a lot of problems but that's no guarantee that there wont' be more, hey it's an old game. Don't worry, you're doing the right thing changing these parts, they fail on almost every pac man and mrs pac man. Just part of owning one of these games it's got to get done and yours really needs it bad. I still had some wire harness and PCB issues even after doing this but I did get it fixed, eventually.