1983 Star Wars Game won't initialize (not playing blind)
I bought a non-working 1983 Star Wars stand-up from a friend of mine. It was all working at one time but hasn't in several years. It was not playing blind.
All red-leds on the main PCB, Sound, and AVG boards lit solid, as well as the spot-killer.
I shot-gunned the ARII board with a kit from arcadepartsandrepair.com that replaced the following (from their web-site):
"This kit has Axial Capacitors for C1, C4, C9, C10, C12, C13 includes new transistors for Q2, Q3 new resistors for R5, R29, R30, New diodes for CR1, CR4 and new mica insulators for Q2, Q3 and non conductive thermal compound paste all included in this kit. We have also increased the original Wattage of the resistors on R29 and R30 to 1/2 Watt."
When I put it all back together the game, didn't turn on at first but then I remember hearing in one of the older arcade-repair tips podcasts about how finicky the 5V is. I adjusted the 5V up to a little over 5 at the pcb and the game turned-on.
All the ROMS seemed good on the screen and I heard the 16 beeps indicating they were good. The monitor needed some adjustments to align the vector graphics but I was able to successfully play a game.
I then turned off the game to bullet-proof the monitor (WGK6100) given the alignment issues I saw before trying to align the screen images. I also replaced big-blue as it was original. The voice synthesizer chip had rusted away with broken legs so I replaced it as well.
When I put it all back together it wouldn't initialize again.
I checked the following voltages at the ARII:
• Getting 36V in.
• The +12V I'm getting exactly +12V.
• +/-22V I'm getting 28V under no load, which is fine as I understand it.
• The -5v I'm getting exactly -5V.
• I dialed in the +5V sense circuit to 5.05 at the PCB.
Game wouldn't initialize with all 3 red leds at CR4,5,6 lit solid on the main pcb. I for the life of me can't figure out what that's supposed to indicate. I do know that when the game ran successfully, these were not lit solid. I tried various +5V ranges from 4.8 up to 5.2 and the game wouldn't turn on with the 3 red leds still lit.
At the 12V on the main PCB I'm getting 11.8. Is this within tolerance and would this cause the game not to turn on?
I then attempted to follow the Star Wars Troubleshooting guide. I checked the Reset circuit and it's holding steady at 4.6V and not pulsing. This makes me believe that the Reset and Watchdog are working normally but these are new to me so I'm unsure if this is the correct voltage. I even grounded the WDDIS test point to prevent any resets but still nothing. CR4,5,6 still lit solid and the game won't go into self-test…
I'm at a loss as what to do next. Could it be the low 12V at the board? Thoughts??? Thank you!
Kris
I bought a non-working 1983 Star Wars stand-up from a friend of mine. It was all working at one time but hasn't in several years. It was not playing blind.
All red-leds on the main PCB, Sound, and AVG boards lit solid, as well as the spot-killer.
I shot-gunned the ARII board with a kit from arcadepartsandrepair.com that replaced the following (from their web-site):
"This kit has Axial Capacitors for C1, C4, C9, C10, C12, C13 includes new transistors for Q2, Q3 new resistors for R5, R29, R30, New diodes for CR1, CR4 and new mica insulators for Q2, Q3 and non conductive thermal compound paste all included in this kit. We have also increased the original Wattage of the resistors on R29 and R30 to 1/2 Watt."
When I put it all back together the game, didn't turn on at first but then I remember hearing in one of the older arcade-repair tips podcasts about how finicky the 5V is. I adjusted the 5V up to a little over 5 at the pcb and the game turned-on.
All the ROMS seemed good on the screen and I heard the 16 beeps indicating they were good. The monitor needed some adjustments to align the vector graphics but I was able to successfully play a game.
I then turned off the game to bullet-proof the monitor (WGK6100) given the alignment issues I saw before trying to align the screen images. I also replaced big-blue as it was original. The voice synthesizer chip had rusted away with broken legs so I replaced it as well.
When I put it all back together it wouldn't initialize again.
I checked the following voltages at the ARII:
• Getting 36V in.
• The +12V I'm getting exactly +12V.
• +/-22V I'm getting 28V under no load, which is fine as I understand it.
• The -5v I'm getting exactly -5V.
• I dialed in the +5V sense circuit to 5.05 at the PCB.
Game wouldn't initialize with all 3 red leds at CR4,5,6 lit solid on the main pcb. I for the life of me can't figure out what that's supposed to indicate. I do know that when the game ran successfully, these were not lit solid. I tried various +5V ranges from 4.8 up to 5.2 and the game wouldn't turn on with the 3 red leds still lit.
At the 12V on the main PCB I'm getting 11.8. Is this within tolerance and would this cause the game not to turn on?
I then attempted to follow the Star Wars Troubleshooting guide. I checked the Reset circuit and it's holding steady at 4.6V and not pulsing. This makes me believe that the Reset and Watchdog are working normally but these are new to me so I'm unsure if this is the correct voltage. I even grounded the WDDIS test point to prevent any resets but still nothing. CR4,5,6 still lit solid and the game won't go into self-test…
I'm at a loss as what to do next. Could it be the low 12V at the board? Thoughts??? Thank you!
Kris

