A Few General Questions, Different Scenarios

whoamonga

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I'll split this up, but i don't wanna take up space with multiple threads.

1. I have a Street Fighter World Warrior board that's got some graphical issues. I'd flip the dip to run a test on the board, but there's no dip switches there! Just solder pads. So my question is, can I take 8-pin dip switches from a dead board I have and set it in there to toggle? Would that work?

2. On testing color problems on a monitor, can you diagnose by taking off the colored, insulated leads that go to the top of the tube from the neck board? By switching those around, can you tell if it's the tube or one of the boards?

3. I'm following a video sync trace down my Time Killers PCB (found in another post), and it disappeared under what I think is a silver security chip. It's got 4 pins, and is colored in the attached image. Can I remove this thing without killing the board? As long as I don't power up?

4. Where the best place to get a cga to rgb converter so I can save some space on my test bench?


Thanks much in advance!!!
 

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1. Yes. There should be 3 sets of DIP switches on that board.

2. Easier to swap the colors on the inputs to the monitor.

3. Can't tell what it is from the pic...

4. Find a small RGB monitor. I use a 9" on my workbench. Some don't work well with the composite sync. Mine didn't and I needed a sync separator from JROK.

RJ
 
3. I'm following a video sync trace down my Time Killers PCB (found in another post), and it disappeared under what I think is a silver security chip. It's got 4 pins, and is colored in the attached image. Can I remove this thing without killing the board? As long as I don't power up?

3. Can't tell what it is from the pic...

I think those are crystals, right?
 
2. Easier to swap the colors on the inputs to the monitor.

But the wires are all connected on that header connection. Do you mean to simply slide the connector down a pin to swap colors?

3. Can't tell what it is from the pic...

Here's what the thing says: FOX F1100H 9238 25.00000000 MHz ... hope that helps. EDIT** Here's a pic: http://img-china.rs-online.com/largeimages/R4718856-01.jpg

4. So you didn't have to buy a converter board for around $100?
 
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2. On testing color problems on a monitor, can you diagnose by taking off the colored, insulated leads that go to the top of the tube from the neck board? By switching those around, can you tell if it's the tube or one of the boards?

I think you're referring to the yoke wires. Those are moved around to flip your image if necessary, but only as pairs. Normally you can flip red and blue, or green and yellow (although a G07 uses different colors) with no problems to your chassis. if you swap the red or blue with the yellow or green, however, then you'll probably blow your yoke, and maybe your chassis.

The yoke wires can be tested for shorts or opens, which would cause deflection failure or loss of picture, but that's about it. You would actually need a rejuvenator to verify if the tube is bad if you are having problems with a specific color and are using a known good chassis.

4. Where the best place to get a cga to rgb converter so I can save some space on my test bench?

I think you mean a CGA-to-VGA/NTSC converter, to convert a 15.1 kHz video signal to a signal a computer monitor or something can accept. RGB is Red/Green/Blue, meaning it's a color monitor.

I get emails all the time from Welink advertising their different converters. They're pretty cheap, too. Under $100.....
 
The yoke wires can be tested for shorts or opens, which would cause deflection failure or loss of picture, but that's about it. You would actually need a rejuvenator to verify if the tube is bad if you are having problems with a specific color and are using a known good chassis.

if you run across a yoke and the color wires are missing or a different color, you can OHM them to see which circuit goes to which pair of yoke wires. just remember that the horizontal winding of the yoke has 2 circuits in parallel, so it will OHM out lower, than the vertical winding will.
 
Removing the crystal will cause one or more circuits to lock up. The game will likely not be playble with the crystal removed. It is used for timing events within a logic circuit.
 
i'm only taking off the crystal to follow a trace that I lost underneath it somewhere. I won't power it up without the crystal. Would that still be so detrimental?
 
It should be fine unless the oscillator is part of the security circuit which is not very likely. These crystals usually need a pretty clean/regulated power source to operate properly - on board batteries aren't very well regulated.
 
well the board's not working right anyway, guess I've got nothing to hurt by giving it a whirl. Thanks much to all who helped!
 
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