Anyone do board repairs?

happy4444

New member
Joined
Jan 10, 2011
Messages
15
Reaction score
0
Location
hillsborough, New Jersey
I searched around a bit and didnt come across anyone who repairs the newer arcade boards other than, just the classics like DK, Pacman, etc. I saw Eldorado games does it but i was curious if any members did it as a side job?

I'm assuming the newer ones are a P.I.T.A. or its chaeper to find one that works?

Anyway i have an area 51 site 4 that I was able to get running with a replacement board, but i would like to get my original repaired for a spare. Anyone who has any advice, resources, etc that would be great :)
 
Last edited:
The problems with repairing the newer boards are they are cheaper to replace than fix and many require more specialized equipment to repair than the older boards. I plan to eventually start repairing newer boards, but I need a good work place to do it and, currently, my living room coffee table is not adequate. Especially since I have a toddler wandering around and stealing parts off of the table when I am not looking.
 
What's wrong with it?

The computer side, well any computer guy could prob take a look at it as long as they're familiar with 486 class gear. The jammit board on the other hand, if that one Atmel chip is toast...the only place that fixes them is Betson, as they're the only ones that seem to have the image to burn to the chip.

Now if you just have a bad gun port or something, thats something taht may be fixable.
 
The problems with repairing the newer boards are they are cheaper to replace than fix and many require more specialized equipment to repair than the older boards. I plan to eventually start repairing newer boards, but I need a good work place to do it and, currently, my living room coffee table is not adequate. Especially since I have a toddler wandering around and stealing parts off of the table when I am not looking.

hahaha i hear ya. shoot me a PM if you ever get into it because who knows if ill ever send this thing out

What's wrong with it?

The computer side, well any computer guy could prob take a look at it as long as they're familiar with 486 class gear. The jammit board on the other hand, if that one Atmel chip is toast...the only place that fixes them is Betson, as they're the only ones that seem to have the image to burn to the chip.

Now if you just have a bad gun port or something, thats something taht may be fixable.

it works but theres no picture and no initial boot-up "beep" when it fires up. i havent tried swapping out each of the two boards that make up the main board to see what side is malfunctioning... im scared i was gonna screw something up
 
The side under the hard drive is a plain computer motherboard, well, its a little special in the graphics chips it has but otherwise its pretty much a standard PC from the 486 era. That said there is a little 2 pin wire that goes from one board to the other, thats the watchdog wire.

Basically if the jammit board (the side with the jamma connector) detects the game locked up - it triggers the motherboard to reset, just like pushing a reset button on an old computer. Thats where I would start first - yank that connector off (its not needed for it to run) and see if it boots.

If not, next thing I would do is try reseating the ram sticks. Spread the little metal clips and pop each ram stick out, then re-insert them the same way (insert upright then lay down until they click in).

If that still doesn't help...there's a good chance the CPU could be bad, especially if the fan is seized up. I forget what chip they used (I think it was a Cyrix) but you should be able to find one around for cheap.

THe other thing is it could be the jammit board isn't providing the right amount of juice...a regular computer power supply can fire up the motherboard but I think you need an "AT" style supply - its been a while since I looked at my site 4 set.
 
Back
Top Bottom