Asteroids Dead Spots-

harrisontx

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The video can do much more talking than I can.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaaxFiJDeNE&feature=youtu.be
Right off the bat you can see issues with the high score screen.
It's odd because the problem flashes, The screen is visible, then it disappears.

Upon starting the game, you can see the PLAYER 1 drop out, as well as the
1979 ATARI INC half way disappearing. As soon as I start to fly around for a second, the ship disappears in one spot.

I just replaced big blue, and rebuilt the PCB board, which got the game to turn on.
I re-flowed the header pins, which fix A LOT of issues.

Any idea what to check? Maybe those 4 transistors that are mounted to the monitor housing? I feel like it's so close to working good.
The chain-link looks just fine in test mode. I've moved around the X/Y pots a little, and I'm still getting disappearing problems.
Please realize that I know very very little about this game. Please be gentle when using part numbers and asteroid lingo. Baby Steps :D
 
The cap(s) in your spotkiller circuit is/are bad. If you stick your head in the back when this happens, you'll see it blinking.
 
Jesus, It is totally flashing.

I see three caps. Twin 50V 6800ufs, and a small 22uf.

Is it the twins?
 
Replace them all since you will have it apart anyways and it could prevent any future issues.

Yup, no sense in replacing just one if you're going to pull it. There aren't many caps on this PCB, so replace them all except the two big filter caps.
 
Yup, no sense in replacing just one if you're going to pull it. There aren't many caps on this PCB, so replace them all except the two big filter caps.

Wait, you're still talking about the monitor board right? I believe there's only three today.. The two big twins, and a smaller one. Can you please be more specific? If I didnt replaced the two big ones, I'd only be replacing one cap?
 
Wait, you're still talking about the monitor board right? I believe there's only three today.. The two big twins, and a smaller one. Can you please be more specific? If I didnt replaced the two big ones, I'd only be replacing one cap?

Okay, first off figure out what your monitor is: http://arcadecontrols.com/BBBB/xy.html

Sounds like you might have a G05-801. Regardless, once you determine which it is, buy a cap kit for it and replace all the caps which come in the kit. You generally don't replace the large filter caps or any of the non-electrolytic caps.

There aren't that many caps in this type of monitor, but there are more than three. You're just not looking in the right place.

Good luck, and report back.
 
Wait, you're still talking about the monitor board right? I believe there's only three today.. The two big twins, and a smaller one. Can you please be more specific? If I didnt replaced the two big ones, I'd only be replacing one cap?

And yes, I am referring to the boards in your monitor, not the game board. There are more than three caps in there.
 
I have a 19V2000. Thanks for the link. As soon as I pulled the back, I see it labeled clearly. I also saw all those tiny caps once I looked better.
 
I have a 19V2000. Thanks for the link. As soon as I pulled the back, I see it labeled clearly. I also saw all those tiny caps once I looked better.

Plan on removing the solder from the solder side of the board at the connector pin headers and resoldering those. Those nearly always have cracked solder joints. Also look for cracked (round) solder joints in general.
 
Ive been looking at Bob's site. The only V2000 kits I can find are:
V2000 15"/19" B&W X-Y no xsistors $5.00
V2000 15"/19" B&W X-Y w xsistors $12.00


It's pretty vague, and for for $12, I dont see it coming with everything I'd need. $7 worth of transistors, and all the caps for just $5?
Although, If that's it, I'll go ahead and order it.

I'm having a hell of a good time playing the game even with random dead spots.
 
Ive been looking at Bob's site. The only V2000 kits I can find are:
V2000 15"/19" B&W X-Y no xsistors $5.00
V2000 15"/19" B&W X-Y w xsistors $12.00


It's pretty vague, and for for $12, I dont see it coming with everything I'd need. $7 worth of transistors, and all the caps for just $5?
Although, If that's it, I'll go ahead and order it.

I'm having a hell of a good time playing the game even with random dead spots.

The transistors are the four TO-3 (bottlecaps style) mounted to the frame. It's good to have a set handy, but yours are good. If they were bad, you'd be missing parts of your display in quarters. So the top right might be missing or lower left or whatever.

Caps aren't that expensive, and that's in line. There's also shipping, so it is a bit more. I'm sure if you want to overpay the man, he won't stop you.
 
Plan on removing the solder from the solder side of the board at the connector pin headers and resoldering those. Those nearly always have cracked solder joints. Also look for cracked (round) solder joints in general.
I pulled it last week to reflow the header pins. It helped immensely. I had A LOT cracked

The transistors are the four TO-3 (bottlecaps style) mounted to the frame. It's good to have a set handy, but yours are good. If they were bad, you'd be missing parts of your display in quarters. So the top right might be missing or lower left or whatever.

Caps aren't that expensive, and that's in line. There's also shipping, so it is a bit more. I'm sure if you want to overpay the man, he won't stop you.

Thanks for clearing that up. I'll go ahead and order the kit. You've been a big help man. I honestly really appreciate this.
 
I believe the Bob Roberts kits also come with the adjustment potentiometers as well. Your call if you want to replace them, but again, since you have the monitor out and apart you might as well. You will need to adjust them once it is back in the game. Easier if you have it sitting out of the game out the back where you can see the screen and make the adjustment at the same time. Once adjusted, just install the monitor back in.
 
I believe the Bob Roberts kits also come with the adjustment potentiometers as well. Your call if you want to replace them, but again, since you have the monitor out and apart you might as well. You will need to adjust them once it is back in the game. Easier if you have it sitting out of the game out the back where you can see the screen and make the adjustment at the same time. Once adjusted, just install the monitor back in.

It doesn't, but you can order them from him.
 
Alright, I got my kit in. I replaced the three caps on the board. One of which was bad. The board that is inside the box with a mesh top has some caps from the kit too. When attempting to remove that, there is a wire going to the screen that I can't get off. It may just snap on, but I was pretty scared to pull on it. The wire has quite a bit of insulation on it, and just go right into the screen.

Since I found a bad cap, I went ahead and put the board and tried it. Still getting a dead spot, and the spot killer LED is still blinking. I guess the bad cap lies beneath that metal enclosure. Any tips on getting that wire off the screen?
 
Alright, I got my kit in. I replaced the three caps on the board. One of which was bad. The board that is inside the box with a mesh top has some caps from the kit too. When attempting to remove that, there is a wire going to the screen that I can't get off. It may just snap on, but I was pretty scared to pull on it. The wire has quite a bit of insulation on it, and just go right into the screen.

Since I found a bad cap, I went ahead and put the board and tried it. Still getting a dead spot, and the spot killer LED is still blinking. I guess the bad cap lies beneath that metal enclosure. Any tips on getting that wire off the screen?

The mesh covered box is your HV cage. That isn't your problem, but there are some caps in there that you should replace. The thick wire is the anode wire. Do not just pull it off. You need to discharge the tube before messing with it. Read this for more than you ever wanted to know about these monitors, including how to safely discharge one: http://www.crazykong.com/tech/bw_vector_monitor_faq.pdf

Back to your spotkiller. Those circuits are on the deflection PCB. I'm looking at mine and I see the following electrolytic caps: C500, C501, C502, C503, C504, C603, C703. C100 & C101 are the big filter caps; these are not in the kit and do not usually need to be replaced. The C50x caps are where your problem lies. All the C9xx caps are on the HV PCB. Install your kit completely and see where it gets you.

There are not three caps on the deflection board, there are nine, and those are just the lytics. Here's a cap map if you're still having trouble finding them: http://www.therealbobroberts.net/v2000map.html
 
Man, that was totally it. I didnt see those caps at first because they wern't what I was used to. They were little teardrops. Got 'em soldered in, and it sure works. It's bright and crisp! I put it in test and stretched the screen to the edges as well as turned up the brightness a tiny bit. Can it be too bright and cause damage?

The top and bottom of the screen twitch occasionally, which I believe are the transistors

asteroids encyclopedia said:
2. Problem: Characters at the very top/bottom of the screen are distorted.

Cause: Y-axis deflection transistors (Q608, Q609) on Electrohome deflection PCB degraded (?).

Fix: Swap Q708 and Q608, Q609 and Q709 as a test, or just replace Q608 (2N3716) and Q609 (2N3792) (?).

They don't stay that way, but every once in a while they will jump around, and go back to normal. This happened a week or so ago, but eventually went away. It really doesnt bug me enough to replace those transistors just yet. I do have them from the kit. If it continues I may swap them out.


I got a few bulbs and a starter from Bob Roberts. Machine sure is looking wonderful now.
Now all I need is a high score save kit, and a good cleaning.

Cheers, and thank you so so much.
IMAG0163_zpsf24166ae.jpg
 
Man, that was totally it. I didnt see those caps at first because they wern't what I was used to. They were little teardrops. Got 'em soldered in, and it sure works. It's bright and crisp! I put it in test and stretched the screen to the edges as well as turned up the brightness a tiny bit. Can it be too bright and cause damage?
Yeah, if you can see a dot in the center of the screen or lines connecting all the vectors, it's too bright and should be turned down.


The top and bottom of the screen twitch occasionally, which I believe are the transistors



They don't stay that way, but every once in a while they will jump around, and go back to normal. This happened a week or so ago, but eventually went away. It really doesnt bug me enough to replace those transistors just yet. I do have them from the kit. If it continues I may swap them out.

Haven't seen this one before, but it's possible. Make sure your +5 is set correctly, as that can cause some issues. These transistors are pretty easy to replace, they're the ones on the frame — no soldering required. They are included in the more expensive kit.


I got a few bulbs and a starter from Bob Roberts. Machine sure is looking wonderful now.
Now all I need is a high score save kit, and a good cleaning.

Cheers, and thank you so so much.
IMAG0163_zpsf24166ae.jpg
Nice, glad you got it working!
 
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