Asteroids Deluxe - 3 Problems

ItsJustaGame

Member
Joined
Jul 18, 2012
Messages
598
Reaction score
22
Location
Virginia
Hi,

Just bought an Asteroids Deluxe cocktail and it has three problems:

1) The ship, when rotated, turns into a jumble of sticks. Still works, but jumbled.

2) When I die, the game resets. Almost every time.

3) Loud hum in the speaker.

Self test has an "N2" code on the screen which indicates a bad chip, I think?

I've cleaned all the ROMS and the CPU, but I still get that "N2" message.

Perhaps I need to replace the N2 rom? If so, how do I get one?

Thanks, guys, as I am very new to this hobby.
 
Before you are so sure the rom chip is bad do a voltage check. Without proper voltages all sorts of bad things can happen.

First Post: Welcome to klov.



Hi,

Just bought an Asteroids Deluxe cocktail and it has three problems:

1) The ship, when rotated, turns into a jumble of sticks. Still works, but jumbled.

2) When I die, the game resets. Almost every time.

3) Loud hum in the speaker.

Self test has an "N2" code on the screen which indicates a bad chip, I think?

I've cleaned all the ROMS and the CPU, but I still get that "N2" message.

Perhaps I need to replace the N2 rom? If so, how do I get one?

Thanks, guys, as I am very new to this hobby.
 
Thank you for responding.

I don't even know how to check voltage on this machine. I have a multimeter, and I can check DC, but I don't know where to put the leads and on which boards.

Is there a tutorial for that somewhere?

I know that there are probably problems with both the AR board and the PCB. I honestly am probably not skilled enough to fix this.

If I can't, then is there a good, reliable technician to whom I can send my AR and PCB boards so he/she can repair it?

Thanks for the welcome! I have learned a lot from this site over the past few weeks.
 
On the board, If you look closely you will see round "lugs" where you test that section of the board. With the game powered on, put your meter on the lugs that are labeled ground or GND and the positive on the lug that says 5 volts. Adjust the pot on the AR power supply so it is right about 5.01 measured on the board. You measure on the board but adjust on the ARII. Bob Roberts has the cap kits and the usual parts for rebuilding the ARII for cheap. Click on Atari parts over on the left. You might want to replace the Amps on the AR board, My hum was there. It is as quite as a mouse now.

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

If you do need to get your board repaired, I would recommend our own road.runner (Mike).
He has repaired several asteroids boards for me and has always been top notch. I hear good things as well about talon2000 but have not used him.

http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=217949

I forgot to ask, where are you?
 
Last edited:
I agree, check the power supply, and then if you still get the same rom error, it may be worth taking a chance on just ordering a new rom first and swapping it out. After that, since you're new it may be better to send the board off for repair to RoadRunner or someone reputable like that.

BTW, you could order the 1 rom if you decide to go that way from Steph at HobbyRoms.com

Good luck!
 
Sounds like you have a rev 3 board with proms. If the board by chance has the 24 pin sockets the best thing would be to replace the proms with eproms. Otherwise you will need a 035132-02 prom I believe.

Looks like you've already tried re-seating this prom, and still have no luck.
Check the voltages as previously stated. A low +5 could cause a marginal prom to read incorrect.
 
Wow! This community is awesome! Like I said earlier, I'm new at this and I'm amazed at all the willingness to help.

Yes, it seems my board is an A036471 -03 (third revision).

The N2 spot is occupied by an 035132-02 prom???? I'm completely not sure about this. How do I go about finding the right prom I need?

I've already emailed hobbyroms.com to see if they can help me.

---

Oh, and thanks for helping me learn how to check the voltage! It is steady at 5.01 right now, and now I know how to adjust it.

By the way, the "AUDI" lug measures 11 + volts. Is this normal?

---

Also learned that my AR board is an AR I, not AR II or III.

---

I am still working on the loud "hum" in the speaker.

I've tested and cleaned the power supply and Big Blue, and these seem fine.

I'm probably going to be ordering a Bob Roberts AR I repair kit.

Somebody said in a forum post from a while back that the capacitors on the main board near the xy gain need replaced for fixing that buzz, and I'm going to try that, too.

Also, somebody above mentioned "amps" on the ar board? I can't find those. Are they on the AR I boards?

---

Like I said before, thank you guys so much for helping. This could be the beginning of a big part of my life. I'm enjoying working on this game a LOT, especially with help available here.

:)

---

Oh, and whoever asked, I'm in Virginia.
 
Wait a minute, the manual I have says that the N/P2 rom is part "0367099-01".

Is that the rom I need to order from hobbyroms?
 
Oh, and thanks for helping me learn how to check the voltage! It is steady at 5.01 right now, and now I know how to adjust it.

You might want to turn it up a little. Check the +5 rail on the far side of the board and turn the pot until you have a good +5v there. +5.25v on the test loop is often about where you need to be to have +5 on the far side of the board.


Also learned that my AR board is an AR I, not AR II or III.
Yeah, all Asteroids / AstDx machines use AR1 boards. Later machines use the AR2 or 3.


I am still working on the loud "hum" in the speaker.

I've tested and cleaned the power supply and Big Blue, and these seem fine.

I'm probably going to be ordering a Bob Roberts AR I repair kit.

Somebody said in a forum post from a while back that the capacitors on the main board near the xy gain need replaced for fixing that buzz, and I'm going to try that, too.
Lots of things can cause this. Start with the power supply stuff. Do the big blue, bridge rectifier, and AR1 first, then look at the PCB if that doesn't solve it.

How did you test the big blue? Did you use the cap tester on your multimeter, or did you check for the presence of AC voltage on the DC lines? The BB filters out AC, so if you're getting AC voltages on your DC lines, that indicates a failing BB.

Also, somebody above mentioned "amps" on the ar board? I can't find those. Are they on the AR I boards?
The AR boards regulate the +5 to the PCB and amplify the audio from the PCB. TravisH was saying that some of those transistors being bad caused similar problems for him. The Bob Roberts AR rebuilt kit has what you need.

Be careful when you replace the big bottlecap transistor in the center. It's a pain in the ass and really easy to lift / burn up a pad when you're desoldering it.

Is the game still resetting?
 
Wait a minute, the manual I have says that the N/P2 rom is part "0367099-01".

Is that the rom I need to order from hobbyroms?

That's the part # for n/p2 not n2

You can replace n2 or you can replace all the program roms with 3 eproms, or just replace the one bad prom. But you board will need to have the 24 pin sockets for the eproms, if it doesn't then you cannot use the eproms, and you will have to use the prom instead.
 
Back
Top Bottom