Asteroids Deluxe, another monitor problem

AtariShag

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I've had no shortage of issues with the Asteroids Deluxe monitor, like many others. But so far I have not come across this particular issue before so I am stumped, at least before I get started.

The other day the game started to jitter, with the full imagery on the screen "bouncing" quickly - as though the sizing control was out of whack causing the image to resize small to large quickly, making the bouncing kind of effect. But I also notice that the brightness was kind of doing the same thing, where it will brighten and darken slightly although it won't go completely dark or fully bright. Still, it is noticeable.

In the past I have fixed most issues with this by replacing those round transistors that attack to the side of the chassis that the chassis board connects to. I was going to replace these again but I figured it was wiser to ask about this first to see if I am moving in the right direction. Not long ago (maybe two months) I replaced one of these components on the side that corrected a screen issue where the right side of the screen collapsed to the center.

Thanks in advance
 
I am NOT a monitor authority in any way...


My AD machine had a similar issue, where the screen would start out half-sized, and then pulse while slowly growing. Eventually it would bloom to larger than the screen.

The blooming and pulsing went away after Chad (ArcadeCUP) did some work on the monitor where there was a high voltage leak coming from the HV Diode.
 
I've had no shortage of issues with the Asteroids Deluxe monitor, like many others. But so far I have not come across this particular issue before so I am stumped, at least before I get started.

The other day the game started to jitter, with the full imagery on the screen "bouncing" quickly - as though the sizing control was out of whack causing the image to resize small to large quickly, making the bouncing kind of effect. But I also notice that the brightness was kind of doing the same thing, where it will brighten and darken slightly although it won't go completely dark or fully bright. Still, it is noticeable.

In the past I have fixed most issues with this by replacing those round transistors that attack to the side of the chassis that the chassis board connects to. I was going to replace these again but I figured it was wiser to ask about this first to see if I am moving in the right direction. Not long ago (maybe two months) I replaced one of these components on the side that corrected a screen issue where the right side of the screen collapsed to the center.

Thanks in advance
By far the most common failure with these monitors is failed solder joints on the header pins. Pull the deflection board and HV cage, reflow all that solder, and report back.
 
By far the most common failure with these monitors is failed solder joints on the header pins. Pull the deflection board and HV cage, reflow all that solder, and report back.

I did that last time (just a few months ago) when I first came across the partial collapse image (it was afterwards I tried the transistor replacement) but I suppose it doesn't hurt to do it again
 
Has the monitor had any work done to it ? Fresh solder ? Caps ? If that has all been done then you probably have bad pots on the main board or deflection board. If you don't want to tackle it then you can send it my way and I can fix it for you.
 
It's sounding like a power problem. The pulsing sounds like a bad connection.

Take the cheap advice - re-flow the connections with a good soldering iron. If that doesn't work, I'd pull the chassis, and send it to Chad. He does great work, and keeps you up to date with where your chassis is at in his queue on his website.
 
Agree that the pulsing sounds like a power issue. Don't forget to check the headers on the HV board. Also check the connections on the bottom power brick.
 
Thanks for the advice. The game is out on my public game floor and it's been so busy lately I haven't had a chance to take a good proper look at it yet but as it slows down this week I hope to be able to pull everything to give this the proper run down. Being a power issue would not surprise me - I do need to replace the power cord on this and actually I will have to check the surge protector too since the Pitfall II I have has also been having some powering up issues on start-up lately now that I think about it (although it stays on once the monitor comes up after five min or so) and its the only other game connected to the same supply.

If it is a bad pot, what is the most likely one to have gone bad from the sounds of it? As it is having both brightness and sizing fluctuations?

I will let you all know what I discover as I check these things out.
 
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OK I got a chance to go over this this morning. Reflowed the solder including those pins on the right side where those four connectors attach to. After turning the monitor on it had the same problem but I left it on and after a few minutes it seemed to have worked itself out. Over an hour later it is fine still but I will have to wait and see if it maintains this or not.
 
That doesn't make sense - you re-flow the connections, have the same problem, then it gets better? That sounds like you have a pin problem that got warm and made a better connection.

How about this: Remove the solder from each pin, one at a time. Replace the solder, heating the pin until the solder flows from the pin to the pad.

Using your ohm meter, check the resistance from each PIN to the next pad downstream of the pin solder point. This should be very low.

Clean your pins up with scotchbrite or crocus cloth as well.
 
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