Asteroids - Sizzling sound and nothing on top half of screen

daley

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Asteroids - Sizzling sound and nothing on top half of screen

So I picked up an Asteroids cab today (G05-801 monitor). The person said it was not working at all, but the cab was in decent shape and I used the lack of function to get the price way down. I started fiddling with it when I got home. Just by making sure all the connections were secure I got it to power on.

However it has some issues with the monitor. When in game mode all that appears on the monitor is either a single dot in the center (picture attached) or a horizontal line of dots through the center of the screen. These dots are consistent but the player start buttons blink. If I put it in to test mode I get the test grid, but only on the bottom half of the screen (picture attached). the test grid blinks during this time and the player buttons are constantly lit.

Due to the blinking I am thinking there is a power issue and I am planning on doing a cap kit on the whole arcade (monitor, power, game board, and sound reg).

There was one additional issue that has me a little spooked and is the main drive for my post. When I was doing the run in test mode I started to hear a 'sizzling' sound (that doesn't really accurately describe it but I can not think of a better word). There was also a brief burning smell, that went away but the sizzling sound didn't. Only taking enough time to approximate the location of the sound, I turned off the power. I let it sit for a while and then switched it back on, the sound started up immediately, so i switched off the power again.

The sound seemed to be coming from the blue monitor caps, (picture attached) but it could have also been coming from the tube.

Any suggestions on what the sizzling may be would be greatly appreciated as I am now a little worried to turn the cab on in fear of something getting damaged further.

Any suggestions regarding the other issues would also be greatly appreciated.
 

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You have more than one problem from what I can see. First, the monitor is a G05-801 and you do not have the top half of the screen. Could have been the big ass caps, they are notorious for failure. Could also be the transistors mounted on the heat sink on the right hand side of the monitor.

Next, your game board is not adjusted correctly as evidenced by the picture of the test screen.
 
Cap Kit on its way.

Ordered new capacitors for the entire cabinet from Bob Roberts. Should be here on thursday, which means I know what I will be doing this weekend. Hopefully after that is done, it will be easier to determine if something else is wrong.

As for the game not being adjusted right, its hard to fix that when there is either nothing on the screen or only half a screen. I will deal with that when I have something more substantial on the screen.
 
Where was the game stored..in a barn or shed?? I would look into CLEANING the monitor chasis and checking for bad/cold solder joints as well.
 
The sizzling sound is probably coming from the anode cup. Since it is apparantly so dirty, the anode cup maybe leaking HV onto the tube. Look if the area around the cup is dirty and if the cup itself is intact. Dont touch though !!!
 
Well yeah.. so he should consider discharging it.. removing the anode cup and cleaning the tube in that spot as well as the rubber cup.. then re-seating it.
 
Where was the game stored..in a barn or shed?? I would look into CLEANING the monitor chasis and checking for bad/cold solder joints as well.

No, in a garage, I believe. The cabinet is actually in pretty good condition itself and the inside was pretty clean. May have to do with the fact it was locked and the previous people had lost the keys. Haha.

As for cleaning. That will also be happening this weekend when I do the cap kit.

I will look at the solder joints as well, thanks for the tip.
 
The sizzling sound is probably coming from the anode cup. Since it is apparantly so dirty, the anode cup maybe leaking HV onto the tube. Look if the area around the cup is dirty and if the cup itself is intact. Dont touch though !!!

Thanks, I had not thought of the anode cup being the source of the sizzling. Will look into it.
 
The G05-801 is a pain to work on. ON the center mounted board with the big blue caps, make sure the screws are snug on them on the bottom of the board on those caps. Not tight, SNUG. Also, where the connector plugs in on the RH side, that connector is notorious for getting the snot beat out of it and cracking the solder joints on the bottom. Check each pin for continuity to the next component on the trace. Resolder them anyway. You can test voltages as they are printed on the board itself. Some are AC voltages.

A clean monitor is a happy monitor. A clean and DRY monitor is even happier so make sure you have a totally dry monitor if you hose it off.
 
So, I finally got around to doing a bunch of stuff on my Asteroids.

I rebuilt the power supply
the A/R board
Caped the PCB
and did a cap kit on the monitor
(I also re-flowed all connector pins and any other solder that didn't look good to me.)

After I hooked everything back up, I tested voltages and adjusted the +5.

Put it in test mode and got the crosshatch pattern across the whole screen and a steady beep. Which I believe means the ram are all good.

However in normal mode all I got were three sets of diagonal dots across the screen.

Also, this whole time there was a sound coming from the neck of the tube, kind of like gas escaping.

So, while the game was not working I was excited because at least I solved the half screen issue.

Then I turned it all off and went to do some research. When I came back and turned it on again the screen was dead.

No neck glow and the spot killer is just blinking on and off. Test mode still gives me the beeps, but still nothing on the screen.

So, whats my problem/what do I need to check.

Thanks!
 
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long tone and or beeps are board issues

I was under the impression that if you got the crosshatch pattern then there was not a RAM issue. I had one 'good' beep repeating along with the crosshatch. Now that the monitor is dead I still have the same beep going on. From what I had heard if there was a problem I would get longer beeps counting out to the bad RAM, and no crosshatch would appear.

Now, I am not denying that there is probably a board issue, in regards to the three diagonal lines of dots I got before the monitor died, just saying, I dont think the beeps are communicating that to me.
 
I was under the impression that if you got the crosshatch pattern then there was not a RAM issue. I had one 'good' beep repeating along with the crosshatch. Now that the monitor is dead I still have the same beep going on. From what I had heard if there was a problem I would get longer beeps counting out to the bad RAM, and no crosshatch would appear.

Now, I am not denying that there is probably a board issue, in regards to the three diagonal lines of dots I got before the monitor died, just saying, I dont think the beeps are communicating that to me.

A normal working Asteroids, when placed in test mode, makes ONE single VERY brief beep (almost a "chirp"). I know this because my Asteroids works fine, and I just put it in test mode several times.

If yours is *repeatedly* beeping, I'd guess it's resetting continuously (commonly called "watchdogging" because it's being reset by the watchdog timer). Was your crosshatch pattern steady, or blinking on and off? (Blinking would seem consistant with resetting). Also, do your LED buttons work? If so, I'm pretty sure they'll blink when it's watchdogging.
 
Sent board for repiars, fixed - will see if still have issues when it gets back to me

I sent the board to Mike, as it is very hard to diagnose a board or monitor issue with out a working one or the other, and he was kind enough to repair it for me.

So, once it gets back to me, I will be able to hook it up and see what the monitor is doing.
 
A hissing sound can be high voltage arcing to some spot on the monitor frame, HV cage or a bad cap. IF you can turn the game on in a dark place, look and see if there is any kind of electrical discharge. Sometimes you can fix the issue with some well placed high temp silicone compound from your auto parts store. Please report back.
 
everything is working - still slightly wierd noise

So, I got the board back hooked it up and we are good.

Looks like the full cap kit I did to the chassis fixed all the issues with the monitor's picture.

The board's primary problem was Counter F5 in the vector generator program counter had a bad output. The chip was replaced.

Thanks to Mike for fixing my board for me. I would have had a nonworking Asteroids if not for him.

There is still the weird sound from the monitor, but you only hear it sometimes and it isn't noticeable when playing the game. I am assuming this is not an issue and just me being paranoid. I will be taking komodo's suggestion though and look for electrical discharge in the dark.

Also, it seems like the 'bullets' in the game are leaving trails due to their brightness. I do not know if this is normal. I followed the instructions and turned the brightness and contrast all the way down, then turned up the brightness till things were just visible, then adjusted the contrast till everything is clear. So, I am going off the assumption this is normal until told otherwise.
 
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