annaks13
New member
Hi everyone,
New to the forums here, so I figured I would say hello at first!
I'm trying to open an arcade in the area, and I picked up a sweet Asteroids machine. When it was at the shop, it worked for the most part. It exhibited a strange issue...when the game played, the spot killer would turn on at random intervals. then the vectors would disappear. Sound would stay, and controls still seemed to work (the thruster button would 'woosh').
I looked at it once we got it home, and everything seemed fine, except the wire-wound resistors on the deflection board. The guy I bought it from replaced R100 because it seemed to bake itself. When I would wiggle the wire harness around and play with the pots on the board, the screen would get better, but it would always go back to the spot killer/vector blinking. I know for a fact that the X potentiometer was bad. When I pushed on it with a screwdriver, the monitor would jump around like crazy.
I ordered some parts from Bob Roberts and replaced the caps and pots on the deflection board. Upon placing it in the machine, the spot killer is on constantly now. No intermittent vectors. It plays blind essentially. R100 started to get EXTREMELY HOT, so I unplugged the power, but not before the ceramic crumbled off of the resistor itself (picture attached). I started digging and read that those can be replaced with wire jumpers, so I did so, but that made no difference.
So here's where I sit now: The machine plays blind, spot killer is on constantly. 5.13v on the game board. Monitor has neck glow. If I turn the brightness up, there's a faint glow on the left half of the monitor screen that flickers. Playing with the pots makes no difference. The monitor makes a faint hum. All the fuses have continuity with my multimeter, no caps have blown. I assume that the board really isn't getting an X or Y signal now, but I'm not sure of how to check that. I don't have a decent scope at the house. I reflowed the headers, but that made no difference as well. The plug wires on the board had some very loose connections, so I cut the wires, removed the metal cap on the ends, and resoldered them to the board.
I tried emailing the guys at Elektron Forge, who were VERY nice and gave me some tips, but told me they were too backlogged to look now.
My only hope is to head home and check continuity on the wiring harness. I'm hoping to find that a couple of the wires have come loose from the pins, but that's very wishful thinking.
Can anyone help me figure out why Asteroids hates me?
Thanks for your help!
New to the forums here, so I figured I would say hello at first!
I'm trying to open an arcade in the area, and I picked up a sweet Asteroids machine. When it was at the shop, it worked for the most part. It exhibited a strange issue...when the game played, the spot killer would turn on at random intervals. then the vectors would disappear. Sound would stay, and controls still seemed to work (the thruster button would 'woosh').
I looked at it once we got it home, and everything seemed fine, except the wire-wound resistors on the deflection board. The guy I bought it from replaced R100 because it seemed to bake itself. When I would wiggle the wire harness around and play with the pots on the board, the screen would get better, but it would always go back to the spot killer/vector blinking. I know for a fact that the X potentiometer was bad. When I pushed on it with a screwdriver, the monitor would jump around like crazy.
I ordered some parts from Bob Roberts and replaced the caps and pots on the deflection board. Upon placing it in the machine, the spot killer is on constantly now. No intermittent vectors. It plays blind essentially. R100 started to get EXTREMELY HOT, so I unplugged the power, but not before the ceramic crumbled off of the resistor itself (picture attached). I started digging and read that those can be replaced with wire jumpers, so I did so, but that made no difference.
So here's where I sit now: The machine plays blind, spot killer is on constantly. 5.13v on the game board. Monitor has neck glow. If I turn the brightness up, there's a faint glow on the left half of the monitor screen that flickers. Playing with the pots makes no difference. The monitor makes a faint hum. All the fuses have continuity with my multimeter, no caps have blown. I assume that the board really isn't getting an X or Y signal now, but I'm not sure of how to check that. I don't have a decent scope at the house. I reflowed the headers, but that made no difference as well. The plug wires on the board had some very loose connections, so I cut the wires, removed the metal cap on the ends, and resoldered them to the board.
I tried emailing the guys at Elektron Forge, who were VERY nice and gave me some tips, but told me they were too backlogged to look now.
My only hope is to head home and check continuity on the wiring harness. I'm hoping to find that a couple of the wires have come loose from the pins, but that's very wishful thinking.
Can anyone help me figure out why Asteroids hates me?
Thanks for your help!

