Asteroids Troubleshooting

blazin06

Member
Joined
Apr 13, 2010
Messages
39
Reaction score
0
Location
Troy, Michigan
I know there are lots of threads on this machine already, and I'm trying to go through them all right now to help figure out my issue.

I picked up a Asteroids upright yesterday that powers up, but doesn't work. The player 1+2 lights both flash, and the coin counter keeps on clicking. If I put in into test mode, the lights stop flashing, coin counter stops, and I hear a humming sound from the speaker. I haven't been able to get any image on the monitor yet, and I found a blown fuse which probably explains why. I'd like to get it playing blind first, then worry about the monitor. I was going to place an order from Bob Roberts for the following, and wondered if there is anything else I should get that I might need to replace eventually anyway?
Atari "Big Blue" Capacitor
Asteroids PCB Cap Kit
Atari A/R or A/R II-01 Repair Kit

Where are the best places to test the voltage? I've also heard mention of the spot killer light, what does that mean exactly? Sorry for the newb questions, but I really want to getting this up and running. Thanks for the help!
 
Do a search because I had the same problem. When P1 and P2 flash quickly with no picture it's a board issue (Four bad rams and a bad eprom). I had the same thing with my CT. The test points are labeled on the board to check the voltages. Check to see if the spot killer is on because it should be. You may not even have anything wrong with the monitor. Now if the F100 and F101 fuses keep popping on the monitor board when powered up, for me it was replacing the two large capacitors on that same board (C100 and C101). I think mine UR has an 801 monitor. Like I said if you search, you will be amazed at how much Asteroids info is on here. That's how I fixed my monitor.
 
Last edited:
In regards to the monitor - could be an Electrohome G05-801 or 802/19v2000. 802/19v doesn't have the extra board with the giant caps.

Either or, yank the deflection board, resolder all pins on all molex plugs, and also check the 2 large resistors. If either one of the large resistors is bad, simply remove them and put heavy wire in their place.

In regards to the other issue, yeah that sounds like a board problem, and unfortunately my board-repair-fu kinda sucks.
 
Thanks for the tips.
I've got another problem with the eprom(?) chip. I was reseating the chip, and two of the legs bent, and then broke off, it's labeled Atari 8045. :(
How hard will it be to fix that? Would it be better just to replace it, and the ram chips like airlair suggested? Whats a good source for purchasing replacement ones?
 

Attachments

  • 2010-04-23 14.24.15.jpg
    2010-04-23 14.24.15.jpg
    96.8 KB · Views: 15
  • 2010-04-23 14.28.11.jpg
    2010-04-23 14.28.11.jpg
    90.7 KB · Views: 16
in test mode :

do you get any test tones ? high or low pitch
do you get a beep when pushing control panel buttons ?
 
I would either try and solder legs on to that chip or just order the High Score save kit from Arcadeshop.com , it replaces all of them.

I am pretty sure the Asteroids High Save kit from arcadeshop only replaces one chip, which is one of the vector ROMs. Not all the game ROMs.

At least the Braze kit I have only replaces one chip and the other ROMs are still required to play the game.
 
You probably have a G05-802 in your Asteroids. You may want to buy Bob's cap kit for it too. The kit doesn't include the 2 big 6800uf50v caps, but you can order them From Bob too seperately.

Anyway I just got mine working. It had a board problem that wasn't resolved with any of the caps. You may get lucky and it may be a few bad caps. If not there are KLOV'ers who fix the boards. I would order exactly what you have listed and the monitor caps too. That way you get everything done at one time. And you may want to consider the High Score Save kit too, like others have said.
 
I had the same thing with my CT. The test points are labeled on the board to check the voltages. .

Actually, only the +5 test point is labeled on the board. (at least on the board I have) As is the Ground test point. However, there are other voltages to check as well. If you read my current thread on my Asteroids problem I'm working on you will find photos about 3 pages in with instructions for what other voltages to look for also. Here's the link: http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=130269
 
Last edited:
I am pretty sure the Asteroids High Save kit from arcadeshop only replaces one chip, which is one of the vector ROMs. Not all the game ROMs.

At least the Braze kit I have only replaces one chip and the other ROMs are still required to play the game.

My asteroids high score kit bypasses all 3 CPU eproms. You can leave them installed or
remove them, but they are not accessed once the kit is installed and they are NOT
required to play the game. It also ships with a REV2 vector eprom, this is
just in case you have one of the more uncommon REV1 vector eproms and the HS kit
only works for rev2. All of my HS kits bypass the CPU roms. Hope that helps clarify.
 
I ended up getting the high score kit to take care of the eprom with the broken legs, plus having a high score kit will be nice. I also ordered that stuff from Bob Roberts, and look forward to getting it in. Hopefully that will take care of the flashing p1 and p2 light problem.

In the meantime, I'm actually moving all of the internals into a nicer Asteroids cabinet that I had which was empty. When I took out the deflection board(?) inside the monitor I noticed that two of the components were cracked. Are those the resistors that orion3311 talked about prevoiusly? I can just solder in some heavy gauge wire in their place? I've attached a picture of it.
Thanks for all the help!
 

Attachments

  • 2010-04-24 11.20.46.jpg
    2010-04-24 11.20.46.jpg
    97.8 KB · Views: 27
Um, I've never heard of replacing them with bare wire. Did you read that in one of the threads on here?

It's in the B&W vector monitor manual. Road.Runner sent me a pic of this mod which I posted in one of the recent asteroids thread. Supposedly this was an instruction which was given out to ops by Atari at some point in time.

attachment.php


-csa
 
Last edited:
darn nice photo :)

it's mentioned in the G05 repair FAQ....later boards revisions removed the resistors
 
Back
Top Bottom