Atari Star Wars WG6100 Monitor Issues??

ztrecords2020

New member
Joined
Dec 11, 2012
Messages
3
Reaction score
0
Location
Texas
Background Info:

Previously powered on, with no video. However, muffled sound came through when you put a quarter in and it even played blind. A second time I turned it on and waited a few minutes, a white ball (pic provided) appeared in the center of the monitor (did not show up the first time I powered the game on)....not a dot, but what I would guess was a highly compressed image.

Eventually had the monitor refurbished and the guy who refurbished it showed me and it worked 100%...no issues.

Currently:

Put the monitor back in, but nothing other than two lit LEDS on the left and one lit LED on the right (pic provided). No fizzling sound nothing on the tube at all. I haven't tested anything yet other than the fuses in the power brick. But my question is why it would give an image the first time it was powered on, but not an image after refurbishing the monitor?

Am I missing another connection somewhere? I see two wires not connected running near the power brick, but seems originate from the top of the cabinet. (pic provided)

I have a multimeter but no scope.

Any suggestions on a troubleshooting process?
 

Attachments

  • photo(1).jpg
    photo(1).jpg
    34.6 KB · Views: 27
  • photo(2).jpg
    photo(2).jpg
    45.3 KB · Views: 31
  • photo.jpg
    photo.jpg
    33.4 KB · Views: 29
So the guy whom fixed your monitor powered it up and showed you it was working correctly?

The two LEDs on your chassis are the spot killer circuit. Its shutting HV down as your pcb isn't sending x-y to the monitor. The circuit is designed to save the tube from burning a spot in the center. So turn the brightness down, and up quickly just to test.

6100s are tough to test as if the pcb isn't working correctly then you don't know if the monitor works.. Check the dip switches on the pcb, refer to the manual and set it on free play. (Game off) If your game isn't playing blind, and or both LEDs on the control panel aren't blinking.. Then its your pcb.

Switch the game in test mode (game off) and report if you hear any tone/tones when game is fired back on. Or when you press any button on control panel.
 
I'll put it very simply. Your monitor is good. (probably) Your Star Wars board is bad. Even though you might hear the game, the Video portion of the board is bad. (Not uncommon) You will need to get your SW board repaired. When the board puts out a bad or no signal, the Single Red LED on the Deflection board will light up. The 2 red LEDs on the left are on a small circuit board that was added to protect your monitor. Those are a good thing.

The bad news, I don't know who is taking on board repairs at this time to repair Star Wars. They are a tough board to fix some times.

Those 2 wires look like they came off the power switch or possibly the cooling fan. I don't see anything in your cabinet to suggest you have a cooling fan near the circuit board cage so I'm guessing that somebody has bypassed the power switch by disconnecting those 2 wires. Can't tell unless I see where the wires go.
 
I'm getting a bad feeling the board is bad, but I'm going to try the suggestions and see what happens.

I feel like if I got a signal to the monitor before - even though it was a white ball it was a signal nonetheless - I'd still get a signal now....unless the game board went bad between then and now.
 
The white ball isn't signal from your pcb. It's just the monitor on, with brightness turned up to cancel the spot killer.

If you had something coming from your pcbs you'd have half a picture, a line down the middle horizontal/vert.. Or you'd see the game playing..

Test to see if the game coins up, goes plays blind, or at least enters test mode. As it sits now, it seems like you have a dead pcb if both LEDs on the cp are lit.


I'm getting a bad feeling the board is bad, but I'm going to try the suggestions and see what happens.

I feel like if I got a signal to the monitor before - even though it was a white ball it was a signal nonetheless - I'd still get a signal now....unless the game board went bad between then and now.
 
The important thing for you to know is to turn the brightness way down or you will burn the tube, GUARANTEED! On the HV cage at the bottom of the white block. Yours might also have a brightness control on the neckboard but this is the easiest way to protect your tube.
 
Your board was likely bad before your monitor was fixed.

It is not uncommon for these boards to play blind but have issues with vector generation or vector output.
 
Your board was likely bad before your monitor was fixed.

It is not uncommon for these boards to play blind but have issues with vector generation or vector output.

Ahhh....that would make sense. I should know more here in a few hours.
 
Back
Top Bottom