Battlezone - Test image and blip but no game

klke

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Hello everyone, I've just acquired a BZ upright cabinet in fairly good condition, but it wasn't working.
I fixed some issues, like broken IDE connector pin solder joints on the deflection board, and some failing EPROMs that I reburned using 2716 chips.
Now I can enter test mode—I see the pattern and hear a blip. If I press any button, I hear another blip, but when I exit test mode, nothing appears on the screen.
I've checked all the solder joints on the pins connecting both boards, and they look fine.
Do you guys have any tips on where I should continue testing from here?

Thanks in advance!
 

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By "Blip" I think you mean "beep" right?

Sounds like you have a RAM failure. Did you check your board voltages? Low voltage will cause RAM failures.
So may excessive AC ripple on the DC bus.

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Check all your voltages from the power brick before you chase RAM replacements. Also, clean your edge connectors first, as they corrode resistive.
 
I would recommend troubleshooting/focusing on the vector ROMs. That might be causing the letters to be cut short and perhaps causing the watchdogging when trying to run out of TEST.
 
By "Blip" I think you mean "beep" right?
No clown, he means "blip".
The sound test mode makes for a switch closure, and when you enter test, test mode sess the test switch closed.

Sounds like you have a RAM failure.

As anyone who's ever worked on a BZone (or most any other Atari vector) would know -- if there's a RAM error test mode stays in the "beep test" and doesn't progress to drawing anything on the screen.
 
Thanks a lot for the help. I'm going to dig around the vector ROMs and I'll post back if I make any progress.
 
If you wind up chasing your tail on this, consider replacing the CPU/ROM sockets. My Asteroids would pass all tests in test mode (and with the FPGAcatbox), but would watchdog in game mode. And my Red Baron would also pass all tests in test mode, but would trigger the spotkiller repeatedly in game mode. Replacing sockets fixed both issues.
 
Before replacing ROM sockets, consider replacing any original-looking ROMs with freshly burnt EPROMs. I had a ROM that verified OK in my minipro but caused watchdogging when running at full speed. (Suggesting this to minimize effort. Burning fresh EPROMS is easier than resocketing, and the EPROMS may still be needed after resocketing.)
 
My BZ board came with an HSS kit (Braze Technologies) that was masking two bad ROMS and one bad demuxer. I'd be willing to give it away for the cost of shipping (no CPU included.)
 
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