Black Widow - no video, no sounds, no nothing

alejandromad

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Just got the cabinet
was missing the coin door and the PCB
Bought a working PCB from AtariScott a few months back
Got this game and popped the PCB in
Nada
Spot Killer on
Nothing on monitor
Both player 1 and 2 start buttons illuminated solid
Checked +5 vdc on the PCB test point and it was something like 5.1 vdc
Hmmm
Checked the PCB in my Space Duel... fired right up... could coin and play (although not well with only buttons all over the CP)
Took the ARII from the SD and put it into the BW
no change

million dollar question...
Do I need a coin door for the game to work?
All the wires that would be attached the the coin door are just laying in the cabinet.

So what's up????
 
hmm does it have the safety interlock or whatever its called on the coin door? My Asteroids Deluxe has that darn interlock located there. Annoying heh.

Tom
 
hmm does it have the safety interlock or whatever its called on the coin door? My Asteroids Deluxe has that darn interlock located there. Annoying heh.

Tom

My BW doesn't have an interlock on it and no evidence that there ever was one. Doesn't that board require other voltages to run besides the +5?
 
Glancing at Alex Yeckley's AR II board application guide, it looks like Black Widow needs a -02 revision and Space Duel uses a -04. The -04 version doesn't have +12 or -5 apparently. Was the ARII you swapped from Space Duel the same as what was in the Black Widow?
 
hmm does it have the safety interlock or whatever its called on the coin door? My Asteroids Deluxe has that darn interlock located there. Annoying heh.

There's no interlock, but lack of power in the cabinet is not the issue...

"Spot Killer on... Both player 1 and 2 start buttons illuminated solid...Checked +5 vdc on the PCB test point and it was something like 5.1 vdc"

It's something else.

Doesn't that board require other voltages to run besides the +5?

There are other voltages, which I did not measure but, as I said, the PCB works in my Space Duel and the ARII (from the working Space Duel) was moved to the BW and the problem did not change.

I could change the transformer brick out but I still feel like the lack of the coin door connections being hooked to anything is a possible issue...

Anyone?
 
Glancing at Alex Yeckley's AR II board application guide, it looks like Black Widow needs a -02 revision and Space Duel uses a -04. The -04 version doesn't have +12 or -5 apparently. Was the ARII you swapped from Space Duel the same as what was in the Black Widow?

It had all the same plugs. I didn't look at the AR revision.
AND, most importantly, it ran the BW PCB just fine in the SD cabinet so that would seem to infer it provides the correct voltages.
I'll look into that.

Then there's the fact that the issue didn't change at all after swapping the ARII. That also 'could' indicate that the ARII isn't the problem.

I just looked at the SD schems at http://www.andysarcade.de/spaceduel.html#manuals_datasheets

The -04 ARII puts out +5, +22, -22 and 10.6
 
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I could change the transformer brick out but I still feel like the lack of the coin door connections being hooked to anything is a possible issue...

Anyone?
I have heard of a bad big blue causing a game to appear dead. It's not very common but you could swap power bricks just for to eliminate that. I can't think of why the coin door would have to be wired for it to work. I haven't looked at mine in a while, but I think the test switch and what not are mounted to the coin box on Black Widow. The only thing about the coin door that would come to mind is the lock out coils won't be activated (I think BW has them) but I can't imagine the game would care. Maybe try unplugging your Space Duel coin door and see if the Black Widow pcb boots?
 
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I have heard of a bad big blue causing a game to appear dead. It's not very common but you could swap power bricks just for to eliminate that. I can't think of why the coin door would have to be wired for it to work. I haven't looked at mine in a while, but I think the test switch and what not are mounted to the coin box on Black Widow. The only thing about the coin door that would come to mind is the lock out coils won't be activated (I think BW has them) but I can't imagine the game would care. Maybe try unplugging your Space Duel coin door and see if the Black Widow pcb boots?

Yeah... good idea. I was hoping to avoid that because the SD is back in storage (no power there) but I can get the brick and the coin door and put them in BW and see what happens.
 
million dollar question...
Do I need a coin door for the game to work?
All the wires that would be attached the the coin door are just laying in the cabinet.

So what's up????

Are the coin door wires plugged in to the main harness ? Or is the harness stop at the plug ? Is the self test switch there and plugged in ?
 
Are the coin door wires plugged in to the main harness ? Or is the harness stop at the plug ? Is the self test switch there and plugged in ?

The coin door wires are all unplugged from the ends that connect to the mechs and lights and such, and laying in the cabinet on top of the coin box.

The test switch (the whole assembly, coin counters, volume, etc) is present and plugged in although it doesn't seem to do anything.
 
Not completely related to the problem, but you might want to disconnect the monitor from your setup so you don't damage it while troubleshooting. Once the game plays blind (Because the monitor is obviously disconnected) you can plug it back in and see if it also works.
 
See if there is a slam switch in the pile of wires that is stuck closed. It could also be mounted to the wood inside the coin door.
 
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I'm going to second this, swap big blue and start playing Black Widow :)

Well my friends... you were correct. I swapped out transformer assemblies (and consequently, Big Blue) and the results were stunning

(OK, I had to put my spare WG6100 in too because the one that was in there was whack... but I'll deal with that next).

Still no coin door hooked up but I popped it into free play...

Thanks for the help.
 

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I have to say I am surprised, because I have only seen 1 big blue go bad in probably 50+ Ataris I have owned. I have seen the connectors to the big blue become loose and cause problems but not the cap itself.
 
I have to say I am surprised, because I have only seen 1 big blue go bad in probably 50+ Ataris I have owned. I have seen the connectors to the big blue become loose and cause problems but not the cap itself.

+1 on that. i always replace them, but i have yet to see one go bad.
 
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