Blackwidow Dies...

djw90

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Well a day ago I posted a Blackwidow lives thread.. Today im posting a Blackwidow dies thread.. Ok have not seen this before hope someone can help.. I got this board the other day. When I first installed it the video was shaking slightly left to right. I adjusted the centering pot a hair, and it was solid.. Today I turn it on and get this. Pots do not fix the issue.. Voltage to the PCB 5.06v. I put back in the original Gravitar PCB it works perfect, so it not a monitor issue or voltage issue.. Problem is on the Blackwidow PCB.. Has anyone seen this before??

Game Plays... Its just the screen is china???

SDC16764.jpg



SDC16766.jpg
 
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Just switched the AVG chips from my working gravitar PCB.. Same problem on the BW PCB. Gravitar works fine with the AVG off the BW board??

So I can rule out.. Monitor, voltage, AVG...
 
Do you think the game might have a thermal problem or Maybe a cap that dried out or maybe a connector that not making proper connection?
 
That looks like a mathbox error. Try reseating the cables to the aux board (with the power off). There is a little slop in the card edges so you need to be very careful when plugging the cards back in. I had something similar with my Battlezone a couple of times and reseating the cables fixed it.

ken
 
Bro, i am on my way to taking the kids on a hockey tourney this weekend. When i get back on Monday i'll send you my BW board, it works fine. I am not even close to getting mine done so i'll send it up to you and we will figure everything out later. Should only take two day to get to you.
 
Bro, i am on my way to taking the kids on a hockey tourney this weekend. When i get back on Monday i'll send you my BW board, it works fine. I am not even close to getting mine done so i'll send it up to you and we will figure everything out later. Should only take two day to get to you.

Nice! Can I be your Bro too? :-D
 
Bro, i am on my way to taking the kids on a hockey tourney this weekend. When i get back on Monday i'll send you my BW board, it works fine. I am not even close to getting mine done so i'll send it up to you and we will figure everything out later. Should only take two day to get to you.
Thanks Shayne:) Pm me when you get back to town...

BW/Gravitar are single board, the standard Atari size & shape.

Got a scope? If so, move backwards through the opamps.

No dont have a scope.. Talked to the Dok tonight.. Its might be a bad pot.. I swapped both processor chips, no difference..
 
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If it is a mathbox issue then diagnostics in test mode may reveal it.

Does look like a mathbox issue...
 
Things it could be.
Power
Ram
Pots
AVG


Those pots can have small breaks in the legs that are hard to see or notice.

No Ram errors in self test?
Sometimes they won't show until you run a ram test with a fluke.

Avg swapped, so most likely not it.
 
That's why they have beeps. If you're not getting any beeps then it's probably ok.

Dont think there were any beeps.. Just pulled the manual online.. When I get home I will put it back in test mode..

Thanks everyone for the help:)
 
That looks like a mathbox error. Try reseating the cables to the aux board (with the power off). There is a little slop in the card edges so you need to be very careful when plugging the cards back in. I had something similar with my Battlezone a couple of times and reseating the cables fixed it.

ken

Although I agree that it looks like a math box error, Gravitar and Black Widow are a single board with no aux board.

These boards are notorious for having pot issues just like all the rest of the Atari Vector boards.
 
That isnt Chinese.. those symbols are from Predator. Watch out! sucks it is giving you fits. Good luck!
 
That isnt Chinese.. those symbols are from Predator. Watch out! sucks it is giving you fits. Good luck!

Thats funny:) Well I give up this BW board is fucked.. Going to send it off for repair..

I have been looking for a Black Widow for to long, to have it die in one day.. I did a rom swap with my extra Gravitar board, and now im playing Black Widow again:D
 
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