Blew my fuses and now my Asteroids is not working

Yeah I am in the process of pulling them out one by one..at least the top 4 pins and bottom .cause I couldn't clean them very well in the connector .. kinda tricky to get them out , I got 2 so far

No, no, no.

Cleaning the cab harness connector contacts is not needed. They are going to be fine. And it's hard to get replacements. Keep the originals.

What IS needed is a proper copper tape repair of that finger. There are threads here that cover it. You want to remove the finger on BOTH sides of the board, wrap a strip of tape around the finger, tack solder it on both sides, then tin it. Then clean off all flux with a Qtip.

If you don't do it properly, the finger will fall off, and short to ground, damaging other things. So this is an important repair.


It's 4.93


If you're only getting 4.93 on the *AR*, with the game board unplugged, that is far too low. You want it to be 6.2 with no load. It will come down to 5.0 on the game board when you plug the game board in. This is normal for Asteroids AR's. (And if you were getting 4.93 with the game board plugged in, that's still too low, as you're going to lose about half a volt in the wiring and connectors.) So your game board wasn't getting enough voltage either way with the AR set to that, even if that finger wasn't damaged (which is a separate problem.)

However you need to fix that finger first.

If you want to send the game board and AR in, I can refurb both of them properly. With warranty.
 
No, no, no.

Cleaning the cab harness connector contacts is not needed. They are going to be fine. And it's hard to get replacements. Keep the originals.

What IS needed is a proper copper tape repair of that finger. There are threads here that cover it. You want to remove the finger on BOTH sides of the board, wrap a strip of tape around the finger, tack solder it on both sides, then tin it. Then clean off all flux with a Qtip.

If you don't do it properly, the finger will fall off, and short to ground, damaging other things. So this is an important repair.





If you're only getting 4.93 on the *AR*, with the game board unplugged, that is far too low. You want it to be 6.2 with no load. It will come down to 5.0 on the game board when you plug the game board in. This is normal for Asteroids AR's. (And if you were getting 4.93 with the game board plugged in, that's still too low, as you're going to lose about half a volt in the wiring and connectors.) So your game board wasn't getting enough voltage either way with the AR set to that, even if that finger wasn't damaged (which is a separate problem.)

However you need to fix that finger first.

If you want to send the game board and AR in, I can refurb both of them properly. With warranty.
ok , so I'll stop with trying to pull out the pins to clean them,I only got the 2 out which where the 1 and A .. which I wanted to inspect better anyways … going back to the regulator board to figure out why my voltage Is low and won't adjust … thanks for your help and offering your services I will keep that in mind . I want to try to figure this out, so back to some more reading and checking .
 
ok , so I'll stop with trying to pull out the pins to clean them,I only got the 2 out which where the 1 and A .. which I wanted to inspect better anyways … going back to the regulator board to figure out why my voltage Is low and won't adjust … thanks for your help and offering your services I will keep that in mind . I want to try to figure this out, so back to some more reading and checking .

You're measuring that 5V as 4.93V on the 5V test point on the AR, with the game board NOT plugged in? And you're saying it doesn't change if you turn the pot on the AR?

If that's the case, your AR is bad. There's no point in doing anything else until you get that fixed.

You can replace that rusty-looking diode to the left of J6. But it could also be one of three other things: The pot could be bad, the LM305 above it could be bad (the round silver tin-can-looking thing), or the 2N3055 bottlecap transistor in the middle of the heatsink could be bad. You should replace that diode first. I would then replace the 2N3055, as they all should be replaced on these because they are a high-failure part. If that doesn't fix it, I'd then replace the LM305 and the pot.

You can get replacement parts at arcadepartsandrepair.com. Do not buy parts from any other untrusted source (like ebay or Amazon), as there are a lot of counterfeit ones out there, and it's important to get legit replacement parts. Counterfeit parts can cause hundreds of dollars in damage if they fry your game board, and are not worth the risk, to save a couple of dollars.
 
Yes , that is correct 4.93 not connected to Pcb and no adjustment at all even after replacing CR 2-3. I kinda figured that there is a some problem somewhere else. CR -2 just crumbled when I replaced it so my thought is to follow that trace and check out whatever components could be affected R1, R6, R7 etc. 2N3055 and LM305 . Have not found very much info on checking that (LM305) out . Besides replacing it and see what happens.. thanks for the advice
 
Correct, there's no simple way to test an LM305 in-circuit. It's easier just to swap it out.

But replace the 2N3055 first, as sometimes you get lucky and that's all it is. Desoldering the 8-legged LM305 can be tricky, so it's best to not do it if you don't have to.

Assuming you don't have any other cracked traces or resistors, it's almost always one of those two parts that are bad. You can check all other diodes, and push on the resistors sideways to see if they are cracked (as a healthy resistor should be able to take some side pressure. However if they have any micro cracks in them, they'll snap in half.) And the caps are never the cause of failure on these, so there's no need to buy a cap kit, that won't fix or help anything. Leave the original caps as they are.
 
Correct, there's no simple way to test an LM305 in-circuit. It's easier just to swap it out.

But replace the 2N3055 first, as sometimes you get lucky and that's all it is. Desoldering the 8-legged LM305 can be tricky, so it's best to not do it if you don't have to.

Assuming you don't have any other cracked traces or resistors, it's almost always one of those two parts that are bad. You can check all other diodes, and push on the resistors sideways to see if they are cracked (as a healthy resistor should be able to take some side pressure. However if they have any micro cracks in them, they'll snap in half.) And the caps are never the cause of failure on these, so there's no need to buy a cap kit, that won't fix or help anything. Leave the original caps as they are.
Ok ,
I have removed both 2N3055 and LM305 from the board .
I am replacing 2N3055 just because it's old like me …
My questions are…
Which is preferred silpad or mica ?
And
is thermal paste is needed for them ?
 
Ok ,
I have removed both 2N3055 and LM305 from the board .
I am replacing 2N3055 just because it's old like me …
My questions are…
Which is preferred silpad or mica ?
And
is thermal paste is needed for them ?

Silpad.

NO thermal grease. Grease is not used with silpads. That is one of the benefits of using them.

You should have replaced the 2N3055 first, to see if that fixed it. If you replace both and it works, we don't get to learn what the root cause was.
 
Silpad.

NO thermal grease. Grease is not used with silpads. That is one of the benefits of using them.

You should have replaced the 2N3055 first, to see if that fixed it. If you replace both and it works, we don't get to learn what the root cause was.
Ok , that's what I'll get .
I will put the original back in it's easy to do so.
And I got a few days before the parts arrive
 
Correct, there's no simple way to test an LM305 in-circuit. It's easier just to swap it out.

But replace the 2N3055 first, as sometimes you get lucky and that's all it is. Desoldering the 8-legged LM305 can be tricky, so it's best to not do it if you don't have to.

Assuming you don't have any other cracked traces or resistors, it's almost always one of those two parts that are bad. You can check all other diodes, and push on the resistors sideways to see if they are cracked (as a healthy resistor should be able to take some side pressure. However if they have any micro cracks in them, they'll snap in half.) And the caps are never the cause of failure on these, so there's no need to buy a cap kit, that won't fix or help anything. Leave the original caps as they are.
Okay ,
I have received the new LM305 and installed it also put back in the original 2N3055 . Tested it out and now get voltage adjustments… up to 6.18
So , I'm happy about that ..
 
Okay ,
I have received the new LM305 and installed it also put back in the original 2N3055 . Tested it out and now get voltage adjustments… up to 6.18
So , I'm happy about that ..


Okay, good.

Now you want to replace that 2N3055 anyway, so you'll be good for another 40 years. But now we know for sure it was the 305 that was the problem.
 
Okay, good.

Now you want to replace that 2N3055 anyway, so you'll be good for another 40 years. But now we know for sure it was the 305 that was the problem.
Alright ,
So I have the new 2N3055 installed . Everything is checking good as for voltage goes. i went ahead and plugged in the edge connector ,adjusted the trim pot to dial in the 5 vdc on the Pcb.. LED's started blinking and it's playing blind … i plugged in the monitor and everything is working great .. I am surprised
I do have to do some work on that finger on the Pcb and clean everything up .

IMG_1961.jpeg
 
Nice work!

Now enjoy playing it until it craps out again. :) (And when if it does, just post in this thread.)

Be aware, it's not uncommon for these games to die after you get them running again, after they've been sitting unpowered for a long time. So if anything happens, that's par for the course, and normal. You just keep fixing things until it's stable. But once you get all the gremlins worked out, you're usually good for a while. It's just a matter of finding and fixing one problem at a time.

You've done well so far. Congrats.
 
Nice work!

Now enjoy playing it until it craps out again. :) (And when if it does, just post in this thread.)

Be aware, it's not uncommon for these games to die after you get them running again, after they've been sitting unpowered for a long time. So if anything happens, that's par for the course, and normal. You just keep fixing things until it's stable. But once you get all the gremlins worked out, you're usually good for a while. It's just a matter of finding and fixing one problem at a time.

You've done well so far. Congrats.
Thanks ,
yeah , I've read a few of those threads and I'm glad this site has lots of info that can help me out if that happens . of course there's lots of stuff I don't understand yet … but , one step at a time …
 
Now since I got my power restored 👍
It's time for the Pcb finger copper tape fix.

Also,
I've been inspecting my board and I have these jumper wires just soldered to the. 2 legs of a chip one wire fell off but I can see where it was attached …I haven't seen any boards with this mod on them …and haven't really researched what the chip does yet ..
Any ideas ?IMG_1964.jpegIMG_1963.jpeg
 
Those two pins on that chip that the wires are connected to are for the player 1 and player 2 start button LED's. I've never seen that mod before, but it looks like someone was trying to tap onto those signals for some reason. But I can't think of why someone would want to do that.

I can't tell from the pics, but if the wires are just soldered to the chip legs for those two pins (and the legs aren't clipped at all), and the start button LED's work properly, you can probably just remove them. (Clip or desolder them.)

Maybe someone else can think of why someone would want to do that, but I've got nothing.
 
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