Blitz '99 Joystick Issue

brahmabullwf

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Hi Everyone,

n00b here so please bear with me. I recently purchased an original Blitz '99 cabinet with all the original parts as much as I can tell. The game boots up pretty well, but I cannot get the joysticks to work for the life of me. The joysticks are of course the 49 way ones. I have checked all connections and everything looks pretty solid. I have tried moving the dip switch to 8 way - nothing. When I go into the diagnostics mode, all buttons respond except these joysticks. I am at quite a loss here and I really don't know where to take it from here. Being new at this, my only guess is the I-40 adapter board is shot, but reality is I have no idea what I am doing.

Please help / offer suggestions!! Very much appreciated.
 
I found 2 fuses in the entire machine and swapped both of them out for new ones. Any other ideas? Thanks.
 
BUMP! I'm desperate to get this machine to work, any advice please?

In review, I've checked the wiring (not with multimeter), changed 2 fuses, messed with the dip switches, and everything works BUT the joysticks.

Relying on you experts out there!! Very much appreciated.

Thanks!!
 
do us a favor, take some good pictures of the stvks, wiring from the sticks to the joystick pcb in the control panel, (have you checked the fuse there??) and connections from the control panel to the rest of the game.

the issue you describe is something i would suspect if the fuse is blown or you forgot to connect the red and black wire connector back onto the joystick pcb from the cabinet, bad joystick interface pcb, etc
 
Absolutely not a problem at all. Again, I appreciate the help.

The first picture is of the first joystick where I did see the black and red wires loose. I got them in tight. This leads to me ask the question are these joysticks daisy-chained and perhaps is that why they all don't work? Did I not secure them correctly?

The second picture is view of all 4 joysticks and buttons.

The third picture is of the joystick connections to the I-40 adapter. You can also see a picture of the fuse that I did replace already.

The fourth picture is all the connections going into the main board.

The fifth picture is of a loose wire I found where I do not seem to find any place to hook it in.

Thanks again!!
 

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Do all those joystick plug into that interface board in Pic 3?

Did that game have a manual in it?
 
In that first pic, it looks like the connector on the nearest stick is loose. Is that guy seated down all the way?
 
Yes, they all hook into the board in pic 3. That's the I-40 adapter in Blitz. From what I read, only common in a few games. Without having really any knowledge in this department, I suspect that being the main problem. Perhaps it is fried? Yes, there is a manual.

Also, yes the connector is seated all the way down. That first connector had the black and red wires loose, but I connected them back in. I'm concerned that if this is a daisy-chain scenario those loose wires are breaking the rest of the sticks. Do you know if these 49 way joysticks are daisy'ed? I am thinking no.

Again, thanks for all your help guys, really wanna get this bad boy working.
 
Do you see an LED on that interface board? I've never had one of these, but a lot of times they have some LED that lights up to show there is power on.

If it's not there, there's no power of course. Those 49 way joysticks have a +5 voltage that goes on them, then they feed the positional data to that board. If for some reason that voltage was that "lose" red and black wire, you may still have issues further back. If you have a voltmeter, you can probe it to see if you have power to that board. If you don't the wire you put back may not be making good contact. Those vampire connectors suck even when they are new.

Sometimes the manual has a trouble shooting guide for these issues. It may have some light on the subject. Midway went of business in 2009, so there is no support. Happ bought them out, here's the website. There are some boards in there, maybe one of them is this assembly you have

http://na.suzohapp.com/ (search for blitz '99).
 
do the start buttons work? if so, you can get a ground here..

use meter and check for +5.. ground the meter at one of the working switch ground joystick.wires and check for +5 volts at each end of the fuse, if one end is missing +5 the fuse is bad no matter what it looks like. ocould be it blew due to one of the joystivks shorted or joystick pcb short, etc.

IIrc you should also have +5 at each joystick on he red wire

its hard to tell from the picture but i remember a smaller connector with red and black wires going to the cp, but i remember another red and black wire connector that plugged directly to the little joystick pcb. Cant see if its hooked up or not in that pic.
 
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Great suggestions and I will be checking these out shortly (need to go get a multimeter). There is not an LED on the I-40, so there isn't anything to check to see by eye if it's getting power. The LED's on the main board are all lit properly as I do have the original manual and the lights are following what is normal.

I will report back my findings, but may take me a week.

Thanks again!!
 
if there is a harbor frieght hear you, you can get a cheap digital multimeter for under 10 bucks. If you plan to continue collecting and havin a hoarde of games i would reccomend you invest in a nice dmm, but a cheapie will get you by for now.
 
Did you resolve your joystick issue??
I doubt your I-40 adapter is fried. In most cases, you will see burn or char marks on a fried I-40 card. The chances of all 4 sticks being bad is slim. I struggled trying to get my Blitz control panel to function. I used the schematics in the manual as a guide. After some "Trial and error", and some melting/smoking wire insulation, I was able to get the CP working.

Let me know if you need help. I can take a look inside my Sportstation cabinet.
 
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