Board repairs woes and frustrations

komodo

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Donor 2019, 2021
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Well, I was working on arcades today and dug out two boards that had been sitting on a shelf in sealed bags for some time now. Both of these boards were "fixed" by a non-member here. Needless to say, they both had issues. I am going to have to find the guy and get him to re-repair his work and figure out why they don't work. There is nothing worse than getting set back by something that should be plug and play and instead take a week or two delay to have stuff done that should have been done right the first time. He was advertised to me as competent and came with good recommendations but I think that I will instead take my work to two local guys that have NEVER done me wrong.

I realize feedback section is there for a reason but this post is mainly to let others know that if you want something done right the first time, it pays to get quality work done. Be sure to check out feedback section of the forums and only go with those that have good reviews. So for that reason, if you need something repaired board-wise, I HIGHLY recommend:

Talon2000 ----Atari vector/Berzerk/etc

Channelmanic----NeoGeo/Capcom/Jamma stuff etc

Both are very knowledgeable and will treat you right. Please don't try to repair something you don't know how to do either. It will make the repairs that much easier.

Rant off.
 
Then how will anybody ever learn? ;)

DogP
In all seriousness I to think there is some definite truth that. I have boards that I have tried to work on but eventually send out to fix. Along the way I try to at least take something positive from it like getting practice with a logic probe.
 
dug out two boards that had been sitting on a shelf in sealed bags for some time now. Both of these boards were "fixed" by a non-member here. Needless to say, they both had issues.

So you had someone fix them, and when you recieved them back from repair, you didn't verify that they worked, but instead put them on a shelf for some time?
 
Gameboards will absolutely break sitting on a shelf collecting dust. They could have been working great when you stuck them on the shelf.

Agree, I know you said that they where in sealed bags, but something could still go bad. Capacitor? Corrosion/rust on pins, chips got loose??
I'm just saying.....
 
Well, I was working on arcades today and dug out two boards that had been sitting on a shelf in sealed bags for some time now.

Please define "some time". I have 100's of boards on my storage shelf that I have personally tested and verified. They are all wrapped and in their own box....nice and safe, for future use when I need one. Many times over the years......I have pullled one of my working boards off the shelf to use......and it doesn't work.

With that said......I don't know who fixed your boards (and I realize there are a lot of shitty repair people out there).......but sometimes...."shit happens".


I do a lot of repair work for people.....mostly local/regional, but more and more "out of towners" are mailing me stuff. I take pride in my work (and I think I'm a damn good tech:D). Here's a couple of my personal cases......probably 3 years ago a guy from Indianapolis came by the shop and droppped off a Galaga board for repair. I fixed it, burned it in a bit and sent it on it's way. A few days later the guy calls me and says it's acting up. I get the board back, and sure enough....issues. I go through it again.....this time I run it on my bench for a day and a half.....randomly poking it, shaking it.....basically, being as rough as I can with it while it's running. I don't want to miss anything. Next I stick it into an actual Galaga machine. I let it run for three days straight....day and night. I monitor it.....randomly play a few games, etc. I get it back to the customes......guess what, he calls and says it's acting up. He gets it back to me....sure enough, issues. I basically repeat the previous process again and get it back to him. I haven't heard from him since.....so....either it finally worked properly, or he wrote me off as a fuck-up hack.


Another case, just this past month.....I sent four repaired MCR power supplies back to a customer. All were repaired and burned in, in my Spy Hunter. The customer got back to me.....three of the four arn't working! WTF!?! They haven't made it back to me, so I don't know what happened.

This is the major pitfall of doing "out-of-town" repair work. I hate this shit. I hate that a customer's stuff arrived non-working....and how pissed/annoyed/upset the customer is going to feel (I have been in that same boat). I hate how it makes me look. Sometimes this stuff.....just fights you the entire time.


I do know (and understand) there are a lot of people out there fixing this stuff......who should be!......but the other side of that token.......some of us know what we're doing......even if it doesn't look like it;).


Sorry Pat, for my long winded rant.....
and I hope the guy does the right thing.

Edward
 
Please define "some time". I have 100's of boards on my storage shelf that I have personally tested and verified. They are all wrapped and in their own box....nice and safe, for future use when I need one. Many times over the years......I have pullled one of my working boards off the shelf to use......and it doesn't work.

With that said......I don't know who fixed your boards (and I realize there are a lot of shitty repair people out there).......but sometimes...."shit happens".


I do a lot of repair work for people.....mostly local/regional, but more and more "out of towners" are mailing me stuff. I take pride in my work (and I think I'm a damn good tech:D). Here's a couple of my personal cases......probably 3 years ago a guy from Indianapolis came by the shop and droppped off a Galaga board for repair. I fixed it, burned it in a bit and sent it on it's way. A few days later the guy calls me and says it's acting up. I get the board back, and sure enough....issues. I go through it again.....this time I run it on my bench for a day and a half.....randomly poking it, shaking it.....basically, being as rough as I can with it while it's running. I don't want to miss anything. Next I stick it into an actual Galaga machine. I let it run for three days straight....day and night. I monitor it.....randomly play a few games, etc. I get it back to the customes......guess what, he calls and says it's acting up. He gets it back to me....sure enough, issues. I basically repeat the previous process again and get it back to him. I haven't heard from him since.....so....either it finally worked properly, or he wrote me off as a fuck-up hack.


Another case, just this past month.....I sent four repaired MCR power supplies back to a customer. All were repaired and burned in, in my Spy Hunter. The customer got back to me.....three of the four arn't working! WTF!?! They haven't made it back to me, so I don't know what happened.

This is the major pitfall of doing "out-of-town" repair work. I hate this shit. I hate that a customer's stuff arrived non-working....and how pissed/annoyed/upset the customer is going to feel (I have been in that same boat). I hate how it makes me look. Sometimes this stuff.....just fights you the entire time.


I do know (and understand) there are a lot of people out there fixing this stuff......who should be!......but the other side of that token.......some of us know what we're doing......even if it doesn't look like it;).


Sorry Pat, for my long winded rant.....
and I hope the guy does the right thing.

Edward

The other problem is not knowing if the peeps receiving the fixed goods have proper voltages when they hook up the fixed board. A fixed board can easily become broken in a flash from one bad board in the mix or bad power.
 
Wow, a lot of action on this thread.

I like to have spare boards ready to go so that when I come across a project cab, I can take a known good board set and get it up and running quickly. I have Pacs, Galagas, lots of Atari vectors, Gauntlet, Gauntlet Legends, and NFL Blitz among others. I keep games that I know I can flip if I find the right cabinet. These are perfect for converting cabs back to what they were. I know how to test voltages and will not fry a board set intentionally. The boards in question are NFL Blitz. One is a 99 and the other is a 2000. No, I didn't check them when I got them. Guess I should have. I'm thinking that the hard drive is bad on the one that is resetting. I believe I have a spare drive around so I will run a check on it once I locate it. I didn't drop the drive so I guess it could just have taken a dump sitting on a shelf.

The other board was taken in a trade from the same guy and was advertised to me as working. This thing is dead. I have spoken with the individual and he has offered to take a look at both of them. If it is the hard drive on the one, I'm not going to worry about it. I'll eat that.

My frustration is that instead of having a remove and replace solution, I instead will have to wait for at least a week or more to get this issue resolved and get these cabs out of my garage.

I have checked the obvious issues like loose chips. There is no corrosion. My good boards are boxed and sealed on a shelf. I'd have to drop one to possibly mess it up. Yes, I know that there is always the possibility of a board not working. I have had some flake out after being repaired. I realize that. But to have neither one boot up is pretty frustrating. I have had similar issues in other trades when a board set sold/traded to me as working had issues. Obvious ones from the get-go. Not something you would find on level 16 etc.

On the repair issue. I have seen some very UGLY hacks and repairs. I know the two repair people I mentioned have seen their fair share of ripped traces, thru hole tears, solder bridges, reversed inputs, chips inserted backwards, etc. I have no issue with someone trying to fix a board. But if you can't solder and don't know what you are doing, then don't do it. You wouldn't do brain surgery on your mother if you weren't a brain surgeon. By tackling a board, you make issues harder than it seems. I just mentioned that in my original post so that the repair cost would be cheaper in the long run. I think anyone that repairs boards in this forum will agree with me that there is nothing worse than undoing others people's screwups.

I'd like to state that I just got back up stairs from the garage. I did have a spare drive and it is now booting. That just leaves the one dead board. I should be able to get at least the one cabinet done today which makes me feel a lot better. I guess I haven't been getting enough sleep lately and was pretty frustrated when I originally posted.

So in summation.....try to fix a board to the best of your ability but stop when you are in over your head. Test board sets right away (trust but verify) after a deal or before the deal is done. Get lots of sleep when possible and remember this is supposed to be fun.

That's what I am taking away from all of this.
 
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