BZ Help

FrizzleFried

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Fark! Quick rundown of whats up:

Battlezone... has been "iffy" since I bought it... I kept losing video (it would go a little haywire with vectors going all over then the spot protection circuit would kick in and the monitor would go out). Tapping on the interconnect would bring the video back...

...so I re-flow both interconnect headers. No help. Still worked fine but would wig-out after a bit of use and eventually go blank.

...so I buy a new interconnect. It worked GREAT! I actually played the game for 2 hour straight without any issue... (before it would usually freak out about 30 minutes in or so). I figured all was well...

...until last night I go to play... no screen. >ARGH!< Tapping on the mainboard interconnect again fixed the issue and I was able to play I few games.

Now, I've re-flowed BOTH interconnect headers not once, but twice... yet I still have an issue. My guess is another cold solder joint somewhere...

...anyone have any suggestions on where I should start looking?
 
Just grabbing at straws here buddy but, is there anything that looks cracked or loose on your neckboard, rather than at the interconnects? I was losing the blue color on my Tempest, and after finally having a tohrets fit and pulling the cutesie cardboard cover off of the back of my neckboard to expose the soldered areas, I found that the pot that controlled the blue had lost almost all of the solder! Prior to pulling that cover, touching that area when the game was on would allow contact to the pot and restore the blue.. After I resoldered there, the problem vanished.

So, basically saying, have you checked the neckboard for any bad solder joints?
 
Friz, it sounds like you have one or more bad IC sockets. Probably the ROM sockets or even sockets on the AUX board. Drawing vectors all over the place makes me think it's the AUX board but it could be elsewhere.
 
Just grabbing at straws here buddy but, is there anything that looks cracked or loose on your neckboard, rather than at the interconnects? I was losing the blue color on my Tempest, and after finally having a tohrets fit and pulling the cutesie cardboard cover off of the back of my neckboard to expose the soldered areas, I found that the pot that controlled the blue had lost almost all of the solder! Prior to pulling that cover, touching that area when the game was on would allow contact to the pot and restore the blue.. After I resoldered there, the problem vanished.

So, basically saying, have you checked the neckboard for any bad solder joints?

There is no neck-board on a black& white G05-802 monitor.

:D
 
Friz, it sounds like you have one or more bad IC sockets. Probably the ROM sockets or even sockets on the AUX board. Drawing vectors all over the place makes me think it's the AUX board but it could be elsewhere.

I have the BZ High Score save kit which eliminates many of the socketed chips...

Hmmm... anyone know what chips specifically the kit renders obsolete? No need in messing with chips that aren't being used any more...
 
most likely the interconnect headers are burnt and need to be replaced

Any suggestion on a source for the parts needed? Any way to clean the tarnish off them without having to replace them? They don't look overly bad (visually) BTW...
 
Any suggestion on a source for the parts needed? Any way to clean the tarnish off them without having to replace them? They don't look overly bad (visually) BTW...

Once they are bad, they are bad. Some people will claim that they can be cleaned but that is BS and they will fail again.

Bob sells them, and mouser and GPE and "insert name"
 
Do you know what size they are and how many pins (it'll save me from having to pull the freakin' machine out yet again)? Also... I am not saying you are wrong (at all... I am sure I am)... but how does a metal pin "go bad"?
 
I have the BZ High Score save kit which eliminates many of the socketed chips...

Hmmm... anyone know what chips specifically the kit renders obsolete? No need in messing with chips that aren't being used any more...

the BZ high score save eliminates the AUX board socketed chips? I don't have a BZ so I was just using my experience with Atari vector boards.
 
the BZ high score save eliminates the AUX board socketed chips? I don't have a BZ so I was just using my experience with Atari vector boards.

I do not know... though I think it eliminates the ROM's from the mainboard.
 
Do you know what size they are and how many pins (it'll save me from having to pull the freakin' machine out yet again)? Also... I am not saying you are wrong (at all... I am sure I am)... but how does a metal pin "go bad"?

They are .156 and IIRC there are 48 pins in total (24 per board)

When you figure it out, we will all know.
 
I do not know... though I think it eliminates the ROM's from the mainboard.

From the kit instruction page:
"As a side note, if you want, you can also remove the old code eproms. These are located at the edge of the board near the 6502 CPU location."

There's an image of those Eproms on his site here:
http://www.brasington.org/arcade/products/hs/bzone/bz-eproms1.jpg

I think I left my eproms in there. I'm not sure if there's any real advantage to removing them.
 
They are .156 and IIRC there are 48 pins in total (24 per board)

When you figure it out, we will all know.

Looks like a 12 pin Molex 26-64-4120 will work and only $1.27 at Mouser. I have a 15 pin version here that matches nicely with my BZ board on the bench and fits the factory interconnect cable.

The factory header is round with a diameter of 0.045" while the Molex is square with 0.045" per side. The through hole on the pcb will need to be at least +0.070" to accommodate the square header. I have NOT tried this part in the BZ so your mileage may vary.

One other thing I recommend before pulling the headers is to remove, clean and re-seat all the bit slicers, proms and even the pokey on the aux board. If the sockets appear damaged or do not provide a snug fit on the chip leads, replace them.

_
 
From the kit instruction page:
"As a side note, if you want, you can also remove the old code eproms. These are located at the edge of the board near the 6502 CPU location."


Pull the legacy roms which will reduce power demand and heat.
 
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