Calling all PlayChoice Experts.... Help!

Dr. Morbis

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Well, my dual monitor PC10 recently stopped working and I've come here in the hopes that the collective wisdom of this forum will be able to provide some useful advice.

So the backstory: My PC10 was working fine and I had just played through Contra to completion and then left the unit on. It cycled through the various games in attract mode as it always does and then it hit Castlevania and ran through that. But when Cv was done (and it's just a coincidence that I had come back to the machine and happened to be watching at this point), the graphics went garbled (like it does when time runs out) but instead of going to the next game on the list (Contra) it just froze. The machine froze completely and nothing I pressed had any affect whatsoever.

So I unplugged the machine and cycled the power and when it came back on, no games would load on the bottom monitor. The top menu looks fine, but the channel select button does not initially work and no game loads up for attract. Eventually, the PC10 gives up on the first game in the top slot and resets the menu with that game's name missing (blank on the menu) and then proceeds to try and load the next game in line for attract, which then fails too. And if I leave the cab on long enough, it will clear each game in the menu one by one until it is showing a blank menu with no games.

So this is my problem; the question is, how do I fix it?

What I've done so far:
-Tested the bottom monitor with a Punch-Out!! board and it works fine.
-Tested the PCB with the filter board removed and there was no change.
-Metered the Power Supply and the voltages check out fine at the board (+5, +24).
-Pulled out all but one game and it still does this (regardless of what slot I put the single game in, or which single game I use).
-Swapped out *ALL* socketed chips (PPU, Bios, Z80, etc) with no change.

And by now I've completely run out of ideas... can anybody help?

.....
 
Last edited:
Well, my dual monitor PC10 recently stopped working and I've come here in the hopes that the collective wisdom of this forum will be able to provide some useful advice.

So the backstory: My PC10 was working fine and I had just played through Contra to completion and then left the unit on. It cycled through the various games in attract mode as it always does and then it hit Castlevania and ran through that. But when Cv was done (and it's just a coincidence that I had come back to the machine and happened to be watching at this point), the graphics went garbled (like it does when time runs out) but instead of going to the next game on the list (Contra) it just froze. The machine froze completely and nothing I pressed had any affect whatsoever.

So I unplugged the machine and cycled the power and when it came back on, no games would load on the bottom monitor. The top menu looks fine, but the channel select button does not initially work and no game loads up for attract. Eventually, the PC10 gives up on the first game in the top slot and resets the menu with that game's name missing (blank on the menu) and then proceeds to try and load the next game in line for attract, which then fails too. And if I leave the cab on long enough, it will clear each game in the menu one by one until it is showing a blank menu with no games.

So this is my problem; the question is, how do I fix it?

What I've done so far:
-Tested the bottom monitor with a Punch-Out!! board and it works fine.
-Tested the PCB with the filter board removed and there was no change.
-Metered the Power Supply and the voltages check out fine at the board (+5, +24).
-Pulled out all but one game and it still does this (regardless of what slot I put the single game in, or which single game I use).
-Swapped out *ALL* socketed chips (PPU, Bios, Z80, etc) with no change.

And by now I've completely run out of ideas... can anybody help?

.....

Sounds like a bad motherboard.
 
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