Centipede sudden death

bones3010

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I have a friend with a centipede running almost daily at his store and one day when he fired it up just a rolling white screen came up. No response otherwise and doesn't play blind. I took a quick look inside and didn't see anything obviously wrong with it other than the fact that it appears he had it powered without an intact ground (third prong of the plug not hooked up). So I'm wondering if maybe a power surge might've somehow fried the CPU. What do you guys think? Any other possibilities come to mind, and if so any possible fixes? I have no other machines to test on so I hate to have him buy a new board unnecessarily.
 
The earth ground is there to prevent electric shock should the user touch something metal on the cab. I will soon be replacing the plug on mine for that reason, however it is not likely the cause of the problem (except for in the case of a touch screen game, such as a Megatouch, where the screen needs earth ground as a reference).

This thread is extremely helpful for debugging the electronics (all games are structured similarly): http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=177192
 
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It is possible the the wiring harness should be reseated at the edge connector or the edge connector needs to be cleaned.

That would be the easiest solution to the problem.

There are all kinds of troubleshooting guides for the Centipede board.

They also made a ton of Centipedes and there usually are a lot of working boards for sale. Then you could get it back up and running and then focus on getting the board repaired (if that is the problem). Having a back up board is always good especially for a game that is left on every day.
 
Could be the A/R II, Big blue, board issues, etc. Take some readings from the test points on the board and report back. Plenty of people here can walk you through this pretty quick.
 
It is possible the the wiring harness should be reseated at the edge connector or the edge connector needs to be cleaned.

That would be the easiest solution to the problem.

There are all kinds of troubleshooting guides for the Centipede board.

They also made a ton of Centipedes and there usually are a lot of working boards for sale. Then you could get it back up and running and then focus on getting the board repaired (if that is the problem). Having a back up board is always good especially for a game that is left on every day.

Yeah, reseating the connectors was the first thing I did, to no avail. :-/
 
Could be the A/R II, Big blue, board issues, etc. Take some readings from the test points on the board and report back. Plenty of people here can walk you through this pretty quick.

I'll be heading bet there this week with a multimeter so I can check that out. In the mean time I'll have to do some research on diagnosing the A/R II and big blue as you suggested.

Thanks for the pointers, fellas. I'll report back...
 
I'll be heading bet there this week with a multimeter so I can check that out. In the mean time I'll have to do some research on diagnosing the A/R II and big blue as you suggested.

Thanks for the pointers, fellas. I'll report back...

here is some info for you to read....

http://www.stickycarpet.com/pinx/ar2mods.html

this one has some good info about the sense part of that board...

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/84906-13-atari-regulator-boards-frying

and one more should help you, lots of reading I know but this is good info for you....


http://www.andysarcade.net/personal/tech/AR2sense.txt
 
here is some info for you to read....

http://www.stickycarpet.com/pinx/ar2mods.html

this one has some good info about the sense part of that board...

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/84906-13-atari-regulator-boards-frying

and one more should help you, lots of reading I know but this is good info for you....


http://www.andysarcade.net/personal/tech/AR2sense.txt

Great info! Thanks much... I'll be heading there tomorrow to check a few basic things. If I don't get anywhere I think I'll start with big blue and take it from there. Keeping fingers crossed!

-Rob
 
Hey guys!

Just wanted to post a follow up and update you all that I got this thing working! Turned out it was the Big Blue capacitor after all! So a nice, reasonably cheap fix... Thanks again for the guidance, and if you're feeling so inclined, check out my post asking for help on a Space Invaders for this same guy. ;-)

The only "bad" news about the centipede, is that I ended up borrowing my own newer Big Blue from my Star Wars machine to test this on and now the guy just paid me a few bucks to leave it in there and buy my own. Now my SW is (hopefully) temporarily out of commission until I can get another. ...I hope this guy appreciates me.

-Rob/Bones
 
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