DDR Extreme Shuts Down

[phlegmer]

New DDR Extreme owner and I'm seeking some advice.

I went over to the seller's house to inspect the machine, it looked like it was in pretty good shape. The only cosmetic thing that stood out was the cracked clear plastic that goes over the DDR Marquee. It played well, sounded good, lights all worked. The screen did seem to have a slight green tint but I figured that this could be tweaked once opened up.

Played a few songs on it without issue. The seller did say that it had rebooted once for him in the past but he just reseated one of the power cables and that seemed to solve the problem. I found it odd that there were 2 power cables going to the machine. One was going to one side of it and the other was going inside the right section that appeared to be a PC power supply. I asked him about it since this struck me as odd but said that was how he got it when he purchased it a few years back. Since everything appeared to be ok, I made the purchase.

After trailering it back to my house and setting it up, plugged in the 2 power cables and booted it up. Watched it go through the motions and then it was doing demo mode where it shows you how to play. As soon as it got to the point where the side marquee lights and platform light came on to show you which one to press when the arrow reaches the top, it would shut down. All the lights, sound, and video would go off, but I could still hear all the fans running in the cab. I power cycled it and it would come up, get do the demo and the exact same thing happened.

Next, I opened up the back and decided to reseat all the connectors I could find going to the center units as well as the big cart and the thick credit card memory item. It was then I noticed that there was a short power strip in the inside left with some non-US plugs. One of which would go towards the right side to where the PC power supply box was located. Not sure why but someone decided to unplug that cable and then feed that power supply separately. That would explain the 2 power cords. I left it with the 2 cords for the time being.

Powered up the unit again and this time it seemed to boot up much quicker and the demo seemed to work just fine. WOOT! Queued up a song, played it through no problem. 2nd song queued up, played about halfway through and then the same thing happened. Everything went down.

If I were to guess, the first thing I would suspect is that PC power supply unit on the right side? Since someone felt the need to feed it power separately, perhaps it's starting to flake out? Looks kind of non-standard with all those screw down connectors.

Any thoughts?
Thanks!

 

[newsheriffintown]

Hopefully someone with some better know how will chime in. There are several things which could cause resetting. You are correct in that it could be a power supply. It could also be the CD rom drive flaking out. You should take some pictures of the insides that you have questions about and they can be answered here. I've owned an Extreme, a solo 2000, and now a Max2. These are pretty hearty machines, so its probably going to be something simple. But you really need to get yourself a multi meter if you don't already have one, and you should start by verifying the voltages.

 

[ArcadeTechGW]

I've seen this on the game on my old route in Omaha, when I stopped in during a wedding to help out.

The power supply is in the bottom middle of the cabinet, and it gets FULL of dust, so full it overheats and shuts down.

To get it out, you have to remove the connectors, then you can slide it out and vacuum it out / blow it out. You have to do both vacuum and blow multiple times - the dust is DEEP in there, and thick.

 

[phlegmer]

"The power supply is in the bottom middle of the cabinet, and it gets FULL of dust, so full it overheats and shuts down."
Hmm, I don't recall seeing much dust in there but I'll double check. Actually the inside of the cab was surprisingly clean. Perhaps it had to do with trailering it over interstate for a couple hours blew all the dust out?

I've attached a couple pics of the PS that is in the right lower cabinet.

I haven't metered the lugs yet but it feels like this would be a good starting place since all those components are now 20+ years old. I do hear the CD drive spinning up and running all the time.

Are there good alternatives to replaced either of these components?

I've looked around for the PS the most and I'm not having much luck. About the closest I could find with dual output (12v and 5v) with the terminal screws was this https://www.meanwellusa.com/webapp/product/search.aspx?prod=RD-125. The power capacity is lower and the number of needed terminals not there either.

Thanks!

 

[phlegmer]

Took a few additional pics before I went to bed last night. Didn't get a chance to do any metering from the PS.

I also found it interesting that the PS on the right cab was not secured in any way. Just laying in there loose. Looked a little closer at the top box in the middle cab and the inside didn't really look bad at all dirtwise. Probably wouldn't hurt to blow it out though.

Thanks!