dead spy hunter..HELP!

Mizzou

Well-known member
Joined
May 20, 2012
Messages
1,750
Reaction score
74
Location
Virginia
Ok...So I was trying to fix a video issue (garbled screen) on my stand up spy hunter and I thought I had it licked. I turned the game off and went to turn it back on just to double check the work stuck. When I went to plug it (because some genius somewhere along the way thought it would be a good idea to take out the on/off switch) in my hand slipped and the prong only went half way in. I went and plugged it all the way back in and now only the marquee comes on. No sound, no video, no nothing. I checked the fuses on the power block and they all appeared to be fine. I have no clue where to go from here. At this point I would even be willing to pay someone to come and look at it, as I have no clue what I am doing. Ideas? Anything??
 
Ok...So I was trying to fix a video issue (garbled screen) on my stand up spy hunter and I thought I had it licked. I turned the game off and went to turn it back on just to double check the work stuck. When I went to plug it (because some genius somewhere along the way thought it would be a good idea to take out the on/off switch) in my hand slipped and the prong only went half way in. I went and plugged it all the way back in and now only the marquee comes on. No sound, no video, no nothing. I checked the fuses on the power block and they all appeared to be fine. I have no clue where to go from here. At this point I would even be willing to pay someone to come and look at it, as I have no clue what I am doing. Ideas? Anything??


What happened???? I don't understand the prong problem. Did you check the fuse on the linear power board?
 
Basically nothing on the machine comes on except the marquee. No video or sound.
 
Did you check the fuses with a meter? it's actually pretty common to blow a fuse and have it not look blown. Only a meter will tell you for sure if it's good. What you describe certainly sounds like you blew a fuse.

As to your previous problems mentioned in the other thread you started I would first look into your voltages. A lot of games will boot to garbage if they do not have enough voltage to the pcb. Spy hunters can be a bit of a power hog and need more than an exact 5v to boot in my experience.

As to the music issue I would need more details. My memories of spy hunter BITD were of the cool game and great music. When I got one years later I realized it was not exactly as I remembered. Yeah it was a cool game and the music was there but in my memory the music was always playing as I drove around shooting bad guys. The reality is that the music starts when the game starts but I believe stops as soon as you die the first time. It doesn't kick in again until you drive into a weapons van or you drive far enough in the game. This is usually a pretty good distance lie to the point where the road turns to ice or when you reach the turn out to become a boat. Honestly a point where a lot of players never reach.

If this is not the case another place to consider looking is at the volume pot. It may simply have an issue and your movements from playing the game may be simply jiggling the pot enough to make the sound pop in and out at times.
 
Thanks! I'll check the fuses. Yeah, the sound is kinda like you described..I just remembered it being constant throughout the game...of course my memories on this are over twenty years old and I was probably like eight at the time, so it may be a bit scewed. Thanks again!
 
If the fuses are good the next thing to do is to check the voltages on the linear power supply board -- are they good?
 
This is going to sound stupid but...what's the linear power supply board look like..sorry still really green at repairing these
 
here is a pic of the mcr power supply. If yours has the battery (AA sized empty spot in top right corner), you will need to remove and replace that. This board has a fuse on it. you need to check that too.

3188_2_fs_pb.jpg


here is a troubleshooting guide and pdf with test points indicated.
http://users.rcn.com/jenison/mars/trouble/part/powersupply/MCR/mcrPowerSupply.txt

http://users.rcn.com/jenison/mars/trouble/part/powersupply/MCR/mcrPowerSupply.pdf

bob roberts sells a rebuild kit for them
http://www.therealbobroberts.net/parts.html
http://www.therealbobroberts.net/midway.html

or if you don't feel like fixing it and willing to accept a little bit more noise in the sound, you can swap it out to a switching power supply.
http://www.arcadeshop.com/mcr/mcr.htm
 
or if you don't feel like fixing it and willing to accept a little bit more noise in the sound, you can swap it out to a switching power supply.
http://www.arcadeshop.com/mcr/mcr.htm

cough! cough! cough! cough!

On mine and many others it sounds like there's a swarm of bees in the audio when using this power supply...

After an hour I couldn't stand it and pulled it out.
 
looks like it was a blown fuse on the power supply board. I wont know for sure until tomorrow when I can swing by radio shack and pick up a new one, but the one on the board was blown. Thanks for all the help!

I may even try dialing up the voltage..ummmmm...how do I do that lol..

Sorry...still a newb at this
 
looks like it was a blown fuse on the power supply board. I wont know for sure until tomorrow when I can swing by radio shack and pick up a new one, but the one on the board was blown. Thanks for all the help!

I may even try dialing up the voltage..ummmmm...how do I do that lol..

Sorry...still a newb at this

There are pots on the power supply board that you can turn that will up the +5 and +12. Too lazy to look up the locations but it's in the links you were provided above.

You want to measure the voltage that the game boards are getting as well as what the linear power board is putting out. You can measure the latter in the connectors coming off the power board and you can measure the game voltages on the caps on the easily accessible inner-facing SSIO board.
 
Back
Top Bottom