Dig Dug Not Booting

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I have a Dig Dug that was working quite well until yesterday. On boot up I can a bunch of garbage. It does not change. I put in a different AR2, and the same thing happens. I am thinking it's a board issue at this point.

Is there anything in particular I should look for?
 

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Yes, it's a board issue, and likely something closer to the CPUs. What troubleshooting have you done? Have to measured power and not just replaced the AR2?

Scott C.
 
I did check some voltages. I noticed at times during the scrolling garbage screen it says RAM 4H. I can look into that.
Which version of the Dig Dug PCB do you have? Ensure you're looking at the RAM error message based upon the revision of your DD PCB.

Scott C.
 

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This is really helpful. Thank you.

I have the older board (Rev A, then?), based on some research I did on KLOV comparing it to pictures on here.
 
Good luck and hopefully it's just a RAM chip. I fixed a Dig Dug PCB recently and it really was just a bad RAM chip. Of course, I also cleaned all customs and ROMs, and repaired the edge connector, but the actual failure was one RAM chip. :) While you have it out, make sure your edge connector is cleaned.

Scott C.
 
Dig Dug has multiple Z80s. like I can't tell from a still picture but if it's not progressing beyond that screen it tells me it's going to be a main CPU problem. I don't remember if that's driven by any customs, so in the very least you'll need to check the main program roms and rams. and if the legs of the customs were never cleaned, that's going to be an obvious step that should come first.

it's a real disaster situation
 
mecha is correct. While I only implied it, mecha said it. :) Ensure all socketed chips have clean legs.

Some aspects of Dig Dug PCBs are easy to troubleshoot. Other aspects are a pain. I am working on one now that is being very stubborn, but I have not given up yet.

There is one custom, a 40xx I believe, that if removed the screen will just show RAM 2L and repeatedly reboot.

Scott C.
 
mecha is correct. While I only implied it, mecha said it. :) Ensure all socketed chips have clean legs.

Some aspects of Dig Dug PCBs are easy to troubleshoot. Other aspects are a pain. I am working on one now that is being very stubborn, but I have not given up yet.

There is one custom, a 40xx I believe, that if removed the screen will just show RAM 2L and repeatedly reboot.

Scott C.
random thought: if that scrambled screen isn't animating, it's just static, that would suggest the main Z80 isn't running at all

you'll need to logic probe pin 6 clock and pin 26 reset to rule that out.

I don't remember the anatomy of a Dig Dug and it's not something I've needed to fix before if any Atari wizards want to offer up better advice
 
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