Donkey Kong HELP!!!

PrairieDillo

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Donor 2011, 2024
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Hey Guys

I just picked up a DK upright today. I think it had been once a Popeye and then rotated vertical. The monitor adjustment sticker was in the vertical location and the cardboard bezel was trimmed and not fitted correctly.

So I got it for $175 which was a total gamble since working ones go for $350-600 on craigslist around here and I thought that this one was in decent shape all things considering. The insides were really clean actually as you can see from the shots.

Here are it's issues and I think it's all board related.

1) Sound is missing for certain bytes. Walk is there but no music and other effects. The bashing bass sound is there from DK stomping his feet. Much of the other sounds were missing.

2) mysterious death going up ladders. Invisible Barrel? (very inconsistent)

3) I also get some fuzzy repeating of graphics on screen. All of the colors are right but it's really noticable on barrels rolling and very consistent on the blue first barrel where it's falling straight down. (see gameplay pic of the blue barrel)

Needs a CAP kit as the colors seem dim to me and maybe serious adjustment cause the vertical and horizontal widths are way off as you can see from my shots. HW Coil change????

What's crazy nice is that there's little to no burn in on this thing. Oh and they put this silly alum trim on the front of it that i'll remove. I just wanted before pics. The bezel is on funny and I've never seen how they go on so I'll have to look at that manual.

The harness looks oddly wired up but it's so clean inside that I imagine that it's original. Also the lights are out. Need new bulbs!

So was this a decent find? The guy has had it in storage for like 2 years...

ANY AND ALL Help in pointing me to the things I need to fix on this. I have a chip burner that I just got but need to learn how to use it LOL. thought it might be kinda easy but I need my friend to guide me through it first.

John
 

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just the rest of my initial pics
 

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It does look clean ... I can't answer all the questions so hopefully someone else will chime in ...

Here are it's issues and I think it's all board related.

1) Sound is missing for certain bytes. Walk is there but no music and other effects. The bashing bass sound is there from DK stomping his feet. Much of the other sounds were missing.

could be a board issue, but I would check the wiring diagram in the manual and ensure everything appears to be wired correctly ...

http://arcarc.xmission.com/PDF_Arcade_Nintendo/Donkey_Kong_Operation_Manual_(TKG-4-UP).pdf

the harness on my DK looks nothing like that so I am not sure what they were trying to do there ...

2) mysterious death going up ladders. Invisible Barrel? (very inconsistent)

most likely a board issue ... needs to be troubleshot ...

3) I also get some fuzzy repeating of graphics on screen. All of the colors are right but it's really noticable on barrels rolling and very consistent on the blue first barrel where it's falling straight down. (see gameplay pic of the blue barrel)

hard to say, but most likely a board issue ... I wonder if anybody else has seen this ...

Needs a CAP kit as the colors seem dim to me and maybe serious adjustment cause the vertical and horizontal widths are way off as you can see from my shots. HW Coil change????
colors look bright in the picture ... adjust the brightness ... there are horizontal and vertical width pots on the gameboard ... adjust those first ...

The harness looks oddly wired up but it's so clean inside that I imagine that it's original.

it does .... maybe someone can explain what they were trying to do here ... looks like a conversion ....

Also the lights are out. Need new bulbs!
http://forums.klov.com/showthread.php?t=96884&highlight=nintendo+bulb
 
Congrats on the great find, I just picked up a Donkey Kong cocktail, with a Radarscope 4-board pcb converted to DK. I spent all day troubleshooting it and got it 100% working :)

I gained the most ground by thoroughly cleaning all boards. Remove all socketed chips and carefully clean the legs using an eraser. Be very careful removing chips as not to bend any legs or break them. I use contact cleaner to clean sockets.

Inspect the boards closely for any kind of damage, broken components, etc. Check out the manuals for TKG4 boards and look at your audio circuits and connections. You may need to replace the caps on the remote audio board found in the monitor.

Some good repair log sites for DK, and has some info on missing sprites:

http://www.mikesarcade.com/arcade/repairs/dkong.html

http://www.brasington.org/arcade/tech/dk/
 
It looks to me like the edge connector was used for power,the coin mechs and probably monitor and the P5 connector for controls.
I would either find an original harness,make a new harness or put in a switching power supply and a jamma harness.
Mikes Arcade and Mouser have connectors that will plug into the board set if you decide to make a harness.
 
Serial #

27266 P A K

Do you know how to read these?
 
MGS-UP-US

Now what does this mean other than Upright and US...
 
I am 99% certain the CPU board is at fault. I had a boardset do the EXACT same thing. I have no board repair skills so I traded my boardset to Dick Milikan for $45.00.
Sucks jumping and getting caught halfway on a ladder huh? lol
 
This looks like a VS. harness that was modified for the DK pinout, but with the control panel using the original harness.

MGS-UP-US indicates the VS. series.
 
I am 99% certain the CPU board is at fault. I had a boardset do the EXACT same thing. I have no board repair skills so I traded my boardset to Dick Milikan for $45.00.
Sucks jumping and getting caught halfway on a ladder huh? lol

how do I contact Dick for a board swap quote?

Thanks!
 
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