Galaga Freezing Up

rlinsky

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Hello- I'm new to this forum. In fact, I am new to this hobby entirely. I just purchased a Galaga machine about 2 months ago. I have done nothing to it other than plugging it in. It has been working perfectly, until a few days ago, when it started freezing up during a game. It boots up and starts normally, and then, mid-game, it gives me a screen of garbled text, usually with a loud screech. It then shows the game settings, upside-down, very briefly, and then restarts. It returns back to the start screen, with high score reset. It seems to work normally at that point.

I am a total beginner. I'm still learning all of the jargon. Ever since I read on here that if you touch the wrong thing, you can get electrocuted, I'm pretty nervous about even opening the back of the machine. I am willing to try to fix this myself if it is not too complicated, or can send it to someone if needed.

I have taken a video of what happens. I'm trying to embed the youtube video, hopefully this works... Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 
Hello- I'm new to this forum. In fact, I am new to this hobby entirely. I just purchased a Galaga machine about 2 months ago. I have done nothing to it other than plugging it in. It has been working perfectly, until a few days ago, when it started freezing up during a game. It boots up and starts normally, and then, mid-game, it gives me a screen of garbled text, usually with a loud screech. It then shows the game settings, upside-down, very briefly, and then restarts. It returns back to the start screen, with high score reset. It seems to work normally at that point.

Welcome to the addiction!

I am a total beginner. I'm still learning all of the jargon. Ever since I read on here that if you touch the wrong thing, you can get electrocuted, I'm pretty nervous about even opening the back of the machine.

It's not as bad as you think. The only area that you should really be concerned about getting a shock from is the monitor. Treat it with care and you'll be fine. You could get zapped by other areas, but very unlikely.

I am willing to try to fix this myself if it is not too complicated, or can send it to someone if needed. I have taken a video of what happens. I'm trying to embed the youtube video, hopefully this works... Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

If you want to fix this yourself, you'll need a decent Multi-meter.

There could be a lot of different things that could cause this, so you'll need to start with some simple diagnostics to see where you're at. It could be something very simple, or it could be a lot more complicated. The idea is to eliminate the simple stuff first and go from there.

The first thing most people are going to tell you is to "Check your voltages". What this means, is you need to use the Multi-meter to measure different points on the power supply and PCB to see what voltage is present at those points.

The typical voltage you will look for is +5V. If that's too low, or too high, then the game will reset or behave oddly.

In the case of games like Galaga, you could be looking at a bad edge connector, bad fuse block, bad sockets, lose chips, etc...

If you're willing to dive into this more, let us know if you have a Multi-meter and we can help you further.
 
Coin Counter causing this issue?

Wow- I have a lot to learn. I will pick up a multimeter today and get started as you suggested.

I was searching the internet, and saw someone with a similar issue on a Ms Pac-Man. They suggested it could be an issue with the coin counter mechanism. They suggested that unplugging this could potentially fix the problem. Seemed unlikely, particularly since I have it on "free play" mode. I figured I'd try it, and it hasn't had a problem since I did this. Of course, it could be just coincidental. Does this sound like a very likely explanation for the issue in the video?

Thanks!!
 
Wow- I have a lot to learn. I will pick up a multimeter today and get started as you suggested.

I was searching the internet, and saw someone with a similar issue on a Ms Pac-Man. They suggested it could be an issue with the coin counter mechanism. They suggested that unplugging this could potentially fix the problem. Seemed unlikely, particularly since I have it on "free play" mode. I figured I'd try it, and it hasn't had a problem since I did this. Of course, it could be just coincidental. Does this sound like a very likely explanation for the issue in the video?

Thanks!!

Anything is possible. Did you have to disconnect or adjust anything while you were disconnecting the Coin Counter?
 
Coin Counter

No, I was very careful. I just disconnected the coin counter. I guess it could just be random chance. This seems to be a tough problem to diagnose, because it often happens only after I have been playing for ~20 minutes or more. Even then, it is apparently intermittent.
 
It could also be the vibration on the boards causing an intermittent contact while playing.

Perhaps tap on the boards to see if you can cause a freeze/crash.
 
No, I was very careful. I just disconnected the coin counter. I guess it could just be random chance. This seems to be a tough problem to diagnose, because it often happens only after I have been playing for ~20 minutes or more. Even then, it is apparently intermittent.

If it doesn't start happening until you're 20+ minutes into the game, it could be heat related.

You could carefully re-seat all the socketed chips, and that might help. If that fixes it, then you'll want to replace the sockets with better ones (Dual Wipe).

It could also be a component on the PCB that is failing when it warms up.

You should pull the edge connector off and clean it as well. You can use an Eraser to clean the PCB side of things.
 
How do I adjust voltage? Are my Dip switches correct?

OK, I got a multimeter. I tested the voltage on the logic board, as suggested at arcadeshop.com. It tested at ~3.9V. I tried to adjust the voltage, by turning the VR101 knob on the power supply PCB. Am I turning the right one? It seems as though turning it counter-clockwise turns the voltage up, though this seems counterintuitive. It also just doesn't seem to have much effect. The maximum I could get the voltage to read was about 4.2V. "+5" is written on the board next to VR101, so I assumed this was the correct one. I'm a complete beginner, so I'm definitely proceeding with caution.

Second question- I am trying to set my machine up according to Twin Galaxies Tournament Settings. On the back of my machine, there is a very old label that says that I need to have my 6J Dip Switch #1, 2 and 3 set to ON OFF OFF, in order to get it on Rank "D". I did this, and indeed, it is on Rank "D".

The only problem is that, according to the manual that I downloaded, in order to get to a 2 player Tournament Setting game, it requires 6J Dip Switch #1 to be OFF. I would like to be able to play a 2 player tournament settings game, in order to see the 7th digit to show up in the score on the 2up side.

It doesn't seem as though this is possible. Has anyone run into this issue? Any ideas?
 

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Things Getting Worse, Not Better

OK, so I turned up the voltage all the way, and it appears to max out at 4.6V. I will be ordering a switching power supply from Bob Roberts today.

Unfortunately, after my voltage testing and turning, the machine will now no longer boot up at all. (is that the right term?). When the machine is turned on, the screen shows the usual white random characters screen, but then, it flashes the usual information screen for just a moment, upside down. Then, the screen turns sort of purple, again with random characters. It then repeats the cycle endlessly. It won't do anything.

Is this just another part of the same power problem, or did I screw something else up somehow? Obviously, step one is to replace the power supply, but I'm just curious about how ominous this new behavior is.

Also, does anyone have any input about my earlier question about the Dip switch settings?
 
OK, so I turned up the voltage all the way, and it appears to max out at 4.6V. I will be ordering a switching power supply from Bob Roberts today.

Unfortunately, after my voltage testing and turning, the machine will now no longer boot up at all. (is that the right term?). When the machine is turned on, the screen shows the usual white random characters screen, but then, it flashes the usual information screen for just a moment, upside down. Then, the screen turns sort of purple, again with random characters. It then repeats the cycle endlessly. It won't do anything.

Is this just another part of the same power problem, or did I screw something else up somehow? Obviously, step one is to replace the power supply, but I'm just curious about how ominous this new behavior is.

Yes, when power is too low, you'll get behavior like this. Most games need to be at least 4.7 or higher to run. Some games are even pickier then that and need +5.0 or slightly higher (you shouldn't go over 5.2). The closer to +5.0 the better in most cases.

This is why you should always check your voltages when you experience any problems. If it's off, then you need to fix that issue first or you could be chasing problems that do not exist.
 
Problem Solved?

So, I ordered a switching power supply from Bob Roberts. (Thanks Bob!, first class service) I then turned up the voltage to maximum. It's still reading 4.6V, but the problem seems to be fixed. It is no longer doing the reset thing. I guess I'll wait to install the switcher.
 
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