Help needed with Zookeeper

shirkle

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Ok, with all the recent Zookeeper threads, I've decided to dig mine out of storage (AGAIN) and try to fix it (AGAIN).
I've had it for about 4 years now, and it has never worked.

Tonight, I turned it on and I get nothing on the screen. The lights all light up (marquee, bezel, coindoor). I press the test button on the board on the board and I get a pattern of colors to go across the screen.
The test LEDs then stop in testing mode. The exact pattern is 00-0101

This means there's something wrong with the data processor board. That's also where I'm stuck. I have no idea where to go from here.

This time, I'm not putting it back in storage. It's getting fixed.
 
There is no sound.
It does not enter any screen that would have sound, though.
 
Sure, as long as it's not going to ruin the Qix parts.

Would you, or anyone else reading this thread, mind taking a couple pictures of the wiring to the boards as well as the wiring to the test switch inside the coin door. I wonder if it got mixed up at some point.

Anyway, let me know what to swap with Qix.
 
The wiring should be the same as the qix. Except for the coin board and xtra rom board.
I built mine from scratch and working on another.




LOADING PICS
 
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OK. I'm glad we did that. There were a couple of things messed up, which I'm sure has led to bigger problems.
First, the two connectors on the extra Rom board were switched. Secondly, the test button above the interlock inside the coindoor was wired wrong.

So, I fixed those two things and now I get:

1)if the coin door is open- same as earlier (pressing test button gives me color pattern on screen and nothing else). Pressing the test button a second time will stop the color pattern and the LEDs turn to 00-0010, which indicates bad RAM, I assume.
2) if the coin door is closed- pressing the test button on the processor board gives me a screen that says "Open Coin Door To Test". Opening the coin door to test, however, leads me back to #1.

So, I'm stuck here now, but at least we know it's wired correctly now and that I get the "Open Coin Door To Test" screen now.

Think I need new RAM?
 
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Just for the heck of it, there is a jumper on the video board towards the bottom near the battery, with the game off take the jumper off and turn it on. See if you get anything from that.
 
I don't know about Zookeeper, but QIX always seems to have bad RAM... assuming they use the same type, I'd definitely start by replacing the RAM. Or, I mean... you'll never fix it... you might as well give it to me ;) .

DogP
 
Well, I decided to swap the main data board with Qix (working) to see what would happen.....and neither of them worked then. So, since Qix was working and I moved its data board to ZK, that means more than the ZK data board must be bad. But, since I also had a working Qix and putting the ZK data board in made it not work, we know that that's bad too.

So, now I THINK I know that their are at least two problem areas on the ZK- the data board and the (I assume) the ROM board.
I'm not surprised considering some of the wiring was backwards. I bet some things got friend.
 
Here are some pics of mine where the connectors are. Not the biggest pictures, maybe they will help though. Did you try pulling the jumper?
 

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Yes, the jumper did not affect it at all.

Did you get anything different on the screen? If all you get is the test screen that comes up when you turn it on then I think you have a rom board problem. Mine was doing that and I swapped with the Qix rom board I had. There are a couple chips on the rom board that ZK uses and Qix does not.
 
When I turn it on, nothing comes on the screen. It only goes to the color test when I press the test button. It doesn't seem to enter any tests after that.
 
Well, I decided to swap the main data board with Qix (working) to see what would happen.....and neither of them worked then. So, since Qix was working and I moved its data board to ZK, that means more than the ZK data board must be bad. But, since I also had a working Qix and putting the ZK data board in made it not work, we know that that's bad too.

So, now I THINK I know that their are at least two problem areas on the ZK- the data board and the (I assume) the ROM board.
I'm not surprised considering some of the wiring was backwards. I bet some things got friend.

The data/sound board shouldn't work in the qix because it has been converted to work in the zk.

Your getting ahead of your self
 
When I said data board, I meant the Video board. I swapped it with Qix's and had no change.
I'm going through and double checking all of the voltages/test points right now.

I think I must have just missed your call. Maybe tomorrow.
 
Maybe I'm not using the right names for the boards. Here's what they're called in the manual from top to bottom:
-Video Processor(this is the one I swapped from Qix)
-ROM/I.O.
-Data/Sound (I mistakenly said I swapped this one)

So far, no progress, except for knowing that Qix's Video Processor does not work in Zoo Keeper. It works perfectly in Qix, though.
 
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