Hmm - A Ninty Temptation - What to do?

modessitt

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Well, last week my boss (who is a pinball expert but not much knowledge of arcades) went on a service call for a lady who had one of these that didn't work:
161875.jpg


Well, he checked the wiring and power, but it wouldn't boot up. As this is all surface-mount, and I think the game was bought at Costco or something, repair was unlikely. He talked the lady into just converting the thing into a 48-in-1, which I get to do next week sometime.

Anyway, he gave me the board, and I brought it home and messed with it - not really hoping for much as it was dead on my test bench, too - when something I did got it to boot up! It seems that some of the chips on it are overheating and causing it to reset at this point. If I use cooling spray or keep a fan up close and personal, it runs just fine. Dunno if I should add some heat sinks or just put some fans on it.

So, here's my problem. This board has three games - Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Junior, and Mario Bros (yes, I know, on a vertical cab). Well DKjr is my fave game, and I sorta like the other two, so now I'm considering changing that dedicated DKjr restore I was gonna do someday to this instead. I can still restore the cab as a DKjr, but put this board in instead.

But - I really like the idea of just a dedicated DKjr. Maybe find another Ninty cab somewhere someday and put this in there? Don't really need two cabs with DKjr in it.

Here's pics of the PCB, btw. Pretty small. Barely bigger than a 48-in-1...

SDC11229.jpg

SDC11226.jpg

SDC11225.jpg
 
If those boards have heat issues, maybe you could sell it with the heatsinks added as an upgrade. It might help pay to get your DK Jr finished. Those cabinets are terrible with the huge monitor, although that wouldn't be a problem in a DK Jr cab. The ability to continue is a turn off for me. The inclusion of a horizontal game is a mystery to me as well.
 
I would say you have to see if the fans/heat sink would pass a 24 hour test.

The pcb is worth some coin to folks, all depends on what you want to do. Have a dedicated and keep a DKJr original, or use a "possible" problematic pcb and have a multi.

I personally like the multi if you can keep it running.
 
Well, I don't really need to buy anything to get my DKjr restore done (except maybe some paint). I have everything I need - except time and space...
 
I would say you have to see if the fans/heat sink would pass a 24 hour test.

The pcb is worth some coin to folks, all depends on what you want to do. Have a dedicated and keep a DKJr original, or use a "possible" problematic pcb and have a multi.

I personally like the multi if you can keep it running.

Yeah, that's the other option, I guess. Make sure it's stable, then sell it.





No - that doesn't mean people can start PMing me asking me how much I want for it. Let's say $500 right now. If you are willing to pay that much, you can PM me asking me for my PayPal. Otherwise, wait until I decide...
 
As long as its for your use, I'd run a 12v PC fan off the PSU it until the board no longer works.

Does the big black and green chip in the 1st pic run hot? The problem might be bad solder joints in the BGA solder pads (a b*tch to fix...). OTOH the stuff at the upper right corner looks suspiciously like the power supply section of a PC motherboard (especially since its right next to the JAMMA power pins) and the caps often go bad on those. Replacing SMT caps is a pain but it can be done with something like a Chip-Quik kit.
 
As long as its for your use, I'd run a 12v PC fan off the PSU it until the board no longer works.

Does the big black and green chip in the 1st pic run hot? .

Yeah, that chip is getting pretty warm to the touch, as is the other big chip and the slightly smaller one a little above and to the left of them.

I'll see if I can pic up a couple heat sinks and apply them. Problem is, once they're on, they're on for good.

If I build the cab and sell it that way, I can ensure it's got a fan on it. If I sell the board, then I gotta trust the new owner does. Otherwise I'm sure someone will bitch about me selling a POS....
 
On the back of the board, it says:

*LUNA* Rev. 1.0
(c) 2003 Cosmodos, LTD.


And it appears the cabaret had a 19" monitor:

22006501.jpg
 
Those weren't the cheap 'costco' type machines, that's a home version that was actually made by Namco (as you can see) and was very expensive new. That board is probably worth a chunk of change even broke!
 
I would assume it was explained, but does your customer know she will be losing her Mario Bros game by going to a 48 in 1.
 
I'd love to have that board and I wouldn't be too happy if I got a 48 in 1 to replace it. I think the emulation on that board is pretty spot-on, isn't it? I only played one of those cabs a few times. Mod, you should definitely keep that and put it in your cab. It would be pretty awesome.
 
I played one of the full sized machines at a pizza place. A co-worker and I played some Mario Bros. on it. Having the horizontal game on there wasn't bad at all. If anything the horizontal game was the best because with it cut down in size to fit across the vertically mounted monitor and made it closer to that of a normal Mario bros machine. The vertical games were freakishly enormous in comparison since it is something like a 25" monitor in there. If the cabaret has a 19" mario bros would be a little on the small side, but I'm sure it is still fun. :)
 
On the back of the board, it says:

*LUNA* Rev. 1.0
(c) 2003 Cosmodos, LTD.

And it appears the cabaret had a 19" monitor:

Thanks for that. No results on google after a few searches. Looks like an interesting board for reversing and looking into how it works.

ie; what is the harddrive interface for? serial port missing the controller.. and the vga controller

Also the jtag port for the 2 tsop flash memory could be interesting to dump
 
I saw one of those cabs in a pizza place and it was horrible with the big monitor. I didn't like it at all.
 
is there a way to 'turn off' dk and mario and just have dkjr, steve? or would you have to just select the game each time?
 
there's a menu, but i haven't gotten into it yet to see what can be done...
 
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