How did you learn how to work on games?

I had no idea what I was getting into when I got my first cab about a year ago. Totally clueless I was - which was a bit of a problem as the cab was bought as non-working.

I don't think I'd ever even heard of a multi-meter ...

Anyway - lessons learnt through forums in the early days, there are some very knoweldgeable & helpful people out there.

Over the last few months I've started to read / understand schematics / basic electronics / theory - and have developed/adopted a few rudimentary problem solving techniques. I shudder at how ignorant I was, no doubt I'll feel the same way in another 12 months. Great hobby though, from both the electronics and game playing side of things.
 
Building superguns because it seemed like a cool thing to do...
Did my first supergun without one single solder joint.
 
oh, and constantly asking a shitload of dumb questions.

OH I can do that ha ha.

The reason I bring this up is I got into this hobby because of my son and nephue. My hobby is cars and motorcycles, one day we were at a Juice Shack and they had a multicade game there. My son wanted some quarters to play so I stood there and watched and it brought back all my childhood memories. Next day I purchased a Ms. Pac Man off craigslist and started going down hill from there ha ha.

The reason for the post is it take an act of GOD to get someone to give you a hand locally let alone get a call back in this hobby with out getting charged. THANKS TO THE WEB SITE Iam slowly learning, but diagnosing the problem is something else.

I come from a long generation of car nuts,all my family,friends and relatives are into either cars or motorcycles. When we have someone (usally a teenager) that wants to work/fix up there vehicle we are more than happy to help them with what they need without charging them.

We have always been the neighborhood hang out and the game are a nice addition to the shop.

I also own a vinyl sign shop which I let the kids make decals from scrap to make them some side money.
 
I come from a long generation of car nuts,all my family,friends and relatives are into either cars or motorcycles. When we have someone (usally a teenager) that wants to work/fix up there vehicle we are more than happy to help them with what they need without charging them.

My best man had one of these near him. Some old man who would buy super old rust buckets, tear them down to bar metal, and spend a year or so rebuilding every single square inch of it. I never even knew his name, everyone just called him the Guru.

We were changing a Wheel bearing on my Geo Tracker one time, which turned into a week long nightmare. The ol' guru was there for us whenever we were ready to drag the Tracker to a clif and giving a shove.
 
I started taking shit (Radios, Clocks, etc) apart when I was about 6....

I wasn't able to put shit back together until I was in my early teens.

Dad had to hide the screwdrivers.
 
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my Geo Tracker

I'm sorry Shar but this made me laugh. For some reason I just assumed all West Virginians were ex-Big East Football players that drove big pick-ups, worked in the coal mines and lived off the land. The Tracker image just shattered that.
 
I'm sorry Shar but this made me laugh. For some reason I just assumed all West Virginians were ex-Big East Football players that drove big pick-ups, worked in the coal mines and lived off the land. The Tracker image just shattered that.

The C-Band Satellite Dish is the Official State Flower of WV.
 
I was a Computer Maintenance Tech in the Air Force, had a few assembly jobs (before the tech boom, then crash), and eventually wound up helping out during Christmas season at the arcade tech place my friend worked at. Eventually, he quit and I took over as the head tech. Learned most of it on the job, with a lot of research on the internet. The past tech experience helped, but I basically taught myself monitor repair (through trial and error, research on the internet, and a couple of questions)....
 
I'm sorry Shar but this made me laugh. For some reason I just assumed all West Virginians were ex-Big East Football players that drove big pick-ups, worked in the coal mines and lived off the land. The Tracker image just shattered that.

Most of the ones that make it into this area seem to be just that. Those that don't seem to be from somewhere else originally. Shardian must have moved there from somewhere else, either due to major depression or some other self-destructive impulse. :)
 
Well, I still don't know a whole lot about working on games, but I generally have an idea of what is wrong whenever something isn't functioning as it should be. I pretty much have learned what I know through asking questions and reading repair tips/articles.
 
I don't care what anyone says, I frikkin LOVED that Geo Tracker. When it left me, it had 215k miles, the rear main seal was leaking a quart a week, and the harmonic balancer was at least a 1/4" out of balance - it ate through the timing belt markings, the timing belt cover, and ate an alternator belt every month.

I doubt I will ever have a vehicle that measures half of the fun scale that Tracker had. 5 speed, 4 wheel drive, aftermarket convertible hard top, all black, wide alloy wheels w/ truck tires. It went anywhere, hauled anything I needed to haul, did anything I asked of it, got 25-27 MPG average, and rarely had problems*.



* I did keep getting bad alternators from Advance Auto (4 to be exact), which made me want to shove the car off a cliff. It wasn't the Trackers fault though. I ripped an Advance manager's ass one day, made them give me my money back instead of another shitty alternator, and got a NAPA alt. It never had a problem again.
 
* I did keep getting bad alternators from Advance Auto (4 to be exact), which made me want to shove the car off a cliff. It wasn't the Trackers fault though. I ripped an Advance manager's ass one day, made them give me my money back instead of another shitty alternator, and got a NAPA alt. It never had a problem again.

Welcome to the world of repetitive errors. That was a typo in the original Geo maintenance manual that got propogated to all of the parts stores manuals. I had a Geo Metro convertible and almost got bit by the same error. I checked the original one before I took the replacement one home and demanded the larger Hitachi alternator. IIRC, the manual said a 20A alternator but it really needed the 32A alternator. I had the same problem with a Datsun previously. Burned up an alternator every 6 months until I got the bigger one. Damn I miss that car. 42 mpg and a sweet ragtop.....

ken
 
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