how to keep my Ms Pac warm and working?

vintagegamer

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That witch loves to play with my frustrations right after Halloween.

My garcade remains around 60-65 at its lowest point year-round, but of course when it hits that temp Ms Pac starts getting her period. It's a hit or miss if she will boot.

The thing was rigged up when I got it 5 years ago, and it has a convoluted blend of power brick AND switcher supply in there. I'm not entirely sure of why both are in there but that's what's made the thing work for the past 5 years. However, once that temp drops to around 60-65, the game starts giving boot issues like the flashing '0', half a pretzel graphic in the upper left corner, all kinds of stupid stuff. In the meantime I can power up any game around it and they all work fine.

Is it the estrogen? Just tell me how to make it stop (and hopefully it doesn't involve wrapping the cab in insulation) please.
 
If someone hacked a switcher in there, it could be failing to output proper voltage when it's cold. Check the voltage at the board both when it's warm and when it's cold, see if there is a difference there. Could also be any number of connection issues - from chip sockets to the board edge connector.

The "power brick" in the bottom of a Ms. Pac is two separate transformers. In normal operation, the one transformer is just an isolation for the monitor, the other generates the two AC voltages that get fed directly to the game board. It's probably not being used anymore, since someone wired in a switcher - chances are the fuses have been removed.

I think the only reason people hack in switchers is because they're too lazy to change the fuse holders and fix the edge connector right. The Pac power supply setup is actually quite simple and easy to fix.

-Ian
 
If someone hacked a switcher in there, it could be failing to output proper voltage when it's cold. Check the voltage at the board both when it's warm and when it's cold, see if there is a difference there. Could also be any number of connection issues - from chip sockets to the board edge connector.

The "power brick" in the bottom of a Ms. Pac is two separate transformers. In normal operation, the one transformer is just an isolation for the monitor, the other generates the two AC voltages that get fed directly to the game board. It's probably not being used anymore, since someone wired in a switcher - chances are the fuses have been removed.

I think the only reason people hack in switchers is because they're too lazy to change the fuse holders and fix the edge connector right. The Pac power supply setup is actually quite simple and easy to fix.

-Ian

Thanks Ian, the next time I pull the game away from the wall, I will look in there and see if the fuses are MIA. I appreciate the feedback!
 
It is probably a weak connection on a connector or compoent. These are fun to track down. Almost as much fun as an intermitent problem, you know the ones where the game works for some time then dosen't. Turn the game off and on and works again.
 
Yeah, it's mostly annoying bc it likes to crap out the one time my daughter wants to play it. My son on the other hand wants to play it all the time, but of course he's just shy of 3 so *playing* is used very loosely here. Maybe I should let him climb in the back to check out the connections LOL
 
Yeah, it's mostly annoying bc it likes to crap out the one time my daughter wants to play it. My son on the other hand wants to play it all the time, but of course he's just shy of 3 so *playing* is used very loosely here. Maybe I should let him climb in the back to check out the connections LOL

With his plastic hammer.
 
you might go the other way.

With the game working and compoent cooler in hand, just freeze diffrent parts connectors in the game unit. When you hit the sore spot, the game will wigg out.

This usually works better with transistors that have heat sinks attached.
 
I would check all the Chips and sockets on the board and make sure they are all seated nice and firmly. Sockets can expand and contract with tempeture fluctuations. If there is a pin that has a very small tolorance (ie just barely making contact at warm temp.) it may contract in the cold and loose contact. Firmly reseating all the chips would be a good start.
 
I would check all the Chips and sockets on the board and make sure they are all seated nice and firmly. Sockets can expand and contract with tempeture fluctuations. If there is a pin that has a very small tolorance (ie just barely making contact at warm temp.) it may contract in the cold and loose contact. Firmly reseating all the chips would be a good start.

Many thanks for the additional info. Personally I think she just needs a Massengil or Summer's Eve flush, but that's just me. ;)
 
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