I got a WEIRD issue...

Guru-420

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So, I have been working on a machine for a friend at his house, a Ms Pacman. It has been working fine, but I have been screwing around trying to get a HSSK working in it (I think I screwed that up..). Other than the HSSK, the machine has been working great.

Well, after giving up on the HSSK today, I went to put the machine back together and put it back in place. When I put the machine back and powered it up, the colors were off at the bottom of the screen (more green than normal). I unplugged it, moved the machine, checked all the connections, etc... still...

OK, so here is my question: After checking everything, the best I can tell is based on the orientation of the whole cabinet, the colors on the screen change. So, if the machine faces North the colors look fine. As I move the machine to face east the colors start going wacky, Face South and the whole screen gets greenish, face West and the machine starts getting better and back to North it looks good again... WTF?

Everything looked OK on the machine prior to me goofing around with it today, but when I put it back in the same spot, now the colors are goofy. I do not think it is anything environmental as it worked fine for the past month. I checked the power cord, connections, reseated chips... Nothing is moving around as I rotate the machine... Any thoughts???
 
That is normal. The Earth's magnetic field affects color monitor tubes depending on cabinet orientation.

If you leave the machine off for at least 30 minutes so it can cool down then turn it back on, the monitor's internal degausser should kick on and fix it. If not then you need to use an external handheld degausser on it.
 
Thanks Ken. I kind of suspected a good degaussing might help the issue. I have never seen the polarities act that way on a monitor before, but if it that close to needing a good degaussing it does make sense.
 
In addition

In addition, there is also the chance that you are close to a strong magnetic field, which can also cause this type of change in a monitor.

With the game off, take a compass into the area (you know, the magnetic compass you use to find North?) and move it around the game. If you see your magnetic North change directions when you move around the game, there is a magnetic field in play.

It's unlikely, but I have seen homes where the power cables come in and run up to a box. It has been seen. Also, if you are running big speaker wires, they can pick up hum from monitors.
 
Or, it could be....

You never know - you may have an Alien Base below your home. By moving your cabinet, you have uncovered the secret magnetic portal.

To find this portal, cast a +11 Alien Portal detection spell, while twirling a bag of old capacitors over your head (just in case the aliens are hungry, this will distract them by making your brain smell funnier.)

If you don't have any old capacitors, twirl a clown doll. Nobody likes clowns - they look funny.
 
Holy shit! There was an alien base below the floor!

I equipped my +5 Tin Foil Helm, unzipped my pants to expose my +1" Flaccid Sword, and my Holy Shit-Kicker Boots and scarred those pesky alien critters out of their Subterrainian Lair.


On a more serious note, nothing in the room has changed. There is a tiny surround sound speaker near by that is not connected to anything and was there prior and did not interfere with the monitor. Rotating the cabinet near the speaker makes the picture better/worse without getting any closer/further, so I would highly doubt something that small would have any effect (and, it was there before and caused no problems).

I found someone locally with a degaussing coil, I hope to pick it up this weekend and try to degauss the monitor to see if that helps.
 
I would have suspected the Alien Base too , but the Sanyo in my DK has a similar deguass problem . It never really degausses right . Theres certain directions it looks fine at but if you turn it certain ways , even a little bit , the colors get messed up . And theres no magnetic problem around the cab , it does this in every room and games right next to it are never affected .
 
Just a follow up... I stopped at my friends house today, oriented the machine the way he wanted it and powered it up. Everything looked fine.

I think Ken was right. After turning it on/off several times yesterday as I was doing work on it, it was just asking flaky. Letting it cool down and degauss on its own seemed to do the trick.
 
Dang!

Darn it, I was banking on the Secret Alien Base theory.

Imagine the headline: Video Game Detects Secret Alien Base - Source of Obama's Power to Confuse Voters Uncovered!

Oh well. Maybe the next game glitch will be it - it might be the one with the Black Hole!
 
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