modessitt
Volunteer: Encyclopedia Submission Moderator
It's just not as satisfying fixing something when you're the one who broke it...
It's more like relief.
So, I moved my Midway Space Invaders recently. Once I got it in where I wanted it, it wouldn't come up. I knew the connector on the power supply was a little flaky, so I wiggled it and got the game to come up, but the image was flickering some. So, in a dark room, I reached down and unplugged the connector and plugged it back in - or I thought I did, as I heard it "click" into place. Well, it turns out it was NOT plugged in correctly, and parts started burning up on the PCB when I turned it on. Wonderful.
So tonight, I decided to fix it. Found a burnt-to-hell cap on the main board next to the interconnector. Replaced it and got the game to come up, but no sound. Found the 1N4004 diode on the power supply toasted and the 3A fuse blown. Replaced both of them and the fuse started blowing again. Narrowed it down to the daughtercard. Found the LM377 was shorted. Replaced it (what a PIA to replace, btw) and got most of my sounds back, but was missing the fire sound. Tracked that down to the LM3900N at M4, and everything is back to the way it was. Fixed the flaky power connector while I was at it, and now everything is working just fine.
I'm very happy that I got it back to where it was before I fucked it up, but it somehow doesn't equal that feeling you get when you finally get that long-dead project up and running properly...
It's more like relief.
So, I moved my Midway Space Invaders recently. Once I got it in where I wanted it, it wouldn't come up. I knew the connector on the power supply was a little flaky, so I wiggled it and got the game to come up, but the image was flickering some. So, in a dark room, I reached down and unplugged the connector and plugged it back in - or I thought I did, as I heard it "click" into place. Well, it turns out it was NOT plugged in correctly, and parts started burning up on the PCB when I turned it on. Wonderful.
So tonight, I decided to fix it. Found a burnt-to-hell cap on the main board next to the interconnector. Replaced it and got the game to come up, but no sound. Found the 1N4004 diode on the power supply toasted and the 3A fuse blown. Replaced both of them and the fuse started blowing again. Narrowed it down to the daughtercard. Found the LM377 was shorted. Replaced it (what a PIA to replace, btw) and got most of my sounds back, but was missing the fire sound. Tracked that down to the LM3900N at M4, and everything is back to the way it was. Fixed the flaky power connector while I was at it, and now everything is working just fine.
I'm very happy that I got it back to where it was before I fucked it up, but it somehow doesn't equal that feeling you get when you finally get that long-dead project up and running properly...
