I've got 2 Gauntlet boards and both have errors

Shawn1976

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Alright.
#1: I have an original Gauntlet PCB and the board has a graphics error as shown in the first photo.
I did a test on the sound board and this is the error that pops up.
Does anyone have a suggestion on where I should start with this board?

#2 I have a Gauntlet 2 PCB and the start-up screen is fine. The problem is when the game goes to demo and the screen shown on photo 3 is what I see. I tried to use the test screen, but unfortunately it doesn't come up.
Again any suggestion as to where to start with this board?
 

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Can anyone please help me out here? :(
I just need guidance on where to start and where on the board I should be looking to fix these problems.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. :p
 
They both look like logic problems to me. But it is always best to check the basics first:

1) Voltages on the board are good? Just because another boardset works OK in this set up does NOT mean your voltages are OK. The problem board could draw more current and pull voltages low.
2) All the EPROMs have been verified (with an EPROM programmer is good, but swapping them onto a known good board is better)

On the error message, have you tried swapping in a good EEPROM to see if the error goes away?
 
The problem is that I'm not sure where to begin when it comes to the roms on the board.
Does that error message specify which rom is bad, or no?
I really don't have a lot of PCB experience thus me sending back the Smash TV board to you and unfortuantley I don't have a Eprom programmer either.
I have tried swapping out roms on the board with a board I know works and still get the same problem.
 
Yes, the message is VERY precise! The EEPROM is bad. Gauntlet only has one of these and it is a 2804 located at 13/14A. See if that is a socketed chip and if so, try swapping with one from a known working board.

Gauntlet, like most arcade games, checks the ROMs and RAMs upon boot or during self test. If one of them was bad, you should see a message. Get the manuals here: http://arcarc.xmission.com/PDF_Arcade_Atari_Kee/Gauntlet/

If you need to replace a 2804, Riptor has them:
http://www.twistywristarcade.com/ram/64-2804-eeprom-memory.html


The problem is that I'm not sure where to begin when it comes to the roms on the board.
Does that error message specify which rom is bad, or no?
I really don't have a lot of PCB experience thus me sending back the Smash TV board to you and unfortuantley I don't have a Eprom programmer either.
I have tried swapping out roms on the board with a board I know works and still get the same problem.
 
Alright I replaced the 2804 chip on the original Gauntlet board and now this error message shows up. (Photo #1 error UL 80F4)
The game shows garbage and then goes immediately to the error screen.
The Gauntlet 2 I went into the test and it pops up this error message (Photo #2 error UL BC 40)
Any thoughts?
And I'm not sure where on the board this error is from.
 

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You read the manual that was linked in post #5? If the whole thing is too much, just focus on Chapter 3, "Self Test".
 
It looks like the UL on the manual specifies 10A/10B.
What does the BC40 and 80F4 represent?

That, unfortunately, is not explained in the manual. My guess is those are the bytes actually read, or the address within that EPROM. In any case, it doesn't really matter... it's pointed to those EPROMs has not having correct data. Pull them, read them, and romident or verify to the MAME files. Or swap with known-good EPROMs.
 
I think theres more to it than that.
If your saying to go off of the manual when it specifies the rom error, the manual then only states based off of the U and L as well as the error address to have only 6 roms from the entire board that go bad?
I don't have the extra roms currently and buying chips just to go off of a manual that really isn't that helpful I don't think is the best suggestion.
Thanks for your input Darren, but I think I want to probe a little more to see if anyone else might have anymore information on where exactly the problem might be.
 
I think theres more to it than that.
If your saying to go off of the manual when it specifies the rom error, the manual then only states based off of the U and L as well as the error address to have only 6 roms from the entire board that go bad?
I don't have the extra roms currently and buying chips just to go off of a manual that really isn't that helpful I don't think is the best suggestion.
Thanks for your input Darren, but I think I want to probe a little more to see if anyone else might have anymore information on where exactly the problem might be.

Suit yourself.

FWIW, there are only six 68000 code EPROMs in Gauntlet. The rest are 6502 (sound CPU) code, and graphics data. The CPU likely can't directly access the graphics EPROMs (they're likely only accessed directly by the video hardware), thus the CPU can't read/verify them. This arrangement is fairly common in arcade hardware. If you want to check ALL of your EPROMs, including the gfx data, you'll need to pull them & read with an EPROM programmrer, which I'm guessing you don't have.
 
I think theres more to it than that.

Darren explained well why the manual only has error messages for a few ROMs.

If your saying to go off of the manual when it specifies the rom error, the manual then only states based off of the U and L as well as the error address to have only 6 roms from the entire board that go bad?
I don't have the extra roms currently and buying chips just to go off of a manual that really isn't that helpful I don't think is the best suggestion.
Thanks for your input Darren, but I think I want to probe a little more to see if anyone else might have anymore information on where exactly the problem might be.

With your current tools and knowledge, the only thing you can do is swap known working ROMs into the locations the error message and manual are indicating are problematic.

If that clears your errors, the ROMs are bad or have bit rot.
If that does not clear your errors, you have a problem on the board.

Oops, just looked at the schematics and there is a 3rd option!

These two ROMs are controlled by the slapstic chip. I bet you have the wrong slapstic on those boards.
 
Is the slapstick the pokey chip?
What should be the correct slapstick, or do you need to know what is currently on the board?
 
Is the slapstick the pokey chip?

Negative, Ghost Rider. The pattern is full!

Look through the schematics for the location of the SLAPSTIC chip.

What should be the correct slapstick, or do you need to know what is currently on the board?

Google Atari SLAPSTIC and find the page by Aaron Giles (extra credit if you know who he is).
 
I actually solved the original Gauntlet PCB problem.
A prom was bad (this was towards the middle of the board) **Picture #2** and that fixed the issue below **Picture #1**.
As for the Gauntlet 2 board I'm still scratching my head **Picture #3**.
This is after the main title screen **Picture #4** and only has the graphics issues shown **Picture #3** while the game is in demo. After you coin up the game the game during game play does not have any graphics issues.
I currently have extra Gauntlet 2 roms that I have swapped out, but I don't have a complete extra set of the roms to test the entire board.
 

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