Jawhn's New Defender. W00p!

[jawhn]

So a certain awesome member here texts me around 4:30 or so that's there's a steal on CL that I need to 'pounce' on. Sent an email, was first in line, and actually scored it without going through a CL bidding war.

I now have a nonworking defender.

Cab is in very nice shape, just needs a little cosmetic love. Seller claimed it worked before he moved, then it stopped working. Might be true, but upon opening I also saw that a switcher had been put in, and a few more wiring 'ughs'... I cleared out all the junk at the bottom of the cab before powering it up, there were bolts and old locks and chips and all sorts of stuff down there. Switcher was not mounted to the cab, argh. Tested continuity in a few spots (Power cord to switcher, all the fuses) Fuses all good. So after all that, I plug 'er in, turn the power switch on, and get a happy monitor hum. Marquee lights up. Check the power supply, putting out 5.16V and 12.19V. Monitor comes alive, but with bars. (see pic) So I'm quite a few steps ahead of the game. Anyone know off of the top of their head before I start searching what's up with the pattern shown?

 

[30FathomDave]

That good samaritan KLOVer sounds like about the coolest guy alive

Congrats on the score, man. Glad you got it! I can't believe the power supply was just chillin' in the bottom of the cab like that.

If you've got garbage on the screen and the PS is putting out the right juice, it's gotta be a board issue, right?

 

[jawhn]

... If you've got garbage on the screen and the PS is putting out the right juice, it's gotta be a board issue, right?

Someone on here will know the answer to that. That someone sure ain't me.

The monitor works, which is awesome. I'm hoping it's just a bad EPROM. That's the dream, anyway. Hoping someone recognizes the pattern on the screen, and will chime in.

 

[jimkirk]

Nice score Jawhn.
You could always have Dockert rebuilt the PS and get rid of the switcher.
Unless you can do it yourself.

 

[jawhn]

Nice score Jawhn.
You could always have Dockert rebuilt the PS and get rid of the switcher.
Unless you can do it yourself.

Thanks Jim!

I most certainly cannot do it myself.

I am super-new to all this repairing nonsense, but am eager to learn. I'm also not sure why using the linear vs. the switcher would be an upgrade...? Just so it's more original, I guess?

 

[30FathomDave]

You're lucky I had to poop at that precise moment today- otherwise I wouldn't have spotted that ad. I texted you mid-poop. Now that's a friend.

Yeah, I browse CL on my phone when I'm doing my business. What of it?

 

[gregatron]

Check your headers for cold solder/ broken joints. Those .156 headers and IDC connectors are always a #1 suspect for me. I would then check and reseat all of your EPROMS. Those Defender PS are super easy to rebuild if you ever decide to do it. I think Bob even has a kit for it.

 

[jawhn]

I was wondering how you found that one!

 

[Wolfinator]

Congrats! I almost bought an empty, but nice Defender cab last month to fix up, but then I took on the WoW instead. That looks like a nice one you got, shouldn't cost much to get it going...

 

[gorfchampion]

Nice score! I love Defender.

If you need extra help getting it going, here's Andre's link.(rhombus here on klov)

http://www.arcadesolution.com/

He knows everything about fixing Defender boards, trust me.

 

[jawhn]

Nice score! I love Defender.

If you need extra help getting it going, here's Andre's link.(rhombus here on klov)

http://www.arcadesolution.com/

He knows everything about fixing Defender boards, trust me.

Thanks for that link. Checked out this section: http://www.arcadesolution.com/rom.html and booted mine back up to see which LEDs were lighting up on the ROM board... All 4 lit up. And now the "jail bars" [if that's what they're called] are Orange and Black...)

 

[Ghostlyguy]

Sweet score Jawhn! Defender's a tough game..

 

[Arcadenut]

Bring it over here tomorrow night (probably after 7) and we'll get it running.

The rug pattern you see is NOT normal, it should look like a bunch of RANDOM dots. If you see straight lines, it means you have bad RAM.

The Switching supply is more reliable then the Linear one, but you will have issues with scores and settings being lost every once in awhile.

The Power Supply board is easy to rebuild, and I probably have all the parts needed.

The board should also have LED"s on them. The pattern of the LED's will tell you more.

Does the game boot or does it hang at the rug pattern?

 

[LyonsArcade]

You need to remove the roms and clean them, and then put them back in first. Also do the same to the two decoder chips on the cpu.

After that, take the last ram chip on the last row, and replace the first one with it, and vice versa. see if the screen changes. You can rotate through all the ram chips one by one and see if one particular chip changes everything.

doesn't work too good though unless you have extras to swap in. You might get lucky too by just cleaning and replacing the 4116 chips.

Edit: I posted that while ArcadeNut was offering to help, do what he's suggesting and bring it by his house!

 

[jawhn]

... Edit: I posted that while ArcadeNut was offering to help, do what he's suggesting and bring it by his house!

Lol. I know, right? Thanks though, advice is very much appreciated.

Brian: How about Wednesday? The only weeknights I have available are Mondays and Wednesdays. And yeah, it just boots to the rug pattern, no sounds or anything.

 

[Arcadenut]

Lol. I know, right? Thanks though, advice is very much appreciated.

Brian: How about Wednesday? The only weeknights I have available are Mondays and Wednesdays.

Wednesday works for me.

 

[jawhn]

Wednesday works for me.

Awesome, thanks!!!
internet high five

 

[OregonPacman]

IIRC, the RAM in Defender also needs -5V to operate. You may want to check that as well.

 

[jawhn]

IIRC, the RAM in Defender also needs -5V to operate. You may want to check that as well.

I also checked the -5, it was in the same "good" range... So hopefully, it's just the RAM, or EPROMS, or whatever... Thank God Brien's gonna help me. It's nice to have someone that knows what they're doing showing me what's up.

Brien, I definitely need to bring some pizza over. What's your fave? PM me if you don't want everyone knowing.

 

[josie]

You have a disease Jawhn...