Jawhn's October Asteroids Score

[DP Louie]

+1 to everyone's suggestion of reflowing all the headers. I'm sure that was what fixed the G05-801 that was in my Asteroids. Also, turn up the brightness just to rule that out. My AD was playing blind when I got it, and it was just because the brightness was turned down too much.

Congrats on the great score! I love the owl eye coindoor.

 

[JulesWallet]

Nice pick up. Two Asteroids projects, you are a madman sir!

 

[ArcRevival]

Should just re-cap the monitor anyway. Is the spot killer , red light on the deflection board lit up ?

 

[HFK]

I have brought back to life 3 asteroids monitors by just reflowing the connector headers on the montor chassis... No cap kit

Might have worked for me too but as long as I have something apart and am going to be soldering anyway might as well spend the $10 to hopefully prevent other problems.

 

[Kawydud]

I got lucky with the Asteroids that I picked up that played blind. Did the same thing, powered up and played, had neck glow. Found the solder connections for the monitor input from main board were bad. Fixed the connections and bang, working asteroids for $200.00

 

[demogo]

Why would reflowing so many of the monitor pin headers fix these?

Was there an issue with these in general?

It just seems like the monitor probably wouldn't have been plugged in and out so much...

 

[Kalan714]

I have brought back to life 3 asteroids monitors by just reflowing the connector headers on the montor chassis... No cap kit

I would agree to this as well the last lunar lander and star wars I had were bad solder joints on the deflection board. A large majority of deflection boards almosts always have cold solder joints...

 

[Kalan714]

+1 to everyone's suggestion of reflowing all the headers. I'm sure that was what fixed the G05-801 that was in my Asteroids. Also, turn up the brightness just to rule that out. My AD was playing blind when I got it, and it was just because the brightness was turned down too much.

Congrats on the great score! I love the owl eye coindoor.

I have seen this issue too on several xy games. I hope it turns out to be an easy fix.

 

[jawhn]

Ok, I took a look at it again tonight. Someone PM'd me and told me to check and see if there was an LED lit on the monitor chassis when turned on. Nope. Only one lit LED on the main PCB.

I took the PCB out just to look at it, and discovered some bad news. On the borrom side of the PCB / non-component side, near a section marked "3" - some traces have been scratched away very badly.

Then, after flipping back over to the component side, I looked all around for a broken cap, or resistor... And saw that a chip (IC?) near the reset button (second above the crystal) looks like it either exploded, or some dumbass like me hit it with a soldering gun. The chip is a Texas Instruments "SN74LS161AN" / 7932A. Something is definitely wrong there!!!

I wish I knew where my camera was, so I could take a picture. Argh.

Brien / anyone: Would putting my working cocktail asteroids PCB into this machine be a bad or good idea? Are they even compatible? I'm assuming they are, come to think of it, we tested it on Brien's upright machine.

I think I'll try that next to see if it's the PCB, unless someone tells me to stop because it's a dumb idea.

 

[EVB]

You could stick the ct pcb in there and give it a try but check the voltages first.

Ok, I took a look at it again tonight. Someone PM'd me and told me to check and see if there was an LED lit on the monitor chassis when turned on. Nope. Only one lit LED on the main PCB.

I took the PCB out just to look at it, and discovered some bad news. On the borrom side of the PCB / non-component side, near a section marked "3" - some traces have been scratched away very badly.

Then, after flipping back over to the component side, I looked all around for a broken cap, or resistor... And saw that a chip (IC?) near the reset button (second above the crystal) looks like it either exploded, or some dumbass like me hit it with a soldering gun. The chip is a Texas Instruments "SN74LS161AN" / 7932A. Something is definitely wrong there!!!

I wish I knew where my camera was, so I could take a picture. Argh.

Brien / anyone: Would putting my working cocktail asteroids PCB into this machine be a bad or good idea? Are they even compatible? I'm assuming they are, come to think of it, we tested it on Brien's upright machine.

I think I'll try that next to see if it's the PCB, unless someone tells me to stop because it's a dumb idea.

 

[jawhn]

You could stick the ct pcb in there and give it a try but check the voltages first.

Where and where? I am super-new to this. At power supply? At pins on the pcb connection? I have no frickin idea. Any help appreciated in advance.

 

[jehuie]

Where and where? I am super-new to this. At power supply? At pins on the pcb connection? I have no frickin idea. Any help appreciated in advance.

Some light reading that should help:

http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=57258#Post815738

 

[jawhn]

Some light reading that should help:

http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=57258#Post815738

Thank you, good sir. Reading it now...

 

[jehuie]

If you don't have one already, you can also download the user guide / schematics from the Asteroids page on klov. The photos and all that can be useful for finding your way around.

Or you could do what I do and just plug the board in and take the risk but don't fess up to it if you screw it all up and have to buy another board.

 

[jawhn]

No, I won't take a chance like that.

Ok, I read a huge chunk of that thread jehuie posted before taking some measurements, here's what I got: (With ground of multimeter connected to a GND testpoint on PCB)

Pin 20 on 6502 chip: 4.52V
Pin 8 on 6502 chip: 4.84V
+5V testpoint on PCB: (between R9/R10) 4.86V

Safe enough to test my other board? Or are there other test points I need to check first?

Getting neck glow, no spot killer light, one LED stays lit on PCB. This is in normal mode, not test mode. Test mode also show nothing on monitor.

 

[jehuie]

Your +5 is low. It should read...well...+5. A shade higher is good actually but don't go crazy with it. It's possible that just being under by that amount could account for the board not working.

It's also possible that the board is working fine and the monitor is dead. I didn't go back and read all of your thread again but did you say you heard sounds or not? Are the start buttons lit? Flashing? Flashing fast or slow?

Also, have you coined it up to see if you hear anything?

 

[EVB]

It is low but not that bad, I have games running that low. Just crank it up to read 5 at the test point. I'm willing to bet the high voltage is dead and you will end up having to make that high voltage diode setup to replace the block that is in there. Check and see if your CT PCB plays blind in it. If so the remove ugh voltage supply then remove that block attached to the suction cup, desolder it, put your test meter in diode mode and make sure it is still working as a diode. If it is the cap and reflow everything if not cap and rrflow everything and make one of those blocks. There is some how to out there on the interwebs.

 

[jawhn]

Ok, so for now, I just want to know if it's safe to put the ct pcb in there... And it sounds like it is...?

All this diode talk is just confusing me more...

 

[jehuie]

Ok, so for now, I just want to know if it's safe to put the ct pcb in there... And it sounds like it is...?

All this diode talk is just confusing me more...

Put the dang thing in there. If it blows I'll buy you a stinking 'nother one.

 

[jawhn]

Put the dang thing in there. If it blows I'll buy you a stinking 'nother one.

Oh, dang. How did I miss this post???

Thank you for the kind offer, good sir. You have put wind beneath my sails. I shall take the risky plunge after all.

But not today. Today I have to finish up my awesome Halloween costume. Pics soon. (Although, Facebook friends got a sneak preview glimpse this past Wednesday.)

Picked up a working Asteroids Deluxe the other night. (Monday?) Only a few minor problems, fixed several last night already. (Someone crammed a normal lightbulb fixture into the marquee light area instead of just replacing the starter... Lol. ) A couple of the leafspring buttons were missing those little 'pads' that touch when pressed...

But the newly discovered problem: The monitor warbles in a weird way. Almost like it has a 'heartbeat' - it zooms in and out slowly. But just barely. But it's strange. Cap kit, maybe?