MCR Troubleshooting.

I have a question related to MCR. I am currently working on a Kick, whenever I power the game up the sound board starts smoking. Game works with the sound board unplugged. Any idea what could be the cause? Also, I cannot apply credits or put it in service mode. Is this because the sound board is disconnected? I would think probably no but you never know. Thanks for any info
Chances are it's the Tantalum Capacitors. I replaced all of them on my Kickman board. The first time I powered it up I had smoke coming from my board too.

Look in the parts list and find anything marked TANT and replace those. Standard Axial Electrolytic Caps will work just fine.

This is the video board:
1662701049062.png

This is the CPU board:
1662701124139.png

This is the I/O board:
1662701176950.png
 
I have a question related to MCR. I am currently working on a Kick, whenever I power the game up the sound board starts smoking. Game works with the sound board unplugged. Any idea what could be the cause? Also, I cannot apply credits or put it in service mode. Is this because the sound board is disconnected? I would think probably no but you never know. Thanks for any info

Blown tantalum capacitors, no sound, no 12v on the ssio.
There are 3 10uF tantalum capacitors on the 12v rail of the ssio that tend to short out. If its an mcr or mcr 2 game, when this happens they will blow the choke on the 12v rail on the cpu pcb and you'll lose 12v to the ssio, and then no sound. Replace them or with 10uF 25v caps, or lift one leg to test. Replace the blown choke with a jumper. The caps are circled in red on the ssio image.
 
Thank you @cdjump I did read that but none of that said anything about the board going up in smoke. You did say shorting out though. I apprieciate everyone's help. I haven't ordered the caps needed yet, maybe @thegleek has them. LOL
 
Thank you @cdjump I did read that but none of that said anything about the board going up in smoke. You did say shorting out though. I apprieciate everyone's help. I haven't ordered the caps needed yet, maybe @thegleek has them. LOL
The smoke is probably because a Tantalum Cap is shorted to ground increasing the current through which ever component is smoking.
 
The smoke usually comes from the choke at L116 on the cpu, but the tant caps can smoke as well, especially if that choke has already been bypassed.
 
Here's one that I did not see above.....

My Timber was working perfectly then today powered it up and received: "ROM ERROR 4C"

This stack was capped and new ribbon cables........

I pulled the stack and checked the EPROM @ 4C which is a newer Intel and read it on my burner and received the correct CHKSUM. Read it several times and came up correct each and every time (4229). The IC legs are clean and bright and the socket looks clean as well.

Cycled it and got the following: "RAM ERROR B2".

All the RAM had been pulled (personally) previously, tested and marked good.

Cycled it again and received the ROM error again........

I left it on and rebooted it and received the Sound Board time out error and the game started but ran with video errors: see below.

It looks like something went bad overnight and is now causing all these errors.

One screen looks good though........ where is states one or two players.....

My guess is that whatever IC accesses that character ROM is faulty?

Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance......
 

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The sprites are there, they're just not correct. That's a problem on the video pcb, not related to the ram b2 error. I'd try reseating the 4 93422s and the 6116 on the video pcb. Make sure the legs are clean and not bent outward at all.
 
The sprites are there, they're just not correct. That's a problem on the video pcb, not related to the ram b2 error. I'd try reseating the 4 93422s and the 6116 on the video pcb. Make sure the legs are clean and not bent outward at all.
Thank you for that lead, I'll check it out first thing in the AM and post the results......
 
OK, I spread the board out and pulled the 4 X 93422s and the 6116 on the video pcb. The legs are clean and straight. I checked them in my Neoloch and they again came up good. I re-seated all socketed IC's on the video PCB just to be sure. I reassembled, installed and fired it up and received the same ROM 4C error. After I let it warm up a bit, I reset it two or three times and got the test pattern then the Sound Board Error as before. In went into attract with the same issues....
 

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@cdjump

Reading through this to help make my Spy Hunter board stack soild and reliable.

You suggested to replace all three tant caps on the SSIO board. Based on your red circles I come up with this.

-CP204
-C172
-CP20

All are 10mf 25v AX. Tant. and are on the 12v line per your notes. Do you suggest replacing these for preventative maintance or just leave them alone and if it ann't broke don't fix it approch? Would Axial elec caps work? Any issue with the height of those caps on a e board stack?
 
10uF 25v electrolytics are fine. I replace those on every repair i do, because when they fail, they sometimes fail spectacularly, and they're failing fairly regularly now.
 
take your pick - the 7407, 4016s, 3403s, and the lm3900, the 8910s as well as the caps in the audio amp circuitry, as well as the amp. Saying some sounds are missing is not helpful at all. You need to put the game in channel test mode, and see which channels are missing.
 
take your pick - the 7407, 4016s, 3403s, and the lm3900, the 8910s as well as the caps in the audio amp circuitry, as well as the amp. Saying some sounds are missing is not helpful at all. You need to put the game in channel test mode, and see which channels are missing.
Well, maybe the sounds aren't COMPLETELY missing. Usually at the beginning of a game of Spy Hunter, the machine guns sound fine. Then a little later they'll go silent as well as the smokescreen and missile firing sound.
 
again, put the game in channel test mode once that happens and see which channels are missing.
 
I just got a Solar Fox board set, I have it up and running but the image is mirrored, does this game use a mirror??? It doesn't look like it
 
It is mirrored -
 
Thanks, this is why I was not sure, look at Kick-Man Vs Solar Fox

Name: Solar Fox
Manufacturer: Bally Midway
Year: 1981
Type: Videogame
Class: Wide Release
Genre: Space
Monitor:
  • Orientation: Vertical
  • Type: Raster: Standard Resolution
  • CRT: Color
  • 19-inch Electrohome G07


Name: Kick-Man
Manufacturer: Midway Manufacturing Co.
Year: 1981
Type: Videogame
Class: Wide Release
Genre: Skill
Monitor:

  • Orientation: Vertical
  • Type: Raster: Standard Resolution
  • CRT: Color
  • The video image is reflected in a mirror.
 
@cdjump Any idea what this is from? I turned on my Timber and the screen looks like this. I'm running the power supply adapter. My voltages all look good going by the first post. The only thing out of spec is the small caps at the corners are 4.88. The switcher numbers check good too.
Timber Screen.jpg
 
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