Millipede Matsushita Malady

D_Harris

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I am attempting to get a Millipede up and running and only get the monitor symptoms shown in the pic. As the game warms up, after 5 minutes that image symptom begins to fade until it disappears, and it just looks as though the monitor is not on at all from the front. (Though there is still glow in the neck tube).

I have no audio, and the coin counter doesn't move, but I'm not positive that these are working anyway.

I swapped two Millipede PCBs into the cabinet with the same results. Though I get 5.04V & 5.05V respectively at their 5V test points.

And I did just swap in a new "Big Blue"(28,000uf) which I got from Bob Roberts some years ago. So unless the new cap is faulty due to it being slightly bent I wouldn't know what else to check.

I doubt two working PCBs just died on me the same way and was initially thinking the problem might be the monitor, but since I the audio and coin counter don't work also, I'm inclined to believe that the issue may be the ARII PCB first, even though I swapped it out and tried the spare one I have. The second possibility of course would be the Transformer block, which I also swapped.

One thing that I'm puzzled about. If you look at the second picture you'll notice a 3-pin connector at the rear of the monitor, which I think is sync. It is joined to that red connector. Specifically, the pin that is 2nd from the right("N19"). Is this supposed to be plugged in anywhere? (I see no connection for it).

Outside of that, any advice on how to proceed would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.
 

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You must figure out which is the problem. Swap in a known good monitor and check again. If the video still fades then it's a board issue or power issue and you can go from there.

You may be facing 2 different issues... a board/power issue where it's not playing and a monitor issue where it's fading away.
 
I swapped in a known working monitor and got nothing at all on the screen. At least I think I got nothing. The room I'm working in has no shades and it's sunny out, so if there was light coming from the tube I wouldn't be able to see it. But there is a slight glow in the neck.

I'm not sure if I hook it up right. It's a G07. I connected the power cable, the ground wire to the chassis, and the RGB/Sync which is what I'm not sure about. The picture on the left of the Matsushita is of the connector the cable came from. The far right position as pictured corresponded to no pin in the cable connector.

Now looking at the picture of the two connectors on the G07 chassis, I put the same cable from the Matsushita in so that the blank pin position is now located on the right.

And the three pin cable connector, which had no place to be plugged in on the Matsushita has it's blank pin position on the right side.

Anyway, the two Millipede game boards I tried were known working a few years ago.

One of the two AR PCBs I tried tested as follows, with the other putting out similar values :
I'm getting +12.50V on pin #5 where it is supposed to be +10.3V
I'm getting +24.94V on pin #3 where it is supposed to be +22V
I'm getting -25.12V on pin #4 where it is supposed to be -22V

(Those three are unregulated, and I'm told the voltages are close enough).

I don't know what or how to further check the two transformer assemblies I tried, but all of the fuses are good.

Thanks.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.
 

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Update:

I hadn't tested every trace that carried power and decided to do so.

Am I supposed to get a 5V reading on pins A, 1, and 22? Because I get close to nothing when I test those.

Anyway, that last two test points on the two ARII PCBs I missed the first time and are as follows:


ARII PCB #1: For +12V and -5V I get +11.76V and -5.20V, respectively.

ARII PCB #2: For +12V and -5V I get +11.97V and -8.61V, respectively. (?!?)

Thanks.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.
 
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Funny...I'm fighting a millipede problem myself. Did you try replacing the edge connector? You can tighten them up with a vice or a pair of channel locks
 
Funny...I'm fighting a millipede problem myself. Did you try replacing the edge connector? You can tighten them up with a vice or a pair of channel locks

Well, unless you are not getting the correct voltage at every pin or it is over-heating there would be no need for that.

I'm trying to figure out what is not working between the transformer assembly, ARII PCB, game board, monitor, and wiring harness. I can't even send anything out for repair until I figure that out.

If all the voltages are correct, then I assume that rules out a problem with the transformer, ARII PCB, and wiring harness.

I still need confirmation that I plugged in the RGB/Sync correctly on the known working monitor. But it is also difficult to imagine that a bad monitor would take out a game board.

At the same time it difficult to imagine two previously working game boards both stop working. And stop working the same way. I don't think a faulty game board wouldn't kill a monitor.

I'm really going around in circles here.
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Edit: Ok, I was re-testing for the umpteeth time and got as far as measuring one test point(-5V = -5.20V) on the ARII PCB when I heard a loud pop and saw and smelled smoke coming from near the top of the game board. (A capacitor on the Millipede game PCB exploded).

So obviously all testing has to stop until I can get information on how to proceed further. The last thing I need to do is blow my second Millipede PCB.

The information on the cap is "ITT" "100.OU" "35.OS" "A x" "-40•85° C"


Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.
 

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