Missile Command no boot BLUE SCREEN

Mike29

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Making progress on cleaning up a Missile Command that I purchased. It was playable when I purchased it, and now when I boot it I immediately get a solid blue screen on the monitor, Player 1 & 2 lights are lit and I get no sounds. Self-test does not register or impact anything.

My PCB light is on. I have already reseated all chips and wiped down the edge connector and pin.

Any advice on best way to troubleshoot the board to isolate the problem?

Thanks guys,

Mike
 
Missile Command is notorious for having issues with the 4116s especially if they are texas instruments IIRC. A couple of other things can cause blue screen as well. Best to have a repair person on KLOV go over the board for you if you intend to keep the game. They can check out the codes in the ROMs as well.

Bill
 
Thanks Bill.

I spent the entire day taking everything apart, rebuilding, and checking for continuity and voltage. I'm convinced its a PCB issue so I could use referrals on who might help me repair the board.
 
Sorry, no problem..

Well, this is what I checked leading up to my discovery:

Reseated all roms (I had one of the earlier 11-chip boards)
Checked all voltages on ARII and PCB
Cleaned all edge connectors and harness connectors
Inspected all traces
Replaced the cpu and digikey with new, working chips

...

The problem ended up being a scratched trace under the socket for the cpu. Now, it could have been something else that I cleaned or reseated first, and then the scratched trace occurred during that process (with me using my screwdriver to lift the chip). However, at the end of the day I had to get under the socket and figure out that I wasn't getting continuity on that trace. I then jumpered it on the other side of the board using very tiny solder as not to combine the traces.

In the future I would recommend checking these traces if you have a good cpu and still get the blue screen. It was only in frustration/exhaustion that I thought I would look at them better because the way they were designed, they do follow completely under the socket. I also won't be so quick to pull chips out in the future either.

Most veterans here know all this stuff, but for someone new like me, it was quite a task. Thanks again to all who helped me!

Mike
 
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