Ms Pacman Repair

slowgsxr97

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Just got my first arcade game, I bought a f-14 tomcat pinball machine, And the guy I bought it from shot me a price on a broken ms pacman I couldnt refuse.

When I bought it he said the joy stick didnt work, he bought a new on and it still didnt work. the wiring looks all messed up to me, it has 3 red wires not hooked up.

I brought it home plugged it in, it would go to the press start screen with no responce from the start buttons. 1 of the leaf switches had a broken tab and was rigged together.

I checked all connections ion the board in the back making sure everything was seated and managed to break a pin, on the 40 pin connector. Now I just get a bunch of garbage on the screen. I manage to get it on the test screen before the pin broke and it said bad c ram

My questions are is it worth saving? Where do i start?

Is there anyone that has a complete control panel forsale wiring and all?

Where can I get a 40 pin cable?

heres some pics. SORRY FOR ALL THE NEWBIE Questions.
 

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Welcome to KLOV! Yes, it is definitely worth saving. :) You can get a replacement 40 pin ribbon cable from a number of different sources, including Bob Roberts, who is probably the most well known parts source. A quick search turned up this website, which I believe is run by KLOV member Riptor. Anyway, there are a number of options out there and a game as common and popular as Ms Pac-Man has all kinds of parts resources.

http://www.pacmandotcom.com/pacman/23-ms-pacman-aux-board-ribbon-cable.html

If you post in the wanted to buy section, you should be able to find someone with a complete panel for sale. The problem with the joystick should be fairly minor if you don't have any luck buying another one or if you just feel like repairing what you have.
 
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I read through the manual, And got the ribbon cable, and some ram chips ordered. Plus I have a few leads on a complete control panel now.

My next question is gonna be the yellow, ground straps. Not a single one is hooked up inside this machine, can anyone post a pic of there proper location?
 
Regarding the control panel, why not just take a few minutes and follow the wires from the connector to the terminals on the buttons and joystick to make sure they're hooked up properly? It seems silly to me to buy a whole new control panel just because a couple of wires are disconnected.
 
your right, but if I could get an entire control panel at a resonable price, I would.

I spent some time today looking mine over real good, I need one of the start button leaf switch's and a joystick, I really want an original joystick.
 
Is that a mspac machine or a converted pac? The control panel is a pacman CP.
I could put you together a control panel thats plug and play. I have a couple mspac powder coated panels left and new overlays. I would install an original joystick with new centering grommet, new buttons and new plug/pins/wiring.
 
Is that a mspac machine or a converted pac? The control panel is a pacman CP.
I could put you together a control panel thats plug and play. I have a couple mspac powder coated panels left and new overlays. I would install an original joystick with new centering grommet, new buttons and new plug/pins/wiring.

Its an original mspac.
 
ok I got the joystick wiring sorted out, got the ribbon cable, and ram chip in today, put it all back together and it booted right up.

Now for the new problem, I can play it for appox. 30 seconds before it resets, sometimes it resets right back to the start screen, or it acts like it resets then goes through all sorts of screens, sometimes stopping on bad c rom w rom screen.

it seems like it does something different everytime.

the coin door is not lighting up, I dont know if that has anything to do with it. the test botton on the coin door does nothing.

anytips of where to go from here?
 
Random resets can be caused by the board interconnector not being tight. Check to make sure that the connector is seated firmly.

Also, if there's a filterboard in use, REMOVE IT.

Pic of a filterboard:

filterboard.jpg
 
i dont have that board, I checked the connections, all tight. now the thing wont even boot up, I barley touched anything.

when I turn it on all I get is red speckles flickering and these #'s like this on the screen.
0....................2





0
 
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I may of acually figured this out by myself, If I push on the 40pin connector on the board it will boot, soon as I let go it fails. the cable is new so im assuming its the socket on the board itself, does that sound right? Now I just gotta fint one to order.
 
yep, now while im waiting on the parts, I gotta figure out where the grounds go, and why the coin door is not getting lights.

Hi,

There should be a two-pin connector in the bottom of your cabinet with yellow/green and blue/yellow wires. This connector supplies 12v to the coin door lights. Make sure it has 12v and that it's connected.
 
well I got the new socket it, now it does something different with a garbage screen, Im gonna just start looking for a working board. I just want a plug and play board.
 
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