my Monaco GP repair status..

vintagegamer

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The last update was about a month ago, found at the below link:

http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=152178&page=2&highlight=monaco


I've reached out to a local supplier who is on my way home from work, to see if they have the 2 chips in stock that have been recommended to me to replace. If they have them, I'm going to do this swap tonight, even if it takes me all night, and see if I can play an f'n game of Monaco GP!!
 
Store would have to order the chips, they don't stock them.

[project gets slowly moved back to back burner where it was] :(

It's times like this that I really hate this hobby. Here I am, ready to take on what ever, and I can't even get the damn parts.

Update: thinking out loud........... do any of my other parts boards possibly have these chips on them?
 
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Store would have to order the chips, they don't stock them.

[project gets slowly moved back to back burner where it was] :(

It's times like this that I really hate this hobby. Here I am, ready to take on what ever, and I can't even get the damn parts.

Update: thinking out loud........... do any of my other parts boards possibly have these chips on them?

What chips?
 
I have noticed on the bottom of the board that there are various chip pins with little to no solder at all on them. I'm trying to understand how this would be possible and the game still work and pass QA?
 
I feel your pain, I just sat down to repair my Boot Hill PCB with the 8 different the parts I ordered and found out one of them is the wrong kind, grrrrrrrrr... so close yet so far.
Now I've got to find the right one and wait for that to come, damn it.
 
I feel your pain, I just sat down to repair my Boot Hill PCB with the 8 different the parts I ordered and found out one of them is the wrong kind, grrrrrrrrr... so close yet so far.
Now I've got to find the right one and wait for that to come, damn it.

I'm afraid to order the 2 chips I "need" because of the same reason. :(
 
My latest report:

Upon replacing the IC's at locations IC32 and IC37, I was able to hear the coin counter activate when I would take the white wire of the red-white-blue coin switch trio and touch it to the red wire first, and then to the blue wire 2nd. However, a game would not begin.

At the time I did not know that what I was hearing clicking was the coin counter, so I scouted around and found my way to the back door where the coin bucket is located. I opened it up, and realized that the coin counter was what I was hearing click. I did nothing other than take out the coin bucket, check it out, and put it back into the slot where it is located. However, after doing that, and going back up to the wiring in the console, the first time I touched the white wire to the red wire again, it allowed me to begin a game. The 'START' logo was on the screen, and, as it should be, hitting the gas pedal allowed the game to begin and the timer to start counting down from 90. The only problem is, the car is stuck in a 'wrecked' status, spinning around down in the corner of the screen.

I pulled the control panel out to see if it was a problem with the steering wheel, but moving the wheel is prompting the recognition LED's to light when you move the wheel in either direction so, that is functioning as it should.

Instead of messing around with anything else at that point, I simply let the timer run down from 90 to 0 to see what would happen- when it reached 0, the game did as it should, and went back to attract mode. I hit the white wire to the red wire again in the console, and another game began. The problems were the same with the controls, but hey at least a game was starting now, right?

After doing this about 10x and trying to troubleshoot why the controls weren't responding, I decided to go around to the back and see if maybe the pot for the gas pedal wasn't working as it should. At this point I powered down the game, and went around to the back of the game to check some things out. After doing my checks, I powered the game back up and attempted to start another game. At this point however, the game was right back to where it was when I started testing it tonight: meaning, I would hear the coin counter clicking upon making contact of the white wire to the red and blue wires, but another game would not begin.

What is it that I'm missing here that's preventing that game to begin every time? Is it an earth ground that's not good? Is it a tilt switch that's doing this? It's totally crazy.

I did notice on one of the wire diagrams in the manual that it reads "Earth Ground: accelerator pedal unit, handle unit, coin chute bracket, control bracket" Currently the coin chute isn't in the game at all. I have it, but it's not installed in the game (I'd removed it at some point while trying to troubleshoot). Could that be having any effect?

I also looked around by the coin bucket to see if there was an interconnect switch or trigger of some type that needed to be pressed in order for the game to allow you to start it up again, and found nothing.

This is so blasted frustrating because I thought I'd finally gotten closer, and yet I'm still chasing gremlins for some reason. I just can't put my finger on what's preventing the startup. Everyone else who has this game says that the only wires that are connected to their coin switch are the red, white, and blue wires. And from the results of my testing, it appeared that should be all that I need as well, since my game would coin up for some time doing that. Does anyone have any theories on what is happening to me? The service switch button in the back of the game still does not work, and the wiring for the service switch in the console DID work for a time, but only after the red white and blue wire combo was allowing me to start the game. After the power down and restart, those wires no longer allowed me to begin a new game (same as the red white and blue wires).

I guess the good thing from all of this is, I DID see some progress, and, I've learned now how to officially start swapping chips on PCBs! Woot!
 
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The earth ground wire has nothing to do with the problems. It is attached to any component that has metal exposed to the player in roder to prevent a shock if anything grounds out inside the cab.

Try moving the white wire in this order: white to blue - white to red - white to blue. The symptoms you are describing, coin counter clicking up but the game not starting, are the same issues I have had with Sega/Gremlin games in the past. I have found that the coin switch bypasses the problem which I think it is due to the length of time I am on each signal. I am looking for an extra coin switch and in the mean time I have been swapping coin switches between my cabs (three cabs, only two functioning switches).

The last issue sounds like a logic hang-up. Likely the "crash" circuit is not resetting as it should. Check voltage levels on the board, look for ripple as well (use the ACV setting and see if anything is there).
 
The earth ground wire has nothing to do with the problems. It is attached to any component that has metal exposed to the player in roder to prevent a shock if anything grounds out inside the cab.

Try moving the white wire in this order: white to blue - white to red - white to blue. The symptoms you are describing, coin counter clicking up but the game not starting, are the same issues I have had with Sega/Gremlin games in the past. I have found that the coin switch bypasses the problem which I think it is due to the length of time I am on each signal. I am looking for an extra coin switch and in the mean time I have been swapping coin switches between my cabs (three cabs, only two functioning switches).

The last issue sounds like a logic hang-up. Likely the "crash" circuit is not resetting as it should. Check voltage levels on the board, look for ripple as well (use the ACV setting and see if anything is there).

ok i tried the blue-red-blue but no luck. Next i will try soldering on a switch to see if that helps any.
 
Why don't you just crimp spades on the wires? It will make things easier.

Also, I have found that these switches are different than the normal micro switches used in most games. Do you have the blue housing switches?
 
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Why don't you just crimp spades on the wires? It will make things easier.

Also, I have found that these switches are differnet than the normal micro switches used in most games. Do you have the blue housing switches?

argh, I do not have the blue kind.
 
I'm thinking this game must have been before the blue switches bc every pic sent to me of this game by fellow klovers has black ones.
 
I'm thinking this game must have been before the blue switches bc every pic sent to me of this game by fellow klovers has black ones.


More likely after the blue switches. I think they switched to a black housing switch near the 80's. Have you tried connecting it to each of your switches?

Also, do you know how to use a logic probe? If you know how to use a logic proble you can start tracing signals and see if any ICs are not working properly.
 
More likely after the blue switches. I think they switched to a black housing switch near the 80's. Have you tried connecting it to each of your switches?

Also, do you know how to use a logic probe? If you know how to use a logic proble you can start tracing signals and see if any ICs are not working properly.

i haven't gotten back out to the game yet. No logic probe here :(
 
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