Newly aquired Gorf DOA

parabolic

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Just piced up a pretty nice gorf - nonworking. Installed a knwn good PS board, and checked voltages at the board stack - within specs. game does nothing. have power at the monitor - no picture. Game does not play blind. cant get to coin up - make any sounds, or display a pic on cabinet or test monitor. black screen with a raster line at the top. reseated all the boards in the stack - no change.
Suggestions on where to start. Never messed with a MCR I setup before.
Thanks!
 
The custom cpu goes bad often. The simplest way to troubleshoot these boardsets is to have a spare working set and swap one board at a time to narrow down the issue to one board.
 
at the PCB stack, you can pull all the boards then clean the rack and contacts. you can also clean and reseat the socketed chips.

make sure all the molex connectors are still good (and there are a lot of them.) my Gorf had a couple that were broken at the power supply which kept the audio from working.

if none of this works you should probably start shopping for a working boardset which should run around $100, or find someone in your area who has one and is willing to let you try the card-swap method of determining what's bad.
 
Yes, there are a few of the molex pins at the power supply that tend to burn up. Look for discoloration on the connectors housing.
 
k -
all connectors Ive found look good. reseated the boards - no change
what order is the stack supposed to be in - does it matter?
 
k -
all connectors Ive found look good. reseated the boards - no change
what order is the stack supposed to be in - does it matter?

Doesn't matter.....well, the two small RAM cards go in the two smaller slots. :)

Edward
 
I agree, any order will work just fine. I like to put the cpu on the outside so it gets more air to keep those customs cool.
 
ok - I got some progress.
I reseated all the cards again, and turned it on without both ram cards in it. I was actually able to hear the attract mode! Sounds, voice and all! It would coin up, but sounded like it would kill the player instantly - which I figured that weird shit would happen without the RAM cards in, so I put 1 in - tried it in both slots, nothing - no sounds now or anything. So I tried the other - I now have sounds, and somewhat video. It works the same as it did, but now I can see the attract mode - colors are weird as well as a lot of garbage mixed on the screen - switched it to the other slot - still works the same way - colors are different now.
I then tried to put the 1st RAM card back in - it killed everything. pull it out - working as before.
So I guess I have something on this RAM card that's actually shorting the 5v out killing the whole shebang.
Any Ideas?
I know I need another RAM card, but what about rebuilding this one - anything to look for?
well, it may not be playable or perfect, but at least I know im making progress!
 
ok....getting somewhere - just dont know where.
I managed to determine that there was a short to ground on one of the ram cards causing it to shut the whole thing down.
The short was the cap at c2 - directly shorted together. I lifted one leg and the short went away so I tried the card. now all my colors look right and good, however, still have the same lines and garbage. Game is not playable, and when you flip the test switch it cycles garbage on the screen - no test mode of any sort.
So,
now where to go? The RAM cards really didnt change the behavior of anything - just made the colors look correct and the image centered. I reseated all the chips on every card - no difference.
Again, you can coin it up, and shoot, but I think the line that's going through the players area is registering a "hit" and exploding the ship before I can get it to move. I know the stick is working because if you move it in attract mode in all 4 directions it will make the speech say something.
Ideas? Which card would be the culprit? I can get a quick vid if it helps.
 
Sounds like bad RAM. I have seen something similar on my Gorf-as mentioned in the other thread. Ship would explode as you describe and there were lines and dots on the display.
 
Sounds like bad RAM. I have seen something similar on my Gorf-as mentioned in the other thread. Ship would explode as you describe and there were lines and dots on the display.
Yah,
I read the other thread - no resolution was ever posted. I agree its bad ram, but which board? Is it on the RAM boards or is it on the ROM/RAM board?
According to the manual if it goes into test mode and its flashing bars then its screen ram, or if its dots, then its Static RAM. Which is which? Plus does anyone have a source for the RAM (Its different on both boards) Its all socketed so I can just pop some new in and be done with it.
 
Never messed with a MCR I setup before.
Thanks!

...and you still haven't messed with a MCR I (or any other iteration) setup...

Gorf, like Wizard of Wor and others, is a Bally Astrocade system... not MCR.

I have a couple extra Gorf boards I got in a lot of Wizard of Wor boards I picked up a few months back. I'll go check out to see what boards I have if you're interested.
 
"Gorf, like Wizard of Wor and others, is a Bally Astrocade system... not MCR.

I have a couple extra Gorf boards I got in a lot of Wizard of Wor boards I picked up a few months back. I'll go check out to see what boards I have if you're interested. "

Also astrocade...professor pac, 10-pin deluxe, robby roto and im sure many more. Its good hardware until you have to work on it.

Friz, hit me up if he doesnt want the extra gorf boards or if you end up with any extras. I have 4 gorf sets im getting ready to start working on here in the near future.


What rams are you looking for, I might have them. I dont recall what the Gorfs used and im not at home to look.
 
"Gorf, like Wizard of Wor and others, is a Bally Astrocade system... not MCR.

I have a couple extra Gorf boards I got in a lot of Wizard of Wor boards I picked up a few months back. I'll go check out to see what boards I have if you're interested. "

Also astrocade...professor pac, 10-pin deluxe, robby roto and im sure many more. Its good hardware until you have to work on it.

Friz, hit me up if he doesnt want the extra gorf boards or if you end up with any extras. I have 4 gorf sets im getting ready to start working on here in the near future.


What rams are you looking for, I might have them. I dont recall what the Gorfs used and im not at home to look.

Friz,
Thanks for the correction. I would be interested - when you find them. Particularly the RAM cards and maybe a RAM/ROM card if you have it.

Riptor,
The ram on the RAM cards is 4027 - originally a least - and the ram on the ROM/RAM card is 2114. I have a hunch thats the RAM I need, but its only a guess based on the display I get in test mode compared to the manual (random dots flashing indicates bad static RAM), and since It really didnt change much with the RAM cards in or out (for the most part), Im guessing the RAM/ROM board ram.
so if you have some - let me know!
Thanks guys!!
 
I have tons of 2114 ram...a couple thousand.
I will have to see if I can find a cross on the other one when I get a chance.
 
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I get my 4027 from Unicorn...Astrocade: also Space Zap & Sea Wolf II....but Sea Wolf II is a totally different layout.

I think you have problems on the CPU board....but honestly, It's almost impossible to fix those boards sets without a known working set....to isolate which cards are bad. Many of those cards, when bad, can produce similar results....making it difficult to know which one is bad.

Edward
 
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