Odd Marble Madness boot issue

hatrick

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When I plug a Marble Madness cart into my System 1 cab, the upper LED on the main board flashes and the screen shows some barely visible garbage that flashes in time to the LED. When I switch it into test, it passes all test, looks fine, sounds work, etc.
If I switch it from test to game mode a couple times, then it boots and works fine, LED stops flashing.
It will just never boot correctly straight from game mode. Voltage on the MM board is 5.04. All other carts I've tested in this cab work fine. It's the older version with the transformer brick, two big blues, and an ARIII (no switcher).
Any ideas what may cause this?

Thanks,
 
I did look at a system one marble madness recently.
The powersupply recently died on it.
It took out the main board. I think a bad cap.

I would look for a shorten cap around where the power comes into your board.

Look at the voltages on the sub board. If it reads low it would point to shorted out cap.

Best of luck
 
I would look for a shorten cap around where the power comes into your board.

Look at the voltages on the sub board. If it reads low it would point to shorted out cap.

Thanks for the reply. The sub board voltage is at 5.04v, and the machine works fine with a Road Blasters, IJ, and Road Runner carts.

Only has the odd booting issue with the Marble Madness cart.
 
Thanks for the reply. The sub board voltage is at 5.04v, and the machine works fine with a Road Blasters, IJ, and Road Runner carts.

Only has the odd booting issue with the Marble Madness cart.

Sorry, I was referring to the marble madness cart. A shorted out cap might bet on the cart itself might be the cause.
 
i was having a similar problem with my tempest (had to boot into test mode, then game mode from there). recapped pcb and changed out clock crystal and it boots normally now.
 
There are a lot of things that make these System 1 carts not work.

Not getting enough voltage is a very common one. And it's hard to troubleshoot because some games work, then you switch and the next doesn't.

Easiest things to start with.
- Clean edge connectors
- Up the voltage a little (5.1)

Good luck
 
  • Checked all the electrolytic caps on the MM cart: Good.
  • Upped the voltage to 5.1v (tested on cart)
  • Edge connector clean.

Passes all tests in test mode, still will not boot directly from game mode. Switch from test to game mode on ARIII, and the game boots just fine. :confused:

Not sure what else to check. I may have to find another system 1 cab to test this cart in.
 
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