ok, my freaking tron has a horrible hum all of a sudden

tron guy

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ok, my freaking tron has a horrible hum all of a sudden

all I did was move it from one spot to another so I can try to video a score tonite.
the hum is unbearable.

I pulled the audio amp board and I am reflowing solder as we speak.

what else could it be?
 
ok, swapped in another working sound amp board, that's not hte issue.


the only eventful thing that happened to this tron is....

it was moved 6 feet, very smoothly. Is it possible it's some type of interference?

self diagnostic shows it to be ok.
 
Is it plugged into the same electric outlet? Has anything changed with the electric connections? Are any surrounding games powered off? Could be some odd ground issue.

Check your volume pots (turn them up and down), reseat any edge connectors or plugs on the boards.

Also, are you running the original MCR interconnect cables? They are literally printed on paper and I could believe a small vibration breaking them. Bob Roberts sells them, as does someone here on the boards.
 
Is it plugged into the same electric outlet? Has anything changed with the electric connections? Are any surrounding games powered off? Could be some odd ground issue.

Check your volume pots (turn them up and down), reseat any edge connectors or plugs on the boards.

Also, are you running the original MCR interconnect cables? They are literally printed on paper and I could believe a small vibration breaking them. Bob Roberts sells them, as does someone here on the boards.

first it was in a different outlet, so I put it back into the original outlet.
has new ribbon cables.
I need to go in and pull hte boards and put them back next.
 
well it seems like I have narrowed it down to the 8 pin connector on the backdoor side of the front board. Second connector down.

The exposed wire is breaking in spots, and the red wire (+5v?) has a cut in the casing.

so I chop it down and make it more solid, but it didn't help much.



If I sit in the back of hte game and wiggle that connector around during game play, it goes from really fucking loud and shitty to not too bad based on how I am wiggling it.

I would like to re-insert all the pins in that connector but I don't have any that small?

think radio shack does?

fuck that cock sucking piece of shit. 5 hours fucking with that off and on vs scoring 3 million in those 5 hours. just bought a fucking tripod and everything. wasted fucking night



oh and now the fucking red credit button inside the door just quit working after my last effort on the wiring of the sound.
 
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Sorry the game is giving you fits Dylan. I've been there. Move the damn game and suddenly it doesn't work anymore. Good luck getting it going again.
 
well it seems like I have narrowed it down to the 8 pin connector on the backdoor side of the front board. Second connector down.

The exposed wire is breaking in spots, and the red wire (+5v?) has a cut in the casing.

so I chop it down and make it more solid, but it didn't help much.


I've seen a lot of MCR games where that connector shows signs of heat....browning, burnt sections, etc. Most (if not all) of those connectors were IDC connectors from the factory. Most people agree, IDCs suck. I'd suggest cutting it off and crimping a .156 Molex on there....with "trifurcon" pins. If the connector shows signs of heat stress, I'd also suggest replacing the male harder side.

Oh yeah, I doubt Radio Shack has this stuff.

Edward
 
that would be the sound connector that's giving you fits, i believe. As Ed said, cut it off and replace it - however, that connector is just a standard .100 8 pin connector. Bob Roberts has them, as well as a set of pliers to crimp with.
 
that would be the sound connector that's giving you fits, i believe. As Ed said, cut it off and replace it - however, that connector is just a standard .100 8 pin connector. Bob Roberts has them, as well as a set of pliers to crimp with.

Oh yeah, Duh! The power connector is 20 pins......must get more coffee...

Edward
 
Sorry the game is giving you fits Dylan. I've been there. Move the damn game and suddenly it doesn't work anymore. Good luck getting it going again.


And you guys wonder why I was asking about moving my TRON and replacing it with Tempest in the lineup.. THIS is what happens to me all the time! (sorry Tron Guy)
 
that would be the sound connector that's giving you fits, i believe. As Ed said, cut it off and replace it - however, that connector is just a standard .100 8 pin connector. Bob Roberts has them, as well as a set of pliers to crimp with.


it's actually a 9 pin connector I think with a little plug to separate the pins.
 
ok, I changed the connector but the game still sounds/acts like it is catching interference.

Does it matter that the back door is off? I mean can that be an issue?
 
so i just built myself a new test rig, with all the bells and whistles you can imagine. Syncs to anything, rotatable monitor, stereo sound with a switch to go between amplified and non-amplified (using an mcr dual amp for the amplified half). Anyway, it had a horrible interference on channels 1, 2 and 3- checked my wiring several times, swapped the board into my cab, swapped amps into my cab, changed amp chips, and everything worked fine in the cab. I finally replaced the actual signal cables with a shielded cable, and it got rid of the interference.
anyway, i'd suggest checking the shield wire and make sure it has continuity, as well as the red and black, between the ssio and the sound amp. Sound on MCR's is really picky, and i'm not sure exactly why - to me, it seems like a really odd way of doing things, but, it works if everything is exactly right......
If that all checks out, put it in test mode and go to channel test and see which channels are or are not putting out a tone- that'll make it a bit easier to tell which way to go from here.
 
all the channels sound the same.

good but with interference.

I will mess with it more later. maybe
 
well, if your sure the wiring is good, and the amp's good, then i'd start by changing the lm3900 on the ssio.
 
That's the little board above the main boards?


I am trying to wrap my brain around the coincidence of me moving the game and this "interference" occurring. I moved it the way I move my pole position when I move it, one inch at a time, lol.
 
I'm not much of a techy with these things, but I had the exact same thing happen with my Tron. Moved it from one place to another and got a hum through the speakers. I took out the black light bulb under the control panel and it stopped. I put it back and it started again. I changed the fixture with a spare I had sitting around and it was fine... May just be a coincidence and have nothing to do with the problem, but I thought I'd throw my 2 cents in....
 
I'm not much of a techy with these things, but I had the exact same thing happen with my Tron. Moved it from one place to another and got a hum through the speakers. I took out the black light bulb under the control panel and it stopped. I put it back and it started again. I changed the fixture with a spare I had sitting around and it was fine... May just be a coincidence and have nothing to do with the problem, but I thought I'd throw my 2 cents in....

we have the same problem with cd jukes at work. Flor lights start going bad or flickering and it causes a good amount of interference with the audio. Tron uses alot of lamps...wouldnt hurt to try.
 
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