operation wolf video issues

stinkechin

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ok so i had this thing working once i cleaned around the dip switchs and now the video seems to be missing green the game still works but it looks funny missing colors and some graphics anyone have any ideas ? ive tried reseating all the chips tried a different monitor im at a loss. i figure it has to be something on the board but i have no clue what to look for to try to replace.

thanks for any info

kevin
 
Sounds like a bad "PC040DA" at location 80 (according to the schematics). Apparently they're sometimes labeled "TC0070RGB". There should be 3 matching ones on the board.

Unfortunately it's a custom IC. AFAIK the only way to get a replacement is to scavenge one from another Taito PCB of that era.

BTW, it won't be a DIP (dual inline) package, it's SIP (single inline).
 
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post a pic of the issue. i have a dead top board(no sound) and dead bottom board (garbled video/no bootup) mabye you can rob chips from it??

might be worth your time to also check the solder on the header pins where the video is outputted and make sure you didnt accidentally scrape a trace somewhere.

Uou have a op wolf that boots and has sound, youve already won a couple battles.
 
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ok so i had this thing working once i cleaned around the dip switchs and now the video seems to be missing green the game still works but it looks funny missing colors and some graphics anyone have any ideas ? ive tried reseating all the chips tried a different monitor im at a loss. i figure it has to be something on the board but i have no clue what to look for to try to replace.

thanks for any info

kevin

Before you go replacing anything; Take that bottom board and clean it very well. I put mine in kitchen sink and run hot water all over it then use some dish soap and soft bristle brush and softer touch. Scrub the top part very well but ABSOLUTELY do NOT move any of the parts at all. You want to get where the pins in the sips (single inline package) meet the board but you don't move them to do this. You do this for about two mins; scrub with soapy water. Then rinse with hot water, not the water that will scald but to where it just turns skin red. Rinse and scrub at the same time for about 1 min. Again not moving anything except soap and water. Then dry really well with a hair dryer on med to high heat at about 12-18" from pcb. Last really heat the dips and the little black connector on the side for the sound card. This worked for 2 out of 4 attempts so it may be worth a shot.
 
post a pic of the issue. i have a dead top board(no sound) and dead bottom board (garbled video/no bootup) mabye you can rob chips from it??

might be worth your time to also check the solder on the header pins where the video is outputted and make sure you didnt accidentally scrape a trace somewhere.

Uou have a op wolf that boots and has sound, youve already won a couple battles.

I am currently getting geared up to work on my 4+ sound boards and will be working on several of these next week. As of right now I am just waiting on first shipment of parts z80a cpus and sockets.
 
Before you go replacing anything; Take that bottom board and clean it very well. I put mine in kitchen sink and run hot water all over it then use some dish soap and soft bristle brush and softer touch. Scrub the top part very well but ABSOLUTELY do NOT move any of the parts at all. You want to get where the pins in the sips (single inline package) meet the board but you don't move them to do this. You do this for about two mins; scrub with soapy water.

WFT? Seriously WTF? That is massively overkill.

Cleaning the connection points makes sense, cleaning the whole board makes no sense, electronics do not care about being dirty, unless the dirt ...

1) causes bad contacts
2) prevents air flow causing the unit to overheat
3) is somehow conductive and shorts stuff out.

PCBs of this era have very limited cooling requirements so overheating issues are not going to cause the fault, and normal dirt is not in the slightest bit conductive.

Your results with this method have more to do with disturbing the board than the dirt having anything to do with it, or getting water into small cracks that temporarily bridge the gap, but you woudl have to have very specific damage for a bit of wet to fix it - hence the 50% hit rate. The board fault would also re-appear at some point when the water evaporated, which could be days or weeks for very tiny areas.

You best bit would be to polish the edge connectors where the video signal is carried, often they can be very dull with oxide and lose contact.

Failing that, you have disturbed a component that was only barely making contact and isnt anymore, have static damaged something (unlikely with TTL level gear but possible), or something that was about to die anyway just did.
 
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WFT? Seriously WTF?

Cleaning the connection points makes sense, cleaning the whole board makes no sense, electronics do not care about being dirty, unless it causes bad contacts, prevents air flow or if the dirt is somehow conductive, which normal grime isnt. PCBs of this era have very limited cooling requirements so overheating issues are not going to cause the fault.

Your results with this method have more to do with disturbing the board than the dirt having anything to do with it, hence the 50% hit rate.

Reseat all socketed chips once, reseat all ribbon cables a couple of times, polish the edge connectors, beyond that you have a PCB fault.

What no mention of power supply?

With this board set the customs sip usually have dirt or rust right at the area where they meet the pcb. In the case of bad color, it is quite possible that the custom rgb chip can be a source of the problem. If cleaning the entire board works with any issue, is that method not worth mentioning?

Many of my boards have had soda spilled on them so cleaning them in this way was a much better method than the dishwasher method. I hoped that maybe the soda was spilled on them while in storage in a box somewhere but Murphy's law states otherwise.

The one issue I was surprised that this worked on was the vertical lines missing with the video. I was fairly certain it was a ram chip.

The main point was what I did and what it fixed.

I will always go to a good cleaning and power supply before replacing any parts.
 
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